October 17, 2017

Trump Head, Pence Tail

If a metaphor could be used for this White House, it might be a two-sided coin with President Trump the head and Vice President Mike Pence the tail.

If a metaphor could be used for this White House, it might be a two-sided coin with President Trump the head and Vice President Mike Pence the tail.

The president tends toward the bombastic to get people’s attention and make his points, while his vice president is calm and measured in his response to questions, sometimes resembling a contemplative monk. In many ways they complement each other.

During an interview Thursday, the vice president said tax reform is now the administration’s top domestic priority and that “we have the best opportunity between now and the end of the year to do that.” He believes it will get done.

Why the optimism? Because, he says, “there is broad-based and more than a little bipartisan support for tax relief to get this economy growing again.” Pence thinks the “failure to repeal Obamacare in 2017 has created [an] even greater sense of urgency. There’s a great sense of anticipation among the American public. I think members of Congress are very aware of that.”

What about Obamacare and the failure of Republicans to repeal and replace it, leading to a number of executive orders (issued Thursday) to address what the president feels is the harm caused by that law?

Pence predicts the Senate will go along with the House next spring when a new budget bill comes up for consideration. “The word we got from Senators [Lisa] Murkowski and [John] McCain was very favorable toward the Graham-Cassidy bill, which would have repealed the individual mandate, repealed the business mandate and block grant[ed] resources back to the states. Their attitude on the substance was very favorable, but both of them wanted to give the Senate time to go through the committee process, the hearing process, for full floor consideration and amendments.”

What about Iran and the decertification of the nuclear deal made during the Obama administration? Pence said the president considers the deal a “disaster agreement for the United States.” From the White House on Friday, the president announced he was decertifying the deal, imposing new sanctions and asking our allies and Congress to address the deal’s “serious flaws.”

North Korea? Pence notes how “truly remarkable” he believes it is that there is a “global consensus around a commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. … What we’ve seen from the Kim regime in recent months is a series of provocations and a nuclear missile test I believe has created an environment that has made it possible for us to forge not only stronger relations with our allies in the region, but given President Trump’s strong relationship with President Xi of China, we’ve seen China take action regarding North Korea that they’ve never taken before [including] cutting off access to financial institutions in China.”

I ask if a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and getting Kim to stop production of nuclear weapons can be achieved without war and get the standard answer the president has given: “We remain hopeful we’ll be able to achieve it by economic and diplomatic means, but all options are on the table.”

As might be expected of a loyal vice president, Pence suggests the president is not getting the credit he thinks he deserves for undoing some of the policies of previous administrations, attempting to loosen the grip of ISIS in Iraq and for his businessman’s approach to government, emphasizing more private-sector jobs and relaxing or eliminating unnecessary regulations that stifle economic growth.

Would he care to comment on the Harvey Weinstein story everyone is talking about?

He smiles and demurs, possibly adopting the philosophy that when your liberal political enemies are destroying themselves, why get in the way by changing the subject?

On the way out of the White House Mess where we had lunch, Pence pauses to admire a model of an old ship. To employ a nautical phrase, Mike Pence is a calming influence on sometimes stormy political seas. He may be President Trump’s greatest political and personal asset.

© 2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.