Former Vice President Dick Cheney conveyed the message to Vice President Mike Pence over the weekend that he believes portions of the Trump administration's policy resemble that of the previous White House.
The Washington Post reported on a conversation the two men had at an American Enterprise Institute retreat in Sea Island, Ga. on Saturday. Cheney was respectful to the current occupant of the U.S. Naval Observatory, but he made it clear that he disagrees with how President Donald Trump is handing things in the Middle East and North Korea.
"We're getting into a situation when our friends and allies around the world that we depend upon are going to lack confidence in us," Cheney said, alluding to Trump's decision to withdraw most U.S. troops from Syria.
"I worry that the bottom line of that kind of an approach is we have an administration that looks a lot more like Barack Obama than Ronald Reagan."
Regarding North Korea, Cheney said he's worried about Trump canceling military exercises with South Korea and noted that a recent report regarding a White House proposal to charge U.S. allies for hosting American troops the full cost plus an additional 50 percent was alarming.
"I don't know, that sounded like a New York state real estate deal to me," Cheney said.
Pence responded to Cheney's concern over the cancelation of U.S.-South Korea war games by insisting that the U.S. military will remain ready to respond to any crisis on the Korean peninsula.
"We're going to continue [to] train," Pence said. "We're going to continue to work closely with South Korea. We have a tremendous alliance there."
The debate took place during Cheney's interview of Pence for those in attendance. The event was marked off the record, but the Post claims to have obtained a transcript.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.