A super PAC supporting former Vice President Mike Pence’s presidential bid is out with a new TV ad criticizing former President Donald Trump for cozying up to “thugs and dictators” on the world stage.

The Committed to America “Strength” ad, which will run on Fox News and online in Iowa, dings Mr. Trump for being an apologist for Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean despot Kim Jong-un.

“America doesn’t stand with thugs and dictators,” the narrator says in the spot, which features footage of Mr. Trump shaking hands with Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim. “We confront them — or at least we used to.”

The ad then jumps to footage of former President Ronald Reagan’s infamous 1987 Berlin speech in which he demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev — the last leader of the Soviet Union — to “tear down this wall.”

“There can be no room in the Republican Party for apologists for Putin,” Mr. Pence says in the ad. “There can only be room for champions of freedom.”

Mr. Pence and his allies are trying to soften Mr. Trump’s support among traditional conservative voters who have questioned Mr. Trump’s willingness to engage with tyrants and his reluctance to take a stronger stance against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mr. Pence last week became the first Republican to travel to Ukraine to signal his support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the nation’s war with Russia.

Mr. Pence maintains the U.S. must continue to support Ukraine to make sure Russia does not prevail, distancing himself from Mr. Trump, who is more focused on winding down the war, saying, “I want everybody to stop dying.”

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.