Donald Trump Briefly Paused Talking About Himself to Introduce Running Mate Mike Pence
LatestDonald Trump formally announced his pick for vice president on Saturday, ostensibly introducing Indiana Governor Mike Pence to an electorate that couldn’t pick him out of a lineup.
Trump selected Pence in a bid for “party unity,” which is shorthand for “unobjectionable establishment politician who won’t threaten my spotlight.” True to form, though, Trump dedicated the bulk of his rambling speech to bloviating about his own accomplishments, committing many long, breathless minutes to congratulating himself on predicting Brexit, condemning Hillary Clinton and marveling at the success of his D.C. hotel project. Did Trump know where he was? Does Trump have any idea who Mike Pence…is?
Pence’s name occasionally wormed its way into the speech, mostly in relation to how his business acumen saved the state of Indiana. Pence, Trump said, lowered the state’s unemployment rate from 8.4 percent to under five percent, and increased the labor force by more than 186,000 jobs.
“I said ‘Gimme the stats on the state, and it’s always bad. Down, down, down. Here is somebody where it’s gone up,” Trump said. Governor Pence, he added, balanced the state’s budget. “Can you imagine a balanced budget?”