Former Vice President Mike Pence tore into President Donald Trump for criticizing America’s War on Terror during his trip to the Middle East.
“I’ve never been a fan of American presidents criticizing America on foreign soil,” Pence said during a sit-down with NBC’s Meet the Press.
Trump had railed against “so-called nation-builders, neocons or liberal nonprofits” who failed to develop Afghanistan and Iraq during a stop-off in Saudi Arabia Tuesday.
“To have the president in Saudi Arabia questioning America’s global war on terror, and describing it as nation-building and interventionist—I thought was a disservice to generations of Americans who wore the uniform and who took the fight to our enemy,” the former vice president said Sunday.
Trump praised economic development in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi during his remarks.
“No, the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neocons or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Kabul, Baghdad, and so many other cities,” Trump said.
Pence also gave his thoughts on the mounting furor over Trump’s decision to accept a $400 million luxury Boeing jet from the Qatari government, despite concerns over what the human rights-abusing petrostate may want in return.
“Qatar has a long history of playing both sides,” he said. “The very idea that we would accept an Air Force One from Qatar, I think … it’s just a bad idea, and my hope is the president will think better of it.”
