Politics
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump stands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence at a
- President Donald Trump values loyalty above all else -and he selected former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his 2016 running mate "because he says nice things about me," according to a new book.
An excerpt from Politico correspondent Tim Alberta's forthcoming book "American Carnage" published in Vanity Fair detailed how the "odd couple" came to run on the same ticket.
- Trump reportedly shot former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a frequent Trump critic, being his running mate because "he doesn't say nice things about me."
- At first, Pence - a midwestern conservative popular with Evangelical voters for his hardline opposition to abortion and LGBT rights - might not have seemed to be obvious choice to run as the running mate for Trump's bombastic campaign style.
- But while Trump needed a calm presence to balance out his boisterous campaign style and outrageous statements, Pence's re-election prospects were looking grim - and joining Trump on the ticket could be his last chance to hold national office.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
President Donald Trump values loyalty above all else - and he selected former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his 2016 running mate "because he says nice things about me," according to a new book.
An excerpt from Politico correspondent Tim Alberta's forthcoming book "American Carnage" published in Vanity Fair detailed how the "odd couple" came to run on the same ticket.
In discussions with legendary Republican strategist Karl Rove and former RNC Finance Chair Steve Wynn, Trump reportedly shot down the idea of former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a frequent Trump critic, being his running mate because "he doesn't say nice things about me."
At that point, Rove pitched Pence to Trump, saying, "I think your battlegrounds are going to be between Pennsylvania and Iowa, and if you're going to break the Blue Wall, you need someone with Midwestern sensibilities and someone who has evangelical appeal. There's one guy who fits that description."
At first, Pence - who's popular with these voters for his hardline opposition to abortion and LGBT rights - might not have seemed to be obvious choice to run as the running mate for Trump's bombastic campaign style and his background as a billionaire real estate developer and reality TV star.
But the strategists close to Trump, including then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and adviser Kellyanne Conway, figured that the two would be perfect for eachother. While Trump needed a calm presence to balance out his boisterous campaign style and outrageous statements, Pence's re-election prospects were looking grim - and joining Trump on the ticket could be his last chance to hold national office.
Alberta recounted how Manafort engineered a tryout for Pence with Trump, part of which took place in Indiana and at Trump's golf course in New Jersey, in which Pence recalled Trump asking him "a thousand questions" over a round of golf.
The tryout won over Trump's children, who convinced Trump that Pence was "deferential, would attract Evangelicals" and was "polished," leading Trump to announce Pence as his running mate right before the convention.
Pence has largely stayed out of the spotlight and been a loyal ally to Trump ever since, but things haven't always been smooth sailing.
In a separate excerpt of "American Carnage" published in Politico Magazine, Pence and his wife Karen Pence was so "apoplectic" over the release of comments Trump made on "Access Hollywood" bragging about assaulting women that they holed up in the Governor's mansion, where Pence came close to dropping out of the race as Trump's running mate, writing a letter to Trump detailing his horror over the comments.
"American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump" is set to be released by the publisher Harper on July 16.
Read more: