Pence: Trump's personality can overcome GOP differences

WASHINGTON — Vice President-elect Mike Pence believes Donald Trump is a transformational leader akin to Ronald Reagan who will be able to overcome conflicts within his own party and opposition from Democrats to get things accomplished through sheer force of personality.

“I actually think, while there may be differences from time to time on particular policies, that you’re going to see a high degree of unity,” Pence said in an interview with IndyStar on Wednesday.

Divisions have already opened between the incoming administration and Capitol Hill on such major issues as how to overhaul the tax code and how and when the Affordable Care Act will be dismantled.

Trump said over the weekend his replacement plan for Obamacare is near completion. Capitol Hill Republicans haven’t seen it.

Trump said the goal of his replacement is to insure everyone. Republicans have talked about universal access to insurance, not universal coverage.

Trump accused the pharmaceutical industry of “getting away with murder” by overcharging for their products and said the federal government needs to negotiate with drug makers for lower prices. Republicans — including Pence whose state is home to major drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. — have previously opposed allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with manufacturers.

Asked whether price negotiation will be part of the incoming administration’s replacement plan, Pence was noncommittal.

“We’ll see. We’ll see,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to come forward with a plan, I would expect in the early weeks of the administration, that we take to Capitol Hill, and take to the American people.”

The goal is to have the repeal and replacement bills moving through Congress simultaneously.

One of the advantages Pence brings to his new role is his good relationship with congressional leaders, with whom he’s been in close contact since the election. Pence expects to be particularly active on Capitol Hill, including regular attendance at Republican meetings and having work space in both the House and Senate. The aide Trump tapped to lead his congressional negotiations worked for Pence when he headed the House Republican Conference during part of his 12 years in the House.

One of the surprises for those new to government — as Trump is — is how many twists and turns there are in the policy process, said Elaine Kamarck, an expert on governing at the Brookings Institution who worked for former Vice President Al Gore.

Pence’s biggest challenge, she said, will be to tutor Trump in the ways of government without having Trump get mad at him and think he’s working against him.

“There’s going to be a lot of things that Donald Trump thinks he can do that he just won’t be able to do — for political reasons, legal reasons, etc.,” Kamarck said. “Pence is going to understand that, perhaps try to explain it. And who knows if Trump will bite the head off the messenger or not.”

Asked if he’s prepared to tell Trump that there aren’t the votes for something he wants, Pence said he’ll always keep his counsel to the president between themselves.

“But to know Donald Trump is to know someone who leads by asking questions. He has a dynamic leadership style that he’s constantly asking for input from people. Then when he makes a decision he has the confidence and the force of personality to drive that decision forward,” Pence said. “It’s why he’s been so successful in business, and that’s why I think he’s going to be a great president of the United States.”

Pence has previously named Dick Cheney — a “very active vice president” — as a role model for the job. He’s also close to Indiana’s last vice president, Dan Quayle, and said he admires Quayle's whole career.

But Pence said Wednesday he’s “more and more drawn to the example and the experience” of George H.W. Bush’s service to Ronald Reagan.

“Because then, as now, there was a transformational leader,” Pence said.

Pence made comparisons between Reagan and Trump throughout the campaign, including giving a speech about it at the Ronald Reagan Library.

Pence said Wednesday that Reagan offered “that kind of broad shouldered leadership that said on that January day in 1981 that he’d come to Washington, D.C., to change it.”

“A generation later, we’ve come to a very similar time, with a very similar leader,” Pence said. “It just informs me that that last administration that revived the country and literally changed the world is a good place for me to look for an example of a vice president who supports a president like that.”

Pence will be sworn in Friday using the same Bible Reagan did at all his inaugurations. Asked if he’s nervous about any aspect of the new job — including getting the words of the oath of office correct, Pence said he plans to practice the oath, and to follow Trump’s lead.

“The president-elect just exudes confidence,” Pence said, “and it’s contagious.”

Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.

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