Donald Trump took the stage Saturday in New York to officially announce his pick for vice president. After an interesting dance over the last week where there was confusion on whom he would chose, Trump unveiled Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his selection.
In his opening speech Trump called Pence his “partner” who would help him rebuild America and managed to throw in a shot at Hillary Clinton.
“He’s really got the skills of a highly talented executive. Mike Pence is a man of honor character and honestly. We know that. Hillary Clinton is the embodiment of corruption…Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is my first choice. I also admire the fact that he fights for the people and he also is going to fight for you. He is a solid, solid person.”
After Trump’s nearly 30 minute opening speech, Pence took to the podium to accept the presumptive nominees invitation to join the Republican ticket. Pence’s speech echoed many of Trump’s points of making the U.S. a stronger country.
“Donald Trump is a good man and he will make a great president of the United States of America. History teaches us that weakness arouses evil. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s foreign policy of leading from behind, moving red lines, feigning resets with a resurgent Russia and the rise of ISIS is a testament to this truth of history and we must bring a change to America’s stand in the world.”
Saturday marks the end of a tumultuous week of a number of twists and turns for the vice president selection. CNN reported there was some 11th hour second guessing of Pence on Trump’s part and some of the other vice presidential choices were not notified of the decision until it leaked. Trump and his advisors were quick to change the narrative in their favor.
In the online age, politicians are quick to react to what is going and the same can be said for the Trump camp. After the Internet had a field day with the Trump/Pence logo, the campaign was quick to fix it with a slightly bland, but safe alternative.
https://twitter.com/JoshuaChavers/status/754344251761106944
And that may have been Trump’s influencing factor when picking Pence. Trump has himself is a bit of a brash personality and outsider, who hasn’t done much to wrangle up the old school GOP vote. With Pence, he get’s an elder statesman of the Republican party, who can help him procure the votes he may have alienated.