https://sumnerevans.com/tags/politics/Recent content in Politics on Sumner EvansHugoen-usThu, 15 Oct 2026 12:05:24 -0600https://sumnerevans.com/posts/politics/trumps-vp-picks/Sun, 01 Jun 2025 06:25:00 -0600https://sumnerevans.com/posts/politics/trumps-vp-picks/<p>Donald Trump has made two vice presidential picks. In 2016 he chose Mike Pence, and in 2024 he chose JD Vance. Each of these picks was brilliant in its own right.</p> <h2 id="2016-mike-pence"> 2016: Mike Pence <a class="permalink" href="#2016-mike-pence" aria-label="Permalink to 2016: Mike Pence" ><!-- tags: [zoom-filled, link, url, connection, hyperlink, reference, attach, join, typography, writing] category: Text version: "1.0" unicode: "eade" --> <svg aria-hidden="true" class="hi-svg-inline" fill="none" height="1em" stroke="currentColor" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" viewBox="0 0 24 24" width="1em" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M9 15l6 -6" /> <path d="M11 6l.463 -.536a5 5 0 0 1 7.071 7.072l-.534 .464" /> <path d="M13 18l-.397 .534a5.068 5.068 0 0 1 -7.127 0a4.972 4.972 0 0 1 0 -7.071l.524 -.463" /> </svg> </a> </h2> <p>During the 2016 Republican primary, Trump faced significant resistance from within the Republican party for having a morally objectionable character, for not being a principled conservative, and for not having enough requisite understanding of politics to successfully run an administration. However, Trump emerged from a hotly contested primary ahead of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, two highly respected figures within the Republican establishment.</p>