The world witnessed "an American president putting America first" on Thursday when President Donald Trump announced his decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord, Vice President Mike Pence said Friday.
"President Donald Trump on the campaign trail called into account an agreement that really put an extraordinary burden on the American economy while allowing some countries around the world like China and India to literally go a decade or more without any accountability for reducing CO2 emissions," Pence told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" co-anchor Ainsley Earhardt.
Trump's decision put American workers and the U.S. economy first, said Pence, while leaving the door open to negotiating a better agreement.
"It required billions of dollars of investment by American taxpayers," said the vice president. "In a very real sense, it was transfers of wealth from the most powerful economy in the world to other countries around the planet."
The outcry about Trump's decision is because the "liberal left" in the United States has long wanted to advance its climate change agenda,
"You saw it back in the days of the Kyoto Protocol," Pence said. "President [George W.] Bush actually submitted that to the Senate. It was rejected 95-0. We heard some of the same apocalyptic predictions when Kyoto was rejected."
But from 2000 to 2014, American innovation and new technology led to an 18 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States alone, "so we demonstrated real leadership."
Kyoto, former President Barack Obama's cap-and-trade agenda, and the Paris accord have "put a real burden on our economy and our people," said Pence. "It was a bad deal for America."
Meanwhile, Pence lauded Trump for taking "bold and decisive action" on terrorism, homeland security, and more.
"The ability to come into the United States of America is a privilege, not a right," said Pence, commenting on the travel ban executive order moving into the Supreme Court for a decision.
"In the initial executive order, we identified seven countries that did not have the safeguards, that we could be confident people applying to come here who they said they were," said Pence. "We amended that. We worked closely with our ally in Iraq to put systems in place that we would be confident people applying to come here would not represent a threat to our people, but we're going to continue to drive this pause forward, advance what the president calls policies of extreme vetting."
And when the matter reaches the Supreme Court, "we remain very confident ... they're going to recognize the right of the president in the Constitution and in the statutes of this country to control immigration in a way that puts the security of our country first."
Pence also commented that Americans, "even Democrats" are becoming sick of all the news over Russia and the campaign.
"They want to talk healthcare, see healthcare reform repeal and replace [legislation]," said Pence. "They want to see tax reform."
Pence said he'd so far give Trump an A-plus for his efforts and results.
"Literally he gets up every day and turns his face like flint against the wind and says, what are we going to do today to make America safe again? To make America prosperous again. To make America great again," said Pence. "It is the greatest honor of my life to be vice president to President Donald Trump."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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