Pence, the first candidate in the crowded Republican 2024 presidential field to visit Ukraine, countered directly the rising “America First” wing of modern conservatism and sought to position himself as the party’s leading champion of the hawkish foreign policy that defined the party for decades. Trump, to whom Pence remained loyal until their falling out during the Jan. 6 insurrection, has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he would end the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible — which would almost certainly require Ukraine to make major concessions — and refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win, even when repeatedly pressed on the question during a CNN town hall last month. But Peter Feaver, a former top National Security Council official in the George W.