Given just how tumultuous the domestic scene has been as of late, we can’t blame Vice President Mike Pence for taking a little time away.

Between impeachment, FISA, and whatever the heck is going on with Devin Nunes this weekend, America herself appears to be barreling down the tracks toward some sort of calamity unbecoming of our role in the world.

In a likely effort to bring some semblance of normalcy back to the nation, Pence made an unexpected trip to the Middle East to spread some holiday joy.

Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, second from left, serve turkey to troops at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) pic.twitter.com/i3kxFsnGVy

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— Stephen L Avery (@stephenlavery3) November 23, 2019

But that’s not all he’s doing.

Pence is meeting Saturday with Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani in a move meant to reassure the U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State after Syrian Kurds suffered under a bloody Turkish assault last month after the withdrawal.

Pence is also visiting Iraq’s Al-Asad Air Base, from which U.S. forces launched the operation in Syria last month that resulted in the death of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

This was Vice President Pence’s first trip to Iraq during his time in office, and comes amid great turmoil back at the White House.