USA TODAY US Edition

A perfect yes man for Donald Trump

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Craig Fehrman, Los Ange

les Times: “(Mike) Pence’s appeal, to pundits at least, is all about balance. Where Trump is impulsive, Pence is discipline­d; where Trump is brash, Pence is calm; where Trump is ideologica­lly pliable, Pence is sturdily conservati­ve. But as a Hoosier and one of Pence’s constituen­ts, I think this analysis gets him exactly wrong. The Pence of 2016 isn’t Trump’s perfect counterbal­ance. He’s Trump’s perfect yes man.” Erick Erickson, The

Resurgent: “(As) governor of Indiana, Pence decided to fight the religious liberty battle, but once the legislatio­n was passed, Pence scrambled to reverse himself and angered all sides in the process. Christian evangelica­ls, in particular, were dishearten­ed that Pence threw them under the bus. The irony is that ... some of those evangelica­ls most critical of Pence at the time will now come out and say how awesome he is. But during that fight there was real bitterness in the evangelica­l community that Pence clearly did not have the courage of his conviction­s. When the national criticism from the gay mafia and press stormed into Indiana, Pence folded like a cheap suit.”

Mark Joseph Stern,

Slate: “Nationally, Pence is perhaps best known for signing into law a mean-spirited ‘religious liberty’ bill targeting LGBTQ people — then revising the measure after its discrimina­tory purpose sparked coastto-coast outcry. The religious liberty flap demonstrat­ed that Pence is casually anti-gay, startlingl­y craven and extraordin­arily vacuous. All these qualities make him the ideal choice for Trump’s vice president.” Kelly Riddell, Washington Times: “Pence strongly opposed Mr. Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigrants, calling the policy ‘offensive and unconstitu­tional’ in December. The press will hound Mr. Pence every day on how he can square these opinions with being Mr. Trump’s running mate.” Harry Enten, Five Thirty Eight: “Pence is somewhat unpopular among the people who can form an opinion about him ... His net favorabili­ty rating would be the worst of any vicepresid­ential selection since 1976 at the time of their selection. But the other reported finalists, Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich, are well known

and disliked by the public.”

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