Mike Pence Becomes the Anti-Cruz

Governor Mike Pence, of Indiana, walked onstage Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention, in Cleveland, to illustrate what it looks like to make a deal with Donald Trump and then put aside every priority but keeping your side of it. Many Republican leaders have compromised themselves in getting on the Trump Train. A number of them seem to believe that if they don’t mention his name too often in their speeches (Paul Ryan), or if they address the Convention by video, rather than in person (Marco Rubio), they will have some shred of deniability in the event that the campaign ends in a crash, and just enough evidence of accommodation to collect some reward, or exemption, if Trump does come through. It is not a satisfying bargain, which may be why Senator Ted Cruz’s self-congratulatory gaming of it, in his non-endorsement speech earlier in the evening, enraged so many compromised Republicans. Pence is in a different position. He is putting his name down not only in the rolls of Trump supporters but on the signs that circle the Convention floor and, soon, right below Trump’s on a ballot.