But his new task, helping Trump win the White House, will be much more challenging.
Advertisement
Pence was not onstage with Trump during this extended tribute to Trump’s own greatness, and Trump left the stage before Pence began his own remarks. He praised Trump effusively as “a good man”, a fighter, a legendary businessman and a patriotic American.
It was the most unusual vice presidential rollout in memory.
In 2012, Christie gave the keynote address at the convention where Mitt Romney was officially nominated.
Pence in turn called Trump “a good man” who “will make a great president”.
CBS News has the latest updates from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Pence added that he supports Trump’s call for building a wall along the US border with Mexico. Pence now says he supports the ban, although he tries to soften it by saying it would only block people from countries rife with terrorism from entering the United States.
Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico would have been another obvious plus for Trump, who can use all the help he can get with both women and Latinos. Verywidely reported. Trump tried to reel it back in by telling a Fox News host he had not made his “final final decision”.
But national media in the past couple of days have promoted several stories, based on unnamed sources, that describe Trump as wavering on Thursday, and even into Friday morning, on the decision to hire Pence.
Trump held a midnight conference call with his top aides to discuss the situation, according to two people with knowledge of the call. That fueled speculation that Trump might be changing his mind.
“I might not apologise”, Trump added. The interview introduced or reintroduced Pence to conservatives, while showcasing all of the reasons why Trump’s campaign chief, Paul Manafort, was pushing for his boss to pick Pence. And he supported building a border fence almost a decade before Trump made such a pledge a cornerstone of his campaign for the White House. “Always Divisive. Not so Decisive”.
Indeed, Trump’s own actions – saying he’d not made a final decision even after Pence was summoned to NY, then delaying the announcement – left the distinct impression of doubt.
“Mike Pence, is my first choice”, Trump said.
Interviewer Lesley Stahl asked Pence, who has said negative campaigning is wrong, what he thought of the tone of Trump’s campaign, including Trump’s giving his opponents nicknames like “Lyin’ Ted”. Heroes of his youth, he said, were John F Kennedy, the Democratic president, and Martin Luther King Jr, the civil rights movement leader. Then, Obama pulled back, saying he first wanted to get approval from Congress.
Trump on Friday chose Indiana Gov. Mike Pence after a vetting process that also included New Jersey’s Republican governor.
When Pence opposed providing gay Americans with the protection of anti-discrimination laws, Trump declared that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission needed to protect gay rights in the workplace.
But Pence adds little to Trump’s appeal outside the ranks of conservative ideologues.
The new partners also differ on free trade, which Pence supports, and on foreign policy.
Pence, a mild-mannered Midwesterner with a traditional political resume, said it’s obvious that he and Trump have different styles.
In writings on his campaign website in 2000, Pence likened America to the Titanic, “steaming away from the safe harbour of our best moral and religious traditions”. Trump, at that time, pronounced himself indifferent to such fears.
“Hey, I lived in New York City and Manhattan all my life, OK?”
“It looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint”, Trump said in a March 2003 interview.
Pence, 57, served 12 years in Congress, rising to the number three post in the U.S. House before he was elected in governor.
Advertisement
Many of Trump’s defenders have assured us that even if Trump can sometimes be brash and impulsive, he would surround himself with brilliant advisers as he has done in his businesses..
