It’s no secret that after four incredible years of standing shoulder to shoulder in this great battle for our country, President Trump and Vice President Pence found themselves on different pages heading into the closing days of the administration.

But the two men reportedly met Monday in the Oval Office and appear to have healed whatever tension there was between them. They apparently emerged from the Oval Office laughing together.

Pence assured the president that he “never once” considered invoking the 25th Amendment, and Trump said that if he doesn’t run in 2024, he’ll probably endorse Mike Pence.

I know there are Trump supporters who are angry with the vice president because they thought he could do more than he did to prevent Congress from accepting the Electoral College votes. I know there are Pence supporters who are unhappy because the president put him in such a difficult position with his public remarks at last week’s rally.

But if the two of them can heal whatever disconnect there was between them, it is a powerful message that the rest of us must be just as magnanimous as they are.

Whatever differences and disputes conservatives may have with one another pale in comparison to our differences and disputes with the radical left. There are major battles ahead, and we must be united in our resistance to the progressive agenda.

Both Donald Trump and Mike Pence are great men, and both will play major roles in the future battles for our country.

Pompeo: Chinese Communists Inside the Gates

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed a group of House conservatives on Friday and left them with a chilling warning. He said that in the fight to contain communist China, China is “inside the gates today.”

In other words, we’re not trying to prevent communist China from infiltrating the country. It’s already done that.

Pompeo declared that Beijing’s influence was already rampant on our college campuses, our high schools, and even “in our PTA groups.” He said this has been a 50-year effort by the communist Chinese to influence everything, including our city councils. And I believe we must assume that Beijing is even trying to influence our churches.

Pompeo said that as a former elected official, he knew what China was up to, but he never fully appreciated the scope and scale of the threat until he became CIA director. The challenge going forward, he added, is rolling back communist China’s influence in all the areas they have already occupied.

The Trump administration began that process and aggressively confronted communist China on multiple fronts. That vital work must continue, Pompeo said, if our children and grandchildren want to live in a free Western society and not one dominated by the totalitarian principles of the Chinese Communist Party.

Moreover, we were recently warned by top national security officials that Beijing’s efforts to influence likely Biden appointees were “on steroids.” And it wasn’t just the people coming into the Biden administration “but those who are around those folks in the new administration.” In other words, communist China was attempting to influence their friends too.

And this is in addition to those we know who are obviously compromised. You may recall a Chinese professor recently bragged about Beijing’s influence over Wall Street.

But it’s not just Wall Street. We’ve seen how the NBA has become “woke” about domestic issues here in the United States. Yet it is completely silent about racism and slave labor in China.

After the production of its recent film “Mulan,” Disney had the audacity to thank the communist state security agency of a province that is populated with slave labor camps. I can’t recall the last time Disney issued a statement of thanks to American law enforcement, but it doesn’t hesitate to praise oppressive Chinese state security. Think about that for a second.

And the fight against China’s influence even extends into the Deep State. Sadly, some intelligence community analysts refuse to acknowledge China’s election interference because they are still “resisting” Donald Trump. So much for putting country first.

Trump to Texas

It is amazing what President Trump and Vice President Pence have accomplished in just four years. They are going to spend the next week highlighting many of those accomplishments, which began yesterday with a trip to the Texas border.

Their accomplishments are even more remarkable given that they were fighting intense opposition from the left, from the Washington swamp, and especially the entrenched federal bureaucracy that does everything it can to slow-walk and resist anything any Republican president wants to do.

I witnessed the bureaucracy’s inertia firsthand during my eight years in the Reagan administration, and I assure you the problem hasn’t gotten any better over time!

Here’s a good example of the problem.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the Voice of America (VOA) staff Monday. Like other taxpayer-funded news agencies, VOA, which is supposed to be the voice of America overseas, has been taken over by the left in recent years. The Trump administration has been vigorously attempting to return VOA to its original mission.

But in the days leading up to Pompeo’s address, some employees of VOA did everything they could to prevent the nation’s top diplomat from speaking to them. Thankfully, they failed. And in his usual direct style, Pompeo didn’t hold back.

He blasted VOA for too often “demeaning America,” adding:

“Censorship, wokeness, political correctness, it all points in one direction — authoritarianism, cloaked as moral righteousness. It’s similar to what we’re seeing at Twitter, and Facebook, and Apple, and on too many university campuses. This is not who we are, as Americans. It’s not what Voice of America should be. It’s time to put woke-ism to sleep.”

Goodbye, Sheldon

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson passed away Monday night at the age of 87.

Many know Adelson only from media reports, which I assure you do him no justice. He was a tremendous patriot and staunch friend of Israel. I had the honor of speaking with him many times about the importance of the U.S.-Israel alliance.

He and his lovely wife, Miriam, are significant supporters of Christians United for Israel and Pastor John and Diana Hagee’s work, which I have been involved in for many years. Adelson also supported many veterans groups and other charities. During the pandemic, he continued to pay the salaries of his employees even though his hotels and casinos were largely shuttered.

The conservative movement lost a giant Monday. But Miriam Adelson is just as committed as he was to the enduring values of our country. It is my hope that she will remain in this battle. I encourage you to read her moving tribute to her late husband to better understand the man Sheldon Adelson was.