Trump introduces Mike Pence as running mate with low-key announcement

Trump: 'He's a solid, solid person'
Posted: 12:55 PM, Jul 16, 2016
Updated: 2016-07-16 13:42:46-04
Trump introduces Mike Pence as running mate with low-key announcement


Skipping the traditional massive rally in favor of a low-key announcement in a Manhattan hotel, Trump tried to draw a sharp contrast between Pence, a soft-spoken conservative, and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate. In fact, he spent about as much time lambasting Clinton as praising Pence, declaring she had led President Barack Obama "down a horrible path" abroad.



Pence, standing alone in front of American flags, hewed closely to the populist themes that Trump has voiced on the campaign trail, describing himself as "really just a small-town boy." He praised Trump effusively as "a good man," a fighter, a legendary businessman and a patriotic American.

"The American people are tired," Pence said. "We're tired of being told that this is as good as it gets. We're tired of having politicians in both parties in Washington, D.C., telling us we'll get to those problems tomorrow."

The joint appearance was intended to catapult the party toward a successful and unified Republican National Convention, which kicks off in Cleveland on Monday. Trump conceded that one of the reasons he'd selected Pence was to promote unity within the Republican Party, left deeply fractured by Trump's ascent.

"So many people have said 'party unity,' because I'm an outsider," Trump said. "I want to be an outsider."

Yet the announcement lacked much of the stagecraft typically associated with the public unveiling of a running mate, one of the most significant moments in a presidential campaign's control.

The two did not walk out together, appearing at each other's side only after Trump delivered a rambling 28-minute address that included a plug for his new hotel in Washington. And when they shook hands, with the political world watching, it was only for a few seconds before Trump left the podium.


Brandishing his running mate's job-creating credentials, Trump ticked through a list of statistics he said showed how Pence had pulled Indiana out of economic recessions: an unemployment rate that fell to less than 5 percent on his watch, an uptick in the labor force and a decrease in Indiana residents on unemployment insurance.

"This is the primary reason I wanted Mike — other than that he looks very good, other than he's got an incredible family, and incredible wife," Trump said. He predicted that Pence would have won re-election as governor, were he not running for vice president.







