And whereas the president’s photo op with a Bible outside a historic Washington DC church in June struck some evangelicals as a crude parody of their faith, Pence – whose trademark line is “I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order,” – is perceived as authentic. Pence is expected to continue plugging away in his effort to keep wavering conservatives in line, reminding them that Trump is fundamentally reshaping the federal judiciary with more than 200 appointments so far. But Pence will also head to Wisconsin on Wednesday, drawing a pointed contrast with Biden, who decided against delivering his acceptance speech there as originally planned. In a sign of the frustration, the Trump campaign on Friday announced that the president will stage “mini-rallies” in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Arizona as counter-programming to next week’s Democratic national convention. Michael D’Antonio, a political author and commentator, said: “The rallies are a big loss because he is a vaudevillian and if he can’t perform, what does he do? He’s such a good showman that it must be killing him to not be out on the campaign trail.” Journalist Brian Karem tweeted about one: “Today I saw a man with low energy, befuddled and lumbering.” Trump, meanwhile, has been mostly trapped inside the gilded cage of the White House, delivering press briefings in the dog days of summer that have prompted critics to suggest his heart is not in it. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Pence will be tasked with reminding evangelical waverers of what Trump has done for them, such as his reshaping of the federal judiciary. On Fox News he blamed some of New York’s pandemic death toll on “poor decisions” by the state’s Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, while on the Christian Broadcasting Network, he said the supreme court chief justice, John Roberts, had been “a disappointment to conservatives”. Pence has also been on air, defending the president and scoring partisan points. In Florida he spoke at a Baptist church about “the importance of life”, pushing a hardline anti-abortion message, and toured a pregnancy centre with his daughter, Charlotte.Įarlier this week he headlined a “Cops for Trump” event and “Latter-day Saints for Trump” coalition launch in Arizona, while his wife, Karen, visited a “military spouse owned business” in Charlotte, North Carolina, to highlight the cause of suicide prevention. Pence, 61, has been clocking up air miles to swing states, speaking to gatherings of supporters and blurring the line between governing and election campaigning. With the president enduring miserable poll numbers and starved of the political oxygen of blockbuster campaign rallies, he now arguably has a bigger role than ever to play in shoring up his boss’s socially conservative base – especially white Christian evangelicals, some of whom find their trust in Trump wearing thin. Pence was a crucial bridge to Republicans sceptical of Trump in 2016. We’re not going to let Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cut America’s meat!” “Senator Harris said she would change the dietary guidelines in this country to reduce the amount of red meat Americans can eat,” Pence said, eliciting boos.
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