Swarens: Pence tries to make his strange union with Trump work
NEW YORK — The transformation of Mike Pence into a surrogate for Donald Trump is nearly complete.
The gap on trade policy between the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and his new running mate? Suddenly gone. Pence, a career champion of free trade, now says he supports renegotiating long-settled trade deals.
The strong criticism Pence slapped Trump with after the New York billionaire called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S.? 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. Would that include France?
Trump’s plans to build a more than 1,000-mile-long wall across the southern border? Pence, who while in Congress proposed an immigration reform plan criticized as too soft by his fellow conservatives, now has joined the “Build the Wall” chorus.
Donald Trump introduces 'first choice' Mike Pence as VP running mate
I have covered Mike Pence for 16 years, and I thought I had a good understanding of who he is and what he stands for. The Pence I’ve seen and heard this weekend is suddenly different from the leader and man I thought I knew.
Some of that change has to be attributed to pure ambition. Pence really wants to be the vice president of the United States, even if it means letting go of longtime beliefs.
Some of it is based on a deep concern about the nation’s future. He honestly believes that a President Hillary Clinton would be disastrous for America, and he’s signed on to work as hard as he can to prevent that from happening.
And some of it is because Pence has accepted the role of the No. 2. He understands it’s now his duty to represent and speak for the boss.
Whether such respect is truly mutual remains an open question. On Saturday in a Manhattan hotel ballroom, Trump formally introduced Pence as his vice presidential nominee. But it took a long time to get there.
Tully: Dear America, this is Mike Pence
Trump spoke for nearly 30 minutes, mostly about himself and his proposals, before finally bringing Pence on stage. Then Trump quickly exited.
The campaign banner that fronted the podium still promoted only Trump. Trump/Pence 2016 banners, signs and shirts were nowhere in sight. Are there no overnight printers in Manhattan?
After Pence finished his own speech — thankfully more focused and shorter than Trump’s rambles — the candidates were joined briefly on stage by their families for photos and handshakes.
The two men actually seemed more in sync on Tuesday in Indy and Westfield than they did here on Saturday.
Pence ready to make the case for Trump
The governor revealed in his speech that the call offering the job came Wednesday, the day Trump and his clan were camped out in the Conrad Indianapolis.
But national media in the past couple 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.
Can this marriage work? It’s clear that Mike Pence will do anything he can to help it thrive.
Even if it means abandoning policy positions he’s held for years.
Contact Swarens at tim.swarens@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @tswarens.