Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:11 pm
Despite saying he was postponing his announcement of a VP pick in the wake of the Nice terror attack, Donald Trump, reports CNN, has offered the job to former Cruz guy and Indiana Governor, Mike Pence.
CNN tells us Pence has accepted. The Indianapolis Star says it has confirmed the pick.
Just last night Trump was telling Greta Van Susteren on Fox News,
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“I haven’t made my final, final decision. I mean, I’ve got three people that are fantastic. I think Newt is a fantastic person. I think Chris Christie is a fantastic person, been a friend of mine for 15 years. Just a fantastic person. And there’s Mike, and Mike has done a great job as governor of Indiana. You look at the numbers, and it’s been great — he’s done really a fantastic job. But I haven’t made a final, final decision.”
He later told a crowd in LA he had made up his mind. And apparently, despite all the misdirection, he had.
So far, there is confirmation from Trump’s Twitter account, his normal means of communicating with America. Trump’s original plan was to announce his pick in Manhattan at 11 a.m. today. He yet may.
According to CNN:
Pence’s selection gives Trump a running mate with strong ties to the Republican base — particularly social conservatives. He was among the first Republicans to embrace the tea party on Capitol Hill. And as governor of Indiana, he faced major political backlash over his decision to sign into law a “religious freedom” measure that infuriated major businesses that saw it as anti-LGBT.
Trump, however he might feel about it, was faced with an array of bad choices. Trump’s problem is that he needed a “real” conservative on his ticket, and none of his choices was going to have wide appeal outside Republican ranks (some, not so much within Republican ranks).
Pence will be particularly unpopular with Democrats (of course, so would Gingrich) and he even rankled some Evangelicals with his failed push for “religious freedom” in Indiana.
If Pence is really the pick, then the stage is set for the Republican convention, and conservative voters will have to decide what the selection of Pence really means for their party and for the Religious Rights culture war agenda, writ so large into the 2016 Republican platform.
We wait now for official confirmation from the Trump campaign.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
