Pence Pick Boosts GOP Leaders' Trust in Trump

[jimnyc]

I sure hope this is a positive trend, and more and more will be open to Pence. And I'm surprised to see positive comments from Boehner and Ryan.

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As a candidate for president, Donald Trump has shown few qualms about burning bridges with fellow Republicans. But in selecting Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, Trump might have signaled to party leaders that he is open to building bridges, too.

The announcement, which Trump tweeted Friday, was met with a flood of praise from Republican leaders in Congress, influential conservative groups and other party figureheads, many of whom have registered public wariness of Trump.

But Pence, unlike Trump, is a known quantity for most Republicans and has been reliably conservative on the issues that matter most to party leaders—meaning his views have often been at odds with those espoused by Trump. Meanwhile, as a member of Congress and a governor, Pence has developed a wide network of party allies and maintained a positive reputation among lawmakers and party officials alike.

Trump has said he wants a political insider as his vice president to help make up for his own deficits in relationships and know-how on Capitol Hill. Pence fits that profile, having served in the House for more than a decade before leaving to run for governor in 2012. He served two years in leadership as the House Republican Conference chair, the fourth-ranking post, and also led the conservative Republican Study Committee, working closely with other top Republicans in the Capitol and with the rank and file.

Former Speaker John Boehner called Pence “an exceptional leader and an even better man.” Current Speaker Paul Ryan said he could “think of no better choice” than Pence for the running mate.

Rest here - http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/07/16/pence_pick_boosts_gop_leaders_trust_in_trump.html

[jimnyc]

Going to add these here too instead of another thread.

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Trump-Pence Is a Winner for the GOP

Donald Trump hit two home runs this week. The first, immediately following the horrific terrorist truck attack in Nice, was his statement in a media interview that if elected he would ask Congress for a declaration of war to combat global terrorism. The second was the inspired selection of Indiana governor Mike Pence to join the GOP ticket.

Before getting to Pence, let me linger a moment on Trump’s declaration-of-war pronouncement.

For well over a year I have argued for a Washington wake-up call whereby the president and Congress enact a formal declaration of war against ISIS and all other Islamic jihadist terror groups. These groups have declared war on us. We have yet to respond.

Following the tragic terrorist attacks in Paris late last year, French president Francois Hollande declared war on ISIS. It was an act of courage. But France had to go it alone.

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Trump’s second home run was his selection of Mike Pence as his running mate. Down through the years, as a leader of the conservative House Republican Study Committee and later as the third-ranking member of the House Republican leadership team, he stood firm as a genuine and consistent conservative.

On economic policy Pence has held to the key building block of growth. He is a budget hawk who voted against President George W. Bush’s fiscally bloated No Child Left Behind education bill and hyper-expensive Medicare prescription-drug bill. He said he would not support new middle-class entitlements. He was consistent.

Rest here - http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/07/16/trump-pence_is_a_winner_for_the_gop_131214.html



With Pence, Trump plays to win

In picking Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, Donald Trump showed he’s capable of listening to more than his own gut, that he can forgive past sins and, most of all, that he actually wants to win.

A businessman who has carefully built a public image of himself as an instinctive decision maker, Trump clearly labored over this decision, appearing to vacillate as he ran his final choices through a weeklong made-for-TV melodrama of public appearances, private meetings and family get-togethers, all of which were leaked to the media.

The final episode that played out over the past 24 hours was, not surprisingly, crammed full of twists and turns: Trump hastily canceling Friday’s scheduled rollout after Thursday’s terror attack in France, pushing back on myriad early reports of Pence’s selection in television interviews Thursday afternoon, then tweeting the news Friday morning (10 minutes before the canceled news conference with Pence was originally set to take place).

In the end, though, the final scene belied the setup: a no-drama politician emerging as the winner of Trump’s drama-filled veepstakes.

Ultimately, despite his closer relationships with Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie, Trump listened to his closest advisers and went with the least flashy choice—not that there were any breakout stars or stellar performers in his final three of B-list Republicans.

Neither Gingrich, the thrice-married 73-year-old, the scandal-tarnished Christie or Pence, who polls showed to be in an uncertain reelection fight in a safely red state, offered much in terms of broadening the appeal of an all-white GOP ticket. Many of the party’s brightest up-and-comers, from Marco Rubio to Joni Ernst, had already removed themselves from the running.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-vp-pick-mike-pence-advantages-225616