Well, Donald Trump revealed his VP pick on Twitter a short time ago and I’ve been arguing about it ever since. Over and over again, I’ve advised him to do one of two thing:

  • Pick a very well-spoken minority and/or female candidate in order to help with some image problems. 

or…

  • Pick Chris Christie due to his track record as an attack dog master and his national profile. 

As you know, Trump did neither of those with his selection

If there’s anything resembling a “safe” vice-presidential pick for Donald Trump, Mike Pence is it. He has executive experience as Indiana’s governor and a strong legislative resume from his 12 years as a member of the US House of Representatives.

While in Washington, he chaired the Republican Study Group, a coalition of hard-core conservatives, which gives him solid bona fides among the grass-roots Tea Party wing of the party that has occasional doubts about Mr Trump’s ideological purity.

Mr Pence also hails from the mid-west, which Mr Trump’s team has identified as perhaps the key battleground in his quest for the White House.

In Republican circles Mr Pence’s record isn’t entirely clean, however. Some on the right have criticised the governor for backing down when the state’s “religious liberty” law was challenged by LGBT activists and local businesses last year.

I think the Pence choice was sensible, although perhaps it was too “normal.” I know they want to put out the aura of competence and serioussness, but maybe this was a little too far in that direction. Also, Pence has some of his own issues, as that BBC article alluded to. Still, I don’t think it was horrible.

The reason I wrote this post was to get your feedback, but also to talk about some of the pushback I got on Twitter for my first bit of advice. Apparently, being cognizant of the political realities makes some think I’ve gone soft or something. First off, you should never pick anyone for VP who is unqualified to be the president. That really hurt McCain. I’m not saying should have picked a minority or female who was unqualified. I just think that should have been something they looked at trying to do if it was possible.

Now, some people have made an excellent point. It goes a little something like this…

https://twitter.com/Jack_Rayner_III/status/753991264895397888

https://twitter.com/Jack_Rayner_III/status/753992442840551424

That’s a fair thing to mention. The media would have spent a lot of time calling it a craven political move and I’m sure progressive interest groups and their allies would have slimed whoever it was as as Uncle Tom or whatever slur happened to fit. It’s almost enough to make me say fuck the whole minority/woman consideration altogether, in which case…it should have been Chris Christie.

But, oh well. Like I said, I don’t hate the Pence pick, it’s just very “meh.” I think there’s a lot of evidence that this is Trump trying to be a “serious candidate” while also throwing a bone to the RNC establishment. Plus, Pence isn’t complete shit as a politician. I know a lot of people hate this choice, Mike Cernovich among them. We’ll see how it plays. I definitely would have preferred a Christie. That guy knows how to fuck people up and was 100% loyal to Trump after coming aboard. Ah well, the convention next week should still be pretty exciting.

Lemme know what you think about the pick!