by WorldTribune Staff, January 19, 2025 Real World News
Four years after President Donald Trump carried him to the second highest position in the country, has Mike Pence thrown in with the Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) crowd?
Having no role in the incoming Trump administration, Pence jetted to Taiwan on Thursday to address the UBS Wealth Insights 2025 meeting.

“The fall of Taiwan would likely spark a new nuclear arms race,” he said. “Smaller Asian nations concerned about Chinese aggression would no longer be confident of American deterrence. American security commitments would be viewed as empty promises, destabilizing not only this region but the wider world.”
He added nations would feel “they had no choice but to develop their own nuclear arsenal,” which would increase the risk of global nuclear confrontation.
In August, Pence penned an op-ed for the leftist outlet The Washington Post in which he warned a “new and troubling strain of isolationism is emerging within the Republican Party that advocates turning our backs on Taiwan and other allies.”
Related: With an eye on the CCP, Trump opposes Taiwan’s microchip dominance, January 14, 2025
Pence was likely alluding to Trump’s comments in July in which he called for Taiwan to pay the U.S. for defending it against China.
“Taiwan. I know the people very well, respect them greatly,” Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek in July. “They did take about 100% of our chip business. I think Taiwan should pay us for defense. You know, we’re no different than an insurance company. Taiwan doesn’t give us anything. Taiwan is 9,500 miles away. It’s 68 miles away from China.
“We’re giving them billions of dollars to build new chips in our country, and then they’re going to take that too. In other words, they’ll build it, but then they’ll bring it back to their country,” Trump said.
In addition to what some analysts saw as Trump’s former VP undercutting him in the Far East, Pence has also gone on the attack against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to head up Health and Human Services (HHS).
“I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as Secretary of HHS is an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of Pro-Life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades,” Pence said in a statement Friday on behalf of his nonprofit Advancing American Freedom.
Kennedy said his top priority as HHS secretary would be to launch the MAHA movement … Make America Healthy Again.
Related: China on their minds, I: Rubio warns U.S. at risk of total dependence on China supply lines, January 17, 2025
Human Events editor Jack Posobiec noted: “The same interests that backed Dr Fauci are now behind Mike Pence’s attack on the MAHA Movement. Understand, this is all about blocking any change. Hi @Mike_Pence! Quick question: How much is China paying you for the speech you’re giving this weekend in Hong Kong? Did the CCP tell you to run cover for Fauci? Skip the bat soup, Mike.”
Days before his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump placed Pence on a list of individuals who were not welcome in the new administration, writing on Truth Social:
As of today, the incoming Trump Administration has hired over 1,000 people for The United States Government. They are outstanding in every way, and you will see the fruits of their labor over the coming years. We will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and it will happen very quickly! In order to save time, money, and effort, it would be helpful if you would not send, or recommend to us, people who worked with, or are endorsed by, Americans for No Prosperity (headed by Charles Koch), “Dumb as a Rock” John Bolton, “Birdbrain” Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, disloyal Warmongers Dick Cheney, and his Psycho daughter, Liz, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, General(?) Mark Milley, James Mattis, Mark Yesper, or any of the other people suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, more commonly known as TDS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
RedState’s Rusty Weiss noted: “One imagines he must be getting requests from some folks associated with previous political adversaries trying to weasel their way into the administration. As such, he touted his hiring efforts for the coming second term and blasted anybody on this shortlist for trying, nay, daring, to latch on. … None of these names are a surprise, of course. They range from your average Never Trumper to people who could potentially have a treason case made against them.”
As for Pence’s nonprofit, Advancing American Freedom, its co-chair and Pence’s former chief of staff Marc Short and his wife “hold stock in various pharmaceutical and medical companies connected with the Pence task force’s work, this raised concerns of potential conflicts of interest,” Wikipedia noted. “On October 24, 2020, it was reported that Short and three other Pence aides had tested positive for COVID-19. The White House tried to prevent the information from becoming public.”
[In the aftermath of Biden stealing the 2020 presidential election, the incumbent pressured vice-president Pence to reject State electors relying on the fringe theory presented in the Eastman memos. Short requested Jared Kushner’s help in reasoning with president Trump.]Timely: Defund Fake News