Trump and his VP Mike Pence will be sworn into office in 4 days. Trump has been the main headline of every successful news outlet, but how much do you know about Pence?
Pence’s record proves that he has had no qualms of risking popularity in order to pass legislature.
“Mike has done a great job as governor of Indiana. You look at the numbers, and it's been great -- he's done really a fantastic job,” Trump said of his new vice presidential candidate.
Pence was born into an Irish Catholic, middle class family in Indiana. He graduated from law school at Indiana University, and has become known in republican circles as a strict conservative and a supporter of the Tea Party movement, an American political campaign known for its conservative involvement in the Republican Party.
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002, Pence represented Indiana in the house until 2008, when he was elected the Republican Office Chairman, the third highest position within the Republican Party. In 2012, Pence was elected the 50th governor of Indiana, a position he has since maintained.
Trump and pence have been cited with having several conflicting viewpoints in regards to critical controversies. Trump’s plan for a strict ban of muslim immigrants in particular has been a point of disagreement. "Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional," he tweeted in Dec. 2015. "Our Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. The U.S. cannot discriminate on the basis of religion."
As a conservative member of the Republican Party, Pence wants to limit abortion rights, strengthen the security of the second amendment, and push for more tax cuts. With extensive foreign political background, Pence has long been a supporter of an aggressive style of interventionism and nation building in world conflicts.
Controversy surrounds Trump’s choice of his second-in-command man. After signing an Indiana religious freedom bill in 2015, often deemed discriminatory of LGBT individuals, Pence faces the negative consequences of perceived prejudice. During a closed-door meeting in 2012, Pence related the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, immediately facing an outcry of both offended Pence supporters and critisiors.
Time will tell what kind of legacy, good or bad, the Trump-Pence administration will leave behind.
