Vice Presidents serve the President
Mike Pence will stand two steps back and two steps to Trump's right, and look comfortable doing it.
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| How it is done |
The selection of Mike Pence by Donald Trump demonstrates how unimportant is policy in the choice of VP.
Pence won the nod not because his policies line up with Trump's, but because he was the last guy standing in a process of elimination
Pence won the nod not because his policies line up with Trump's, but because he was the last guy standing in a process of elimination
Christie was out. Christie still had that Bridgegate matter. I had asked Christie a hostile question at a gathering in the front yard of a New Hampshire County Commissioner in September, 2015. I disguised the dagger by positing it as a question on how he would respond to the inevitable attack ad by Hillary, accusing him of wink-wink orchestrating political revenge with a 3 day traffic jam. I spoke the word "Hillary" with a sneer and implied that the attack ad would, of course, be utterly without merit.
Christie's answer sounded confident. He said he welcomed facing Hillary and that he would mop the floor with her. He asked how could a governor possibly be expected to know the thoughts of 60,000 New Jersey state employees? He said when he found out about the scandal he fired the employees, a couple of anonymous bad apples among a gigantic pool of employees. Of course he did not and could not have known what they were planning, he said. The audience accepted the answer. There was a scattering of applause.
Christie's answer sounded confident. He said he welcomed facing Hillary and that he would mop the floor with her. He asked how could a governor possibly be expected to know the thoughts of 60,000 New Jersey state employees? He said when he found out about the scandal he fired the employees, a couple of anonymous bad apples among a gigantic pool of employees. Of course he did not and could not have known what they were planning, he said. The audience accepted the answer. There was a scattering of applause.
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| Agony |
At the end of the event I smiled and shook his hand and said it was a great answer, that he nailed it. It wasn't the time or place to note that the bridge closure was done by his closest aides. But Donald Trump said it for me two months later, loudly and in public in Trumpian style when Trump demolished Christie. Of course he was in on it, Trump said. It was New Jersey and these were his closest confidantes. Everybody knows it, Trump said, confidently reporting what everybody knows.
The scandal persists. No Christie.
The scandal persists. No Christie.
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| Gingrich is not a good second banana |
Newt Gingrich was out. Newt is an early version of Trump, the John the Baptist to Trump's Jesus. Newt promoted slash and burn politics. Don't call something "ill advised" when you could call it "ludicrous" or better yet "capital crime treason".
Gingrich makes news. He says bold things. He makes enemies. He paved the way for Trump, changing the norms of political speech to use words like "putrid", "corrupt", "vile", "utterly disloyal" when describing opponents. Trump did not chart new ground. He was a stronger and better practitioner of the technique Gingrich taught his fellow Republicans as they chipped away at the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. Newt Gingrich literally wrote a handbook for the GOP, showing the words to use to make voters not simply disagree with a Democrat but to find the Democrat disgusting. He urged Republican candidates and congressmen to study the book, learn the vocabulary, and use it consistently.
It worked. It diminished the reputation of Congress but it created a majority and Newt Gingrich became its leader in 1994, an extraordinary victory. Maybe eventually there will be tell-all books explaining Trump's actual reasoning for not choosing Newt, but Newt's years of baggage would be reason enough. A Republican House voted ethics charges against him and his handling of the Clinton impeachment turned Bill Clinton into an object of public sympathy and support, so he resigned the speakership that he had fought to win.
Gingrich makes news. He says bold things. He makes enemies. He paved the way for Trump, changing the norms of political speech to use words like "putrid", "corrupt", "vile", "utterly disloyal" when describing opponents. Trump did not chart new ground. He was a stronger and better practitioner of the technique Gingrich taught his fellow Republicans as they chipped away at the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. Newt Gingrich literally wrote a handbook for the GOP, showing the words to use to make voters not simply disagree with a Democrat but to find the Democrat disgusting. He urged Republican candidates and congressmen to study the book, learn the vocabulary, and use it consistently.
It worked. It diminished the reputation of Congress but it created a majority and Newt Gingrich became its leader in 1994, an extraordinary victory. Maybe eventually there will be tell-all books explaining Trump's actual reasoning for not choosing Newt, but Newt's years of baggage would be reason enough. A Republican House voted ethics charges against him and his handling of the Clinton impeachment turned Bill Clinton into an object of public sympathy and support, so he resigned the speakership that he had fought to win.
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| Gingrich has things to say |
Mike Pence gets the nod. Mike Pence is the opposite of Trump, a reflection of everything that Trump has condemned in the "old" GOP.
Mike Pence is a standard-issue establishment GOP politician, with policies that are in perfect sync with Mitt Romney, the Bush family, Paul Ryan, and the suite of attitudes and policies that Trump has overturned. Mike Pence is an old school conservative, not a populist. Pence-type Republicanism is what who Trump ran against and won. Pence endorsed Cruz in the Indiana primary election
Mike Pence is for free trade and supports the TPP. Mike Pence built a reputation as an old-style culture warrior: anti-gays, anti-Planned Parenthood, anti-abortion. Mike Pence is a budget cutting, frugal, trickle down economics governor, more concerned with deficits and austerity than with infrastructure. Mike Pence criticized Trump's ban on Muslim immigration.
It doesn't matter. Pence doesn't contradict the Trump message because what Pence thinks or has said is irrelevant to voters.
It doesn't matter. Pence doesn't contradict the Trump message because what Pence thinks or has said is irrelevant to voters.
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| Pence switches positions |
The policy differences don't matter beyond the fact that Trump is communicating that he wants GOP unity and did not need a boat-rocker. Pence is bland and uninteresting and therefore irrelevant.
Mike Pence will do no harm to Trump.
Mike Pence's value is that he demonstrates that Trump can, when necessary, be safe and boring. Mike Pence is willing to stand behind and to the side and keep his mouth shut.
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