Trump spent as much time ripping into Hillary Clinton and touting his own successes as he did introducing Pence to the world, often reading from notes as he recounted Pence’s record.
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Pence then delivered a classic vice presidential stump speech of fulsome praise for the top of the ticket.
Pence endorsed not Trump before that decisive primary, but Trump’s last obstacle to the nomination: Texas Sen.
“We’re seeing unrest in Turkey, a further demonstration of the failures of Obama-Clinton”, he told a crowd of supporters during a speech to introduce his newly appointed running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R).
Yet getting to that moment of party unity was chaotic, with numerous twists and turns playing out in public – and not in a way the spotlight-seeking Trump prefers.
Pence’s plea, though, came only after Trump’s stream of consciousness talk. “Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s foreign policy of leading from behind, moving red lines, feigning resets with a resurgent Russian Federation, and the rise of Isis is all a testament to this truth in history and we must bring change”.
“We’re going to undo it”, Trump declared.
“No one’s fighting for the veterans like I’m fighting for the veterans”, he said. “Do I know how to build infrastructure?” Correct. Indiana’s May 3 primary was where Cruz aimed to stop Trump’s momentum. During the early days of President Obama’s administration, he led the charge against the Democrat’s agenda. The were together on stage very briefly-just long enough to get a few photos and a perfunctory hand-shake. Pence spoke for about 12 minutes, sounding polished and determined.
The Indiana governor is well-regarded by evangelical Christians, particularly after signing a law that critics said would allow businesses to deny service to gay people for religious reasons.
“The Middle East today is more unstable than ever before”. The two have had differing views on issues including abortion and trade.
Trump had faced a midday Friday deadline to announce Pence because the governor had to declare by then whether he would be on the ballot in his home state for re-election.
The setting for the televised roll-out, two days before the Republican National Convention kicks off in Cleveland, was a New York Hilton Midtown ballroom with floor-to-ceiling drapery, multiple USA flags and little other decoration other than the usual “Trump” placard on the front of the podium. The 250 seats were filled with invited guests, including members of the Manhattan Republican Club and of Trump’s golf courses, and one surprised vacationing Nebraska family invited to attend while milling in the lobby.
The buttoned-down Pence, 57, was the non-pirate choice, the stylistic opposite of Trump. The polished, silver-haired conservative is adept at speaking many words without saying much of anything-a studied contrast to Trump’s penchant for off-message outbursts.
Once Pence joined the ticket, he strongly backed Trump positions that he’d criticized in the past. “That day begins when Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States of America”. In December he derided the ban as “offensive and unconstitutional”.
At Saturday’s press conference, Trump noted the difference between Pence and “crooked Hillary Clinton”, saying that Pence would not be afraid to use the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” and the he would serve as a partner to “fix our rigged system”. He also said that Mexico would “absolutely” pay for it.
A former No. 3 Republican leader in the House of Representatives, Pence understands policy and where the levers of power are in Washington. Governor Pence served IN with distinction IN Congress. The Pence VP event a few hours ago consisted of Trump rambling for half an hour about various topics, with Pence himself an afterthought. Pence heads back to IN for a solo event on Saturday night, and the Trump campaign hasn’t released a schedule for the convention that would include a joint appearance. Pence explicitly backs Nafta and has called for ratification of the Treas Pacific Partnership and granting normal trade status to China.
And overseas, Mr Trump would be a strong leader who would stand with America’s allies and “destroy the enemies of our freedom”, Mr Pence said.
As outlined in the strategy memos, Team Trump intends to promote Pence as a “devout evangelical Christian” and a “job-creating governor” with legal, small business and public policy experience.
Brandishing his running mate’s job-creating credentials, Trump ticked through a list of statistics he said showed how Pence had pulled IN out of economic recessions: an unemployment rate that fell to less than 5 percent on his watch, an uptick IN the labor force and a decrease IN IN residents on unemployment insurance. Dan Quayle bounded onto a dock in New Orleans as George H.W. Bush’s pick.
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Trump described meeting with Pence’s family, including his wife and daughter, as part of the motivation for selecting him as a running mate.
