FOREIGN POLICY/GOP/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “When former Vice President Dick Cheney charged this weekend that Donald Trump treats American foreign policy like a ‘New York real estate deal,’ he demanded an answer not from the president but from Trump’s mild-mannered vice president, Mike Pence. To the audience of Republican insiders gathered in Sea Island, Ga., Cheney’s grilling of Pence about Trump’s governing style — as well as Pence’s totally on-message defense of the president — may have appeared awkward. But Pence had been there before. In recent months, Pence has repeatedly found himself an even-tempered target for prominent Republicans needing to vent about Trump’s unorthodox style…That has become more and more true of late. In multiple encounters with Republicans on Capitol Hill, on issues ranging from Syria to the government shutdown, Pence has swallowed his personal views, which have historically been far more in line with the GOP establishment than Trump’s.”
–Eliana Johnson and Burgess Everett, “Pence takes GOP punches for Trump,” Politico, March 12, 2019 7:19 pm