Former Vice President Mike Pence buttered up President Donald Trump with praise before pleading with him to let go of his most controversial policies in a Tuesday Wall Street Journal op-ed.
The piece, “What the 47th President Can Learn From the 45th,” sees Pence urge Trump to return to the conservative principles that he says guided their first term.
Pence offered a heavy dose of flattery to a man who once called him “delusional” and “not a very good person” before diving into his criticism of the president. Trump and his former VP fell out after Pence refused to heed his boss’ plea not to certify the 2020 presidential election results.
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“President Trump’s victory in November was a political comeback unrivaled in modern American history,” Pence wrote his op-ed.
He lauded Trump’s mass deportation effort, writing that Trump hadn’t needed to enact any new laws because he was “just a president with the backbone to do his job and keep America safe.”
Pence also singled out the military as a bright spot.
Of the strikes on terrorists in the Middle East, Pence wrote, “The Trump administration immediately brought them to heel with decisive force, reminding the world that peace is best preserved through strength.”
He also approved of Trump’s push to raise defense spending.
“After years of cuts in inflation-adjusted defense spending, Mr. Trump has pledged to transform the military back into a lethal fighting force with the first ever trillion-dollar defense budget,” Pence wrote.
With the bootlicking out of the way, Pence turned to criticism.
He called on Trump to stop believing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that he wants peace in the war against Ukraine.
“Only renewed American military support for our close partner provides any hope for a just and lasting peace,” he wrote, telling him to support Ukraine.
The only flash of bite in Pence’s critique came when he broached Trump’s tariffs, which have roiled markets.
“The first quarter of 2025 marked the second-worst economic start for a presidential administration since Richard Nixon,” Pence wrote. “The cause? A massive policy misstep in the form of sweeping tariffs imposed on friend and foe alike. Since the president announced his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, the only thing America has been liberated from is trillions of dollars in investments.”
Pence appeared to opt for the sandwich method in delivering his criticism, ending off his essay with a sunny overall evaluation of Trump’s first 100 days, which have left his approval ratings in the gutter.
“President Trump deserves credit for an energetic and effective start,” Pence wrote. “His instincts on security, strength and sovereignty are as sharp as ever. But if we want to see this nation become truly great again, we can’t exchange time-tested conservative principles for populist platitudes.”
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
After turning on Trump after his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021—where Pence was certifying the election results—he became a critic of his former boss and a persona non grata in the MAGAworld.
