Trump’s leadership style is anything but decisive.
Trump tried to back off Pence pick: report
By Mark Hensch
Donald Trump considered abandoning Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate late Thursday night after offering him the job, CNN's Dana Bash reported Friday
Bash elaborated on her report Friday on CNN television.
“Around midnight last night ... Donald Trump was on the phone with senior advisors trying to get out of this,” she said.
“This is after he offered the job to Mike Pence, and they flew him to New York, and they had him sitting in a hotel room in Manhattan thinking he is going to be the vice presidential pick and he just basically dumped his own plans for reelection in Indiana as governor,” Bash added.
“And so what this tells us is that this was so out of Donald Trump’s comfort zone. He does not operate like this.”
Trump was leaning toward New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie while his top aides were beating the drum for Pence, the report said.
“He operates with the gut, and by all accounts if you were following the gut, he would have gone with Chris Christie,” Bash said. "Everybody around him in the campaign apparatus had been making these moves to make it so Mike Pence would be his running mate.
Donald Trump just turned a key moment into a complete mess (once again)
By Philip Bump
Whatever the reason for the not-actually-a-postponement, the campaign clearly wasn't ready for the announcement itself. Politico's Shane Goldmacher outlined on Twitter a number of things that most campaigns would do to prepare for the moment: Updating the campaign website, refocusing Pence's social media to reflect his new position, buying Google ads for people curious about Pence (of whom there are a lot) or even releasing information about Pence to the media and public. Four days ago, Trump promised those who signed up for text alerts that they would be "among the first of my supporters to know" once he made his decision. It's been almost an hour since he tweeted Pence as his pick, as of writing; no text message with that news has arrived. (Update: It arrived two hours after the tweet, which had already been tweeted 26,000 times.)
The official rollout event has been kicked to Saturday in New Jersey, moving the news coverage from a Friday evening newscast to a summer Saturday. To be fair, as was pointed out to me on Twitter, Mitt Romney announced his pick of Paul Ryan on a summer Saturday, too. But Romney planned to do that. Trump is announcing his pick on a Saturday because he decided on Thursday night not to do it on Friday. Or, at least: We currently assume that Trump is making his announcement on Saturday. Who knows.
If this is how Donald Trump picks his Vice Presidential nominee, would Trump continue his chaotic gut decision making process if he were elected president?
Count on it.