Posted on 07/15/2016 3:53:14 PM PDT by usafa92
I hope all forgive the vanity posting, I really try not to do them, but I, along with many of you have been following with great interest, Trump’s VP pick. I like many of you had a wish list and have read with great interest everyone’s opinion on the pick, both pro and con. However, I think at the end of the day, Trump made and outstanding pick in Pence, for reasons many of us may at first have overlooked.
Those of you who follow this board, I’m sure know me as an ardent Trump supporter, have been since he announced. I grew up and live in NJ (not my fault), and have watched Trump for years, all the way back to my first NJ Generals game in 1984. He’s been a constant presence here ever since I can remember, and yes, I go to the Taj when in AC, even though Trump doesn’t own it anymore. Carl Icahn does. At 18, I went to the US Air Force Academy, graduated in 1992 and did 6 years active duty. I had a front row seat at an early age to both outstanding and poor leaders. After I got out in 1998, I went into business and have continually worked in the NYC area in the Financial Services industry and again have had a front row seat to both great and terrible executives. Trump is an outstanding executive and the Pence pick proves it.
CEO’s set the strategy and vision, but Trump has little to no experience in passing legislation, and probably doesn’t care one bit about the nuts and bolts of doing so. He told us from the beginning that he was going to get a “political” person to help him with the legislative part of the job, and he got about the best person available to do that. In Trump’s world, his VP is his COO, the right hand person who is going to execute his vision. So, excluding Sessions and Mike Flynn, who may or may not have been in the running, we had 3 generally accepted finalists; Newt, Christie, and Pence.
Newt is a master legislator but is undisciplined and has a bad habit of running off at the mouth. He also backtracks frequently. Just last night he was lauded here for his comments on Islam and not 12 hours later he was “clarifying” himself. Weekly, Newt would be stirring up another controversy that would overshadow the message. From an executive’s standpoint, Newt was the absolute worst person you could have had for VP because he would view his role as a co-Presidency. So we can see why Newt was out.
Christie, is my governor. He’s a little all over the map, but generally speaking, he might have been acceptable in 2012 in place of Willard as the nominee, but not in 2016 as the nominee or VP. Christie is great on taxes, a wonderful debater, takes no crap from Democrats and the media and overall would be better than Newt, but you already have 1 executive in Trump, why would you need two? On top of that, Christie also has some very large negatives. He has toughened gun laws here, gave in state tuition to illegals, had the debacle with hugging Obama after Sandy, and Bridgegate is getting ready to ramp up. Also, he is basically a gavone as we say here.
So that left Pence. Pence has some negatives like the rest, which are well documented, but again, go back to Trump as the CEO to understand this pick. We also must understand that the basic facts are that most of the GOP outright sucks. It is full of cheap labor hacks, pro amnesty shills, and Chamber of Commerce sell outs. The pickings are slim for someone to align with Trump. There is nobody out there like Trump otherwise they would be nominee and not Trump. So Trump is the CEO and Pence will be the COO. Pence was the least worst option that perfectly fulfilled Trump’s greatest weakness. A 10 year legislator in Congress who can handle the job of crafting legislation and working with Congress, and also a Chief Executive as Governor of Indiana in case God forbid he should have to assume the Presidency.
So we should all be thankful we just saw a great CEO make a pick that will help him implement his agenda for the good of the country. Trump also learned from business that the person who beats you in a deal or steals one from you may be the next person you partner with, which is why he could care less that Pence endorsed Cruz. If what I saw Trump demonstrate with this pick is how he runs his administration, we are going to get some things back on track in this country.
Actually, I like and agree with your assessment above. Newt is a loose cannon with his mouth and is too old. Christie would have been okay I think, but he knows State gov’t, not federal gov’t. Pence knows the ins and out of both federal and state gov’t, and is more low key. He’ll stay out of Trump’s hair (which isn’t that easy to do considering Trump’s hair), and won’t interfere with Trump’s governing. He’ll be a good foot soldier.
Dollars have come to Pence (ok, ok, shaggy dog pun).
I wish the team well. Micro-analysis seems in vain here. God can integrate the picture to a profitable end. In our upset over Pence wilting on his religious freedom initiative, we might forget that at least he tried. With a backup of Trump for support on such policies, maybe his second rodeo will now be a success.
usafa92, well said!
Well said
Trump just seems more and more poised to play what could roughly be called a Cyrus the Great role. Maybe Pence is now his Nehemiah.
I like vanity posts. No apologies necessary. If someone doesn’t want to read a vanity they don’t have to click on it.
As someone who grew up on the other side of the bridge in Stamford Connecticut, I can tell you that #1...gavone is one of my favorite words “since I’m a kid”! I do like Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, don’t disluke Pence but most importantly, I trust Donald Trump. I too, have followed his career ever since he hit the streets in New York. I have a lot of respect for him... I think he is an incredible business man, employer, humanitarian and parent. I trust him to bring our country back to the great stature we have always enjoyed. As his first executive decision, I am feeling more and more confident that I will someday be able to exhale when my head hits the pillow at nite.
Good job! Your vanity is among the best I’ve read in a long time.
Nevertheless, I’m not sure I agree with you about Pence. I’m not sure he was the best choice. Time will tell.
Well I already exhale. Because I put the burden on the good Lord.
Also there is a lot a like about Trump but some things concern me but whatever, he is the nominee and is miles beyond Hilary (shudder).
I agree that he will approach this “job” like all others - as a CEO. That is his mindset and one of his great strengths. So I will look to him to operate like a CEO throughout the campaign and, d.v., during his presidency.
Actually well thought out vanity.
I’d add that Trump made a better VP choice than Reagan and Cruz did.
Thank you very much for that analysis. I was questioning why Pence although I have total faith that Trump does know what he needs to accomplish what he wants. You made it much clearer.
A 10 year legislator in Congress who can handle the job of crafting legislation and working with Congress, and also a Chief Executive as Governor of Indiana in case God forbid he should have to assume the Presidency.
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Pence will no doubt try to pull Trump to the right on any number of issues but he didn’t craft any legislation that got enacted into law and at his core isn’t a legislative deal maker.
Sorry I meant while in Congress didn’t sponsor any legislation that got enacted into law...
LOL - I had forgotten Lyin' Ted had made an official VP selection...
Ultimately, the question we ought to be asking is, who looks like he is making room in his picture for the Lord to bless. Not even who brings a sufficiently perfect life of his own to the picture. If this was the criterion for meaning anything, we’d never have seen a whole raft of bible personalities. Jesus coming to save necessarily implies everybody else needing to be saved, and to see them act that way shouldn’t scandalize anybody. We know what the picture is.
I think this is now true of both Trump and Pence, each strong in an area where the other is weak.
As for Hillary, this looks like a red carpet to Old Scratch. I don’t think there is any comparison.
You opine plenty. So can others. Nobody died and made you king either.
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