Cleveland – The Trump campaign fumbled Mike Pence’s initial rollout last week as the vice-presidential nominee, and they fumbled it for a second time tonight.
Moments before Pence took the stage to address the Republican convention in Cleveland, Ted Cruz walked off of it eliciting boos from the floor for refusing to endorse Trump in his primetime remarks and instead urging Republicans to “vote your conscience.” In doing so, Cruz made himself the story of the night and overshadowed Pence before he had even stepped foot on the stage. For the Trump campaign, it was yet another instance in which a campaign controversy will lead the news because of the campaign’s questionable decisions: in this case, permitting Cruz to speak without extracting an endorsement.
Pence, for his part, delivered a competent speech at a convention that has been rife with incompetence. He introduced himself to people and served as a character witness of sorts for Trump, whom he promised would bring “no nonsense leadership to the White House.”
He characterized Trump as a uniquely American figure and as a champion of the working class, and his praise was both understated and believable.
“You know, Donald trump gets it,” Pence said. “He’s the genuine article. He’s a doer in a game usually reserved for talkers, and when Donald Trump does his talking, he doesn’t tip toe around the thousand new rules of political correctness, he’s his own man, distinctly American. And where else would an independent spirit like his find a following than in the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
And he praised Trump’s ability to defy and confound both the political class and the media. “You know, the funny thing is, the party in power seems helpless to figure out our nominee. The media has the same problem. They all keep telling each other that the usual methods will work against him,” Pence said. “They keep thinking they’ve done him in only to wake up the next morning to find that Donald Trump is still standing and running stronger than ever before. The man just doesn’t quit.”
Pence himself defied no norms, though, and unlike Trump’s candidacy, Cruz’s remarks, or the Cleveland convention itself, his appearance tonight — sharp, crisp, well-delivered — is unlikely to be long remembered, even by morning.
Mike Pence is Overshadowed by Ted Cruz