Trump’s Worst Month in Office Was One of Mike Pence’s Best

(Bloomberg) -- October has been one of President Donald Trump’s worst months in office -- and one of Mike Pence’s best.

As a series of damaging revelations in the House impeachment inquiry weighed on Trump, the vice president was thrust into the spotlight twice as the point-man on major policy issues. They were fraught with political risk, but resulted in the biggest wins of Pence’s tenure.

In the span of two weeks, Pence salvaged a tenuous and short-term peace between Turkey and Kurdish forces, quelling an uproar in Washington after Republicans blasted Trump’s withdrawal in Syria. A week later, the vice president rebuked Beijing’s record on human rights -- in a speech long-sought by both Republicans and Democrats -- without disrupting fragile U.S.-China trade talks.

The performances suggest the White House may increasingly turn to the vice president to handle politically thorny situations as a parade of impeachment witnesses further weaken Trump’s ability to get anything done in Washington. In October, the number of Americans supporting the House inquiry grew to more than half, according to a RealClearPolitics average of public polling.

Trump reclaimed the limelight over the weekend with an announcement that U.S. troops had killed the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The foreign policy victory offered Trump a reprieve from a flood of impeachment-related news, but it’s likely to be brief.

Pence has also almost single-handedly led efforts to pressure House Democrats to vote for Trump’s rewrite of Nafta -- likely the only major Trump initiative that stands a chance of passing Congress before the 2020 elections. The vice president has been criss-crossing the U.S. to sell the deal -- traveling last week to key swing states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and this week to Virginia.

He’s also stumping for GOP gubernatorial candidates in Louisiana and Kentucky this week and will headline a fundraising event in Texas for Trump’s re-election campaign.

‘Relentlessly On Message’

Matt Gorman, a Republican strategist, said Pence is a popular visitor for GOP officeholders across the country.

“There are not a lot of places he can’t go. He can appeal to all segments of the party, whether it’s the MAGA crowd or the more establishment lane,” Gorman said. “And the most important part is that he is relentlessly on message. He’s not going to make news on anyone other than who he’s there to support.”

Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, dismissed the notion that Pence is filling a leadership void created by the impeachment inquiry. The vice president is relentlessly deferential to his boss, known in Washington for heaping praise on Trump at public events.

But Short said there is a benefit to Pence’s focus on core issues in his appearances.

“In the midst of a conversation about impeachment, the vice president is showing the hard work that is being done by this administration on behalf of the American people,” Short said.

Ukraine Connections

Still, Pence is politically anchored to Trump and has his own troublesome connections to the impeachment inquiry, which is centered on whether Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate his political rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden.

Trump drew Pence into the inquiry during a Sept. 25 news conference, telling reporters they should ask for the vice president’s communications with Zelenskiy because the records would show their discussions were “perfect.” Pence, who met with Zelenskiy on Sept. 1 in Warsaw, has said he doesn’t object to releasing accounts of his communications.

William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified last week that Zelenskiy had asked Pence directly about about security assistance that had been frozen during their Warsaw meeting. Pence didn’t answer definitively but said that Trump wanted European countries to do more to support Ukraine and for Kyiv to more aggressively probe corruption, according to Taylor. Pence has denied raising the topic of Biden with Ukraine’s leader.

Within the White House, there are concerns about precedent and executive privilege that are holding up a final decision to release records of Pence’s interactions with Zelenkskiy to the public, according to a senior administration official. NBC News reported earlier on Tuesday that some of Trump’s allies are concerned that records of Pence’s communications with Zelenskiy could make the president’s own interactions with the Ukrainian leader look even worse.

Cease-Fire Agreement

The vice president’s October wins helped distract from the impeachment drama playing out in Washington. He announced the cease-fire agreement with Turkey on Oct. 17, the same day acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney held a news conference in which he acknowledged that Trump sought a quid pro quo with Ukraine, only to reverse himself later.

Roughly an hour after Mulvaney’s appearance began, Pence took the lectern at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Ankara to announce he had reached a deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I spoke to President Trump just a few moments ago, and I know the president is very grateful for President Erdogan’s willingness to step forward and to enact the cease-fire, and to give an opportunity for a peaceful solution of this conflict,” he said.

Some on Pence’s staff initially had misgivings about the trip because it put the vice president into an uncertain situation -- Erdogan had indicated beforehand that he would not agree to a cease-fire. But the deal, which was panned by lawmakers from both parties as a giveaway to Turkey, was seen as a success within the White House, and others have warmed to it as the peace has held.

Trump declared the cease-fire “permanent” on Oct. 23 and said that he would lift sanctions on Turkey. He thanked Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for “leading the American delegation so successfully” and brokering a deal that saved “countless lives” without “spilling one drop of American blood.”

Risky Limelight

Being in the limelight carries risks in Trump’s White House. The president is known to grow weary of people around him who attract too much attention. And there’s also the possibility of being undercut by the commander-in-chief.

On Thursday in his China speech, Pence went further than the president has in criticizing Beijing’s human rights record, including its intervention to end protests in Hong Kong -- an attempt to “curtail the rights and liberties of its people,” the vice president said. China’s leaders fired back, criticizing what they called Pence’s “arrogance.”

Trump called Pence’s China speech “fine” four times when asked about it on Friday, stopping short of a full-throated endorsement.

“I’m also working very closely with China on a deal, but his speech was fine,” Trump said.

Trump has said he hopes to seal a “phase one” agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping at next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago, Chile. The president said he reviewed the speech with Pence before the vice president delivered it and Short said the two men are “in frequent communication” over messaging. The China speech was “no different,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jordan Fabian in Washington at jfabian6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu

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