It’s the first day of the Republican National Convention for 2016, and today we have the introduction of the Odd Couple.
I’m talking about Donald Trump and Mike Pence, of course.
Donald Trump, the blow-hard billionaire real estate developer and reality star hardly needs to be introduced to anybody. He’s been ubiquitous in the media for the better part of the last year.
First of all, I wrote about Mike Pence back when he signed the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” back in March of 2015, a law that he quickly had to walk back because even the like of the NCAA were threatening to boycott Indiana because of the abject discrimination that the law represented.
Pence is a five term Congressman and the recently elected Governor of Indiana. He is as rock-ribbed as a conservative can get. A “Tea Party” Republican, the guy is:
- Staunchly pro-life
- Opposed to “birthright citizenship”
- A proponent of Constitutionally mandated Congressional spending limits
- A proponent of a federal flat tax rate
- A proponent of bringing back the Gold Standard
- A supporter of the Iraq War Resolution
- A proponent of No Amnesty Immigration reform
- A climate change denier
- Opposed to embryonic stem cell research
- A denier of the “theory” of evolution
- In support of a number of different free trade deals
- In support of the privatization of Social Security
- Staunchly opposed to same sex marriage and a supporter of conversion therapy
With respect to his personal style, Pence is regarded as:
- Understated
- Slightly reserved
- A committed born-again Christian
In other words, this guy has almost nothing in common with Donald Trump. Either politically or in matters of personal style.
He was clearly brought on to shore up Trump’s weaknesses with the Republican party’s right wing.
Of course, it took Trump about 30 minutes to get around to introducing Pence has his running mate the other day, with the introduction of Pence playing like an afterthought.
Good luck to this odd couple. I can’t wait for the book which will no doubt arrive a few years from now telling “behind the scenes” stories of the Trump campaign and how he and Pence did (or did not) get on. Should be a fun read.
