Donald Trump sought Mike Pence as his running mate in 2016 much harder and more aggressively than previously known, according to a forthcoming biography of the vice president.
In Piety & Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House, set for release on Sept. 24, author Tom LoBianco reports on the final conversation that summer between Trump, the pending Republican presidential nominee, and Pence, then Indiana’s governor, who previously served 12 years in the House.
The scene paints a markedly different portrait of Pence than the genuflecting, even cowering figure critics contend is all too willing to overlook Trump’s apostasies on personal behavior and decorum, in blind pursuit of national political power.
By the time the pair met at the governor’s mansion in Indianapolis, Trump had bested 16 GOP establishment rivals in the primaries. Having done things his own way and gotten that far, Trump wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about any of the finalists or second-tier choices for the understudy role, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Other than their shared Republican label, Trump and Pence couldn’t have been more different — one the brash multimillionaire and provocateur, the other a deeply religious figure who long described himself as “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.”
In the Indiana governor’s mansion, Trump and Pence “got down to brass tacks,” according to LoBianco, who has reported on national politics for CNN, the Associated Press, and earlier in this career, as an Indianapolis-based reporter covering then-Gov. Pence.
Trump marveled at Pence’s seeming serenity and nonchalance in discussing the vice presidency.
“Trump looked at Pence had held up his cell phone. He had several missed calls from Chris Christie. ‘I need killers, I want somebody to fight. Chris Christie calls me nonstop about this job. He calls me every ten seconds; he’d do anything for this job. He is dying to be vice president. And you, it’s like you don’t care,’ Trump said. ‘I need killers! Do you want this thing or not?’”
Pence calmly replied, “Look, Donald, if you want somebody to be a killer, if you want somebody to be a constant attack dog, I suggest you go find someone else. I’m not that guy. I’m going to enjoy myself; I’m going to be respectful. I’m going to do things with my own style because that’s how I’m comfortable.”
Trump seemed mystified. “’Well, then why are you going through this process?’ Trump asked, perplexed by Pence’s dismissive answer.”
“’Well, you’re in my home, you tell me,’” Pence said. “’Your whole family came here to see me. Obviously, the feeling is mutual, right?’”
“All Trump could say was ‘Wow.’”
Pence’s calm and diffident approach worked, as Trump soon chose him for the ticket, even if he did reconsider, asking friends and advisers if he had made the right choice and could undo the decision. By that point, though, Pence was in a position to force his hand, and the nominee-in-waiting introduced the Indiana governor to the world as his running mate.
[Also read: Pence marshaling conservatives for 2020 Trump reelection]
