By Nate Odenkirk | Staff Writer
The Vice President of The United States was ebullient.
With his characteristically enthusiastic stride and that million-dollar smile, he sauntered out of a well-decorated room in the East Wing. He had just reached a huge milestone for the American people—no doubt saving millions of lives, forever altering the course of history, and cementing his legacy amongst the greatest vice presidents who have ever served. It was July 6th, 2018, and Mike Pence had just completed his 200th on-camera interview.
“When I saw the vice president come out of that room, I was looking at a man who loved his job, and knew he was making a difference,” said an aide who was with Mr. Pence that day. Most vice presidents hover around the 90 or 100 interview mark after their first four years. The vice president was able to blow past that record, amassing dozens of interviews with Fox News, and even other channels sometimes. “Mike Pence has said more nice things about the president than any other vice president in history,” said Tad Shallows, a Trump campaign spokesperson. “The American people want results. They want a vice president who will fight for them, by answering lots of questions in on-camera interviews.”
In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump made a solemn promise to be as morbidly entertaining as possible. Any vice president would have a hard time in that environment, but Mike Pence’s warm demeanor and happy grin has charmed Republicans and Democrats alike. “Say what you will about his politics, but Mike Pence sure can do an interview,” conceded Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). “He’s an inspiration to my younger generation, quite frankly.”
The interviews themselves aside, a particularly impressive feat of Mr. Pence’s is his incredible ability to say nice things about the president at the drop of a hat. How does he do it? Aides to the vice president say he has a list of 500 random words, like China, Jobs, Biden, America, and God-given rights written out on index cards. Then, before the interview begins, he takes out the deck of index cards and shuffles them randomly to form a completely new sentence, and tacks on the words “President Trump” to the beginning. When Trump said person, woman, man, camera, TV, a few weeks back, that was actually him trying out the vice president’s “index card” approach for himself. The president, however, neglected to check before coming on air to make sure the string of random words made sense, something Mr. Pence always does.
Sharp as a tack, the vice president’s ripostes are truly second to none. When asked about the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Pence was ready as always with a witty and one-of-a-kind response:
“You know, when I watch President Trump stand up to China, and get our jobs back to America, I can’t help but think what Biden will do to take away our God-given rights.”
And, when pressed on the Administration’s lackluster coronavirus response, Pence deftly retorted with this beauty, chock full of specifics:
“You know, President Trump’s main priority is to jobs. When China brought the virus over, and stalled America’s economy, Trump is ready to bring it back. Biden, on the other hand, will resort to mask mandates and take away our God-given rights.”
Genius.
For four years, the vice president has shown he can handle a tough situation, assuming of course that the situation is an on-camera interview without follow up questions. With the election in just under forty days, the Trump campaign should put Mr. Pence on as many television sets in America as possible. The country demands nothing more, and deserves nothing less. ♦