Mike Pence’s mild rebuke of President Donald Trump’s bold Middle East diplomacy this weekend may say more about Pence’s political twilight than Trump’s foreign policy. While Pence tsk-tsked Trump’s rhetorical choices abroad as a “disservice” to veterans, the former president was busy securing over $2 trillion in investment, reshaping America’s role in global commerce, and outflanking China and Russia in a region that once laughed off Washington’s economic overtures.
Let’s be clear: Trump didn’t fly to the Middle East to recite Beltway platitudes—he went to do business. And by any serious measure, the trip was a seismic success.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Pence said he was uncomfortable with Trump’s criticism of America’s past foreign policy while speaking on foreign soil. He cited Trump’s questioning of the “global war on terror” as an affront to the men and women who wore the uniform.
But Pence, as usual, missed the forest for the trees. Trump wasn’t denigrating veterans—he was denouncing the Beltway’s endless-war mindset that spent two decades chasing ill-defined missions in hostile terrain, often with little to show but destabilized nations and billions in sunk cost. In contrast, Trump’s model is peace through prosperity—through trade, investment, and economic leverage.
And it’s working.
President Trump’s Middle East trip delivered six major wins, not through foreign aid or democracy crusades, but through hard-nosed dealmaking:
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$2 Trillion in Investment Commitments
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE aren’t just shaking hands—they’re opening their wallets. The UAE alone pledged $1.4 trillion in U.S.-bound investment, targeting everything from energy to AI infrastructure. This isn’t just diplomacy—it’s domestic revitalization. -
AI Strategy That Matters
While the Biden-era bureaucrats talked about “AI ethics,” Trump inked a deal for 500,000 Nvidia chips to flow annually to Middle Eastern data centers—real-world leverage that ensures U.S. dominance over China in the AI race. -
Boeing and Airpower Bonanza
The largest widebody aircraft deal in history came out of Qatar, including Dreamliners and F-16s. This deal supports 400,000 American jobs—all while rearming our allies and recharging our industrial base. -
Sanction Diplomacy in Syria
Trump’s lifting of Syrian sanctions isn’t a pivot to appeasement—it’s a geoeconomic chess move, undercutting Chinese and Russian influence in Damascus while stabilizing a war-torn state through economic pressure, not military chaos. -
Warning to Iran
Trump sent a clear message to Tehran: abandon your nuclear ambitions and reap the rewards of trade. If not, know that our aircraft carriers, bombers, and precision firepower remain on call. Diplomacy with teeth. -
Checkmate to China and Russia
Every one of these deals weakens China’s Belt and Road foothold and strips Moscow of its leverage in Syria. Trump’s coalition of commerce is simply more attractive than Beijing’s debt-trap diplomacy and Putin’s proxy war machinery.
While critics whine about Trump’s lack of traditional diplomacy, they miss the point: Trump is redefining the game. He’s replacing expensive nation-building with mutually beneficial trade, replacing ideological adventurism with calculated pragmatism, and replacing bureaucratic inertia with CEO-style governance.
When Trump brought Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, and Boeing and GE executives to the table, he didn’t just bring gravitas—he brought solutions. These aren’t think tank theorists; they’re builders, innovators, and doers.
