Mike Pence On His Role Model For VP: “I Frankly Hold Dick Cheney In Very High Regard”

The Trump campaign truly is schizophrenic.

During an interview aired on ABC’s This Week, Indiana Governor and Republican Veep nominee Mike Pence told host Martha Raddatz that he aspires to be like Dick Cheney if he were to serve as Vice-President. This despite the fact that GOP nominee Donald Trump has been highly critical of the Bush Administration throughout his run for the White House. Oh, and also because Cheney was the chief architect of the Middle Eastern quagmire the United States finds itself in to this day.

Walking along a tarmac in Indiana, Raddatz asked Pence who his role models are for the job he aspires to. Without hesitation, Trump’s running mate tossed out Cheney’s name.

“I frankly hold Dick Cheney in really high regard in his role as vice president and as an American,” he told Raddatz. Immediately, Raddatz shot back, “That’s the kind of Vice-President you would want to be?”

Pence’s retort:

“Well I think a very active vice president. Vice-President Cheney had experience in Congress as I do and he was very active in working with members of the House and the Senate.”

The ABC host pointed out to Pence that Cheney was seen as having too much influence on POTUS during his time in office. She wondered if he was looking to be the power behind the throne with Trump. In the VP candidate’s opinion, he thinks vice-presidents just need to further articulate the Commander-In-Chief’s vision and help be the President’s champion on Capitol Hill. In this case, he’d do his best to Make America Great Again.

Once again, it is interesting that Pence is publicly expressing admiration for the Bush Administration and the guy most responsible for the Iraq War considering how Trump has ran his campaign. The early part of his run was centered on taking out “Low Energy” Jeb Bush by tying him to the failures of his brother. On top of that, he’s (falsely) claimed that he was against the Iraq War from the beginning, calling it a huge mistake and disaster. Hell, he’s even pushed 9/11 truther conspiracies about Bush and Cheney’s involvement in the World Trade Center attacks.

So, yeah, Pence stating Cheney is his VP role model is strange and contradictory to what Trump is pushing. But that is pretty much how this whole election season has rolled.

Below is video of the exchange, courtesy of ABC News:

.@mike_pence tells @MarthaRaddatz his role model for vice president is Dick Cheney https://t.co/AxUwuPf8z1 #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/0OljoAzXCS

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 18, 2016