Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:12 pm
The reviews are in on Donald Trump’s announcement of Mike Pence as his VP, and they vary from calling Trump’s performance insane to pointing out that the Republican nominee demonstrated why he is not fit to be president.
Ezra Klein at Vox pulled no punches, ” Donald Trump’s introduction of Mike Pence was shocking. Forget the political mainstream. What happened today sat outside the mainstream for normal human behavior….What started as farce continued as farce. Trump emerged without Pence. He spoke, alone, at a podium adorned with Trump’s name, but not Pence’s. And then Trump proceeded to talk about himself for 28 minutes. There is no other way to say this than to say it: it was the single most bizarre, impulsive, narcissistic performance I have ever seen from a major politician.
MSNBC’s Katy Tur pointed out that Trump spent most of the time talking about himself, “That being said, it was typical in the way that Donald Trump spent a good portion of the time talking about, frankly, himself, relitigating the primaries, talking about all the deals he’s made…..also want to say that Donald Trump spent 29 minutes before he — talking about himself mostly — before he went to Governor Pence. If you’re going to compare this to past VP introductions, Mitt Romney spent 8 minutes and 30 seconds before getting to Paul Ryan. The majority of his remarks were focused around Ryan and the job he did in Wisconsin and how he was able to stand up to the establishment, not necessarily stand up to the establishment, but not be somebody divisive in Washington, and how he would bring people together, and how he was fighting for the little guy. And we’re talking about George W. Bush, he introduced Dick Cheney just after seven minutes, again spending much of the time espousing, or talking, praising Dick Cheney’s values and Dick Cheney’s qualifications for that office. Donald Trump did not necessarily do that. Much of the speech was what we see every day, or most days when we go to these rallies. It was about him, it’s about what he has done, the fight that he has gone through to get this nomination. And now he won. And how basically this nomination is his, not anybody else’s, not his running mate’s. It going to be his platform and his ideas alone.”
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Former Romney top guy, Stuart Stevens:
It's telling as to @realDonaldTrump priorities and abilities that he put more effort into announcing Scottish golf course than VP.
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) July 16, 2016
ABC News added salt to the wound by showcasing Pence walking back his disagreements with Trump, “Just hours after Donald Trump officially named Mike Pence as his vice-presidential pick, the Indiana governor walked back several of his prior policy positions to stand with his running mate — including having previously called Trump’s Muslim ban ‘offensive’ and ‘unconstitutional.'”
Here at PoliticusUSA, we focused on how Trump didn’t seem to want to be in the same room with his own running mate, “Pence’s speech was the standard Republican fare. Obama is to blame for everything. Hillary Clinton is a socialist who will doom America, and America can only be saved by voting for Donald Trump. Trump said in his speech that Pence was his number one choice, but Trump didn’t even want to be seen on stage with the man who he claimed was his preference. Trump is refusing to campaign with Pence after the announcement, and if actions speak louder than words, Donald Trump is making it clear that he is not a fan of the man who was chosen to be his VP.”
Trump treated Pence like an annoyance who was taking away from the real show, which was Donald Trump. What should have been a great moment for the Trump campaign quickly became another example of why Donald Trump is a crazy man who is not fit to be President Of The United States.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
