- Manhattan event held a day late after Nice terror attack
- Candidate reported to have wavered, preferring Chris Christie
- Donald Trump: the making of a narcissist
- Pence to appear at Trump-skeptic Koch brothers’ fundraiser
The phrase was somewhat jarring. Trump announced his selection of Pence on Friday. He was, however, reported to have long hesitated and hedged over the pick, almost up to the moment it was made official.
The billionaire was reportedly leaning toward the New Jersey governor Chris Christie, only to be persuaded by his children and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, to follow not gut instinct but political pragmatism. Trump’s children had previously preferred the former House speaker Newt Gingrich.
Manafort has strongly rejected reports that the candidate considered changing his mind.
“Never waffled once he made his decision,” he wrote in an email cited by a number of media outlets.
The Clinton campaign seized on Trump’s apparent indecision, however, releasing a web video entitled: “Always divisive. Not so decisive.”
The choice was aided by chance: Trump’s plane burst a tire in Indianapolis, forcing him to spend more time with Pence in his home state.
On Saturday, Trump called Pence a “man of character, honor and honesty” and “a solid, solid person”.
He and Pence were the “the law and order candidates”, he said, adding that a Trump administration would be far tougher on foreign and domestic terrorism than a White House under his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Pence would also help him restore manufacturing jobs and protect religious freedom, he said.
“We’re going to let the people of faith speak,” Trump said. “The people who live in fear that they’re going to lose their tax exempt status. Religion is going to have a voice – because it has been taken away. We’re going to bring it back.”
Trump said Pence’s selection was partially driven by a desire to promote “party unity”, and said he was happy to learn that the Republican “Never Trump” movement against him had been “crushed” this week, ahead of the convention.
Following Trump, Pence praised the candidate’s pledges to repeal Obamacare, revive the coal industry and toughen the nation’s immigration policy. He also invoked his small-town roots.
“I am deeply humbled and thank God for his amazing grace,” Pence said. “These are good people and Donald Trump gets it. Who am I, oh Lord, to have been brought this far? I’m a small town boy from southern Indiana who has a front row seat to the American dream.”
Neither Trump nor Pence made note of their policy differences. The Indiana governor has been an advocate of trade deals such as Nafta and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump opposes, and has also criticized Trump’s proposed temporary ban on foreign Muslims entering the US, calling the idea “offensive and unconstitutional”.
In his remarks, Trump said he had been impressed by Pence’s leadership in Indiana, singling out the state’s balanced budget, job growth and education reforms. He made no mention of his own controversial decision to postpone his introduction of Pence, originally scheduled for Friday, after the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice.
“We’ve witnessed the Islamic horror beyond belief,” he said, “and believe me, that’s going to change. Mike Pence will never be afraid to shout the name of our enemy: radical Islam.”
The pair may yet wish to reconsider their campaign’s choice of pre-event music: the fast section of a track by Elton John. For one thing, the British musician is, with spouse David Furnish, parent to two young children – an arrangement the evangelical, anti-gay marriage Pence would certainly oppose.
Furthermore, the song in question has a title that could prove awkward if the Trump-Pence ticket fails to generate the necessary campaign-trail chemistry: Funeral for a Friend.
(c)Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment