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When Donald Trump selected him as his running mate in July 2016, Mike Pence was seen largely as a way to ensure that social conservatives and evangelicals skeptical of Trump would turn out to vote for him. Like most vice presidential picks, Pence was meant to serve a specific but limited purpose. A red-state governor with strong ties to the most conservative elements of the Republican Party, and more than a decade in the U.S. House of Representatives, Pence could shore up Trumps lack of experience, and at least on paper, he looked like the perfect political counterweight to a flamethrowing outsider.

A little more than a year later, amid the backbiting, tumult, and controversy that have defined Trumps presidency, Pence remains exactly what he was brought in to bea rare pillar of calm, polished professionalism. Hes avoided West Wing knife fights, managing not to make enemies in a White House riven by rival factions and power struggles. Pence has also tactfully steered clear of making any significant slights or public contradictions of the president and wisely avoided whats perhaps the gravest sin in Trump Worldovershadowing the boss.

And yet a quiet tension looms over his role. As questions swirl about Trumps future and what may come after, attention has returned to Pence and his potential ambitions. News that he started his own leadership PAC in May raised eyebrows about whether Pence, 58, was actively preparing for life post-Trump or even considering a run in 2020 himself, something he vehemently denies but that Democrats are taking seriously. Still, as he becomes a stabilizing force inside an erratic White Houseif only by defaultthe question arises: Can he use that role to effect change inside it?

Evidence suggests Trump has come to realize Pences value as an asset to be deployed. Whether he sees him as someone worth listening to is another matter. Pence opened for Trump at an Aug. 22 rally in Phoenix, asserting the bosss commitment to racial harmony. Trump proceeded to trample that message in his ensuing speech. The two men do talk multiple times a day and have a scheduled lunch every week. Trumps chief of staff, U.S. Marine Corps General John Kelly, has also struck up a close relationship with Pence and talks with the vice presidents chief of staff, Nick Ayers, each morning and throughout the day.

Among senior officials in the West Wing, no one has the legislative and executive expertise of Pence, who spent four years as governor of Indiana after his 12 years in Congress. His staff is versed in state and national politics and has deep ties to Congress and the Republican Party. After the departure of Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer, both of whom spent years working for the Republican National Committee, those ties are crucial to a West Wing devoid of many Republican stalwarts.

Pence has earned a broad portfolio of domestic and foreign policy issues to oversee, including a big role in formulating the strategy for Afghanistan. This summer, hes led meetings with military and national security advisers, collecting and analyzing options, according to a person familiar with the planning process. In a two-hour meeting at Camp David on Aug. 18, rather than advocate for a particular position, Pence played the intermediary, making sure Trump got a complete picture of the scenarios, according to a person familiar with the meeting. Before the presidents Aug. 21 address on the U.S.s future involvement in Afghanistan, it was Pencenot Trumpwho talked to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the person says.

Pence has taken on a weighty foreign policy role, traveling to a dozen countries, where hes smoothed the rough edges of Trumps nationalist trade talk and volatile foreign policy declarations. During recent stops in Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Panama, he had to calm leaders over Trumps remarks that a military option was on the table for Venezuela and to reassure countries that the U.S. was still an eager trading partner. As tensions escalated with North Korea, it was Pence, clad in a leather bomber jacket, who scowled across the 38th parallel in April.

Perhaps Pences biggest asset is his relationship with congressional Republicans. He has lunch with GOP senators almost every Tuesday when Congress is in session, something his predecessors rarely kept up. Hes also made the rare move of opening an office on the House side of the Hill and spends much of his time at the U.S. Capitol. During the tensest moments of the health-care debate, some House aides said they preferred dealing with Pence and his staff, ignoring calls from Priebus, says a senior aide to Republican leadership. Pence is close with House Speaker Paul Ryan and often informs him on White House policy decisions. It helps that Trumps legislative affairs director, Marc Short, is a former Pence operative.

No one is more influential in the Capitol than Mike Pence, says North Carolina Representative Mark Walker, chairman of the conservative 170-member Republican Study Committee. Pence is one of the few people who can bridge the different political groups in the House. The vice president was crucial in getting the Obamacare repeal through the House, though when it came to getting it through the Senate, he was less effective. His last-minute entreaties to Arizona Republican Senator John McCain failed.

As relations between Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have soured, particularly with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Pence will likely have to play the role of mediator. McConnell credits Pence for his active role on the Hill and calls him an indispensable player for the White House. His influence also gives him a greater ability to push his own agenda of entitlement cuts and ending funding for Planned Parenthood. Neil Bradley, a former top GOP House staffer and advocate at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says Pence will be absolutely critical to getting a tax bill passed this fall.

Pence is also expected to be a surrogate for Trump in the 2018 midterm elections, particularly in conservative areas of the country where his endorsement may carry more weight than Trumps. With the West Wing a revolving door of staffers quitting or being dismissed, Pence has job security. As vice president, hes the one White House official whom Trump cant fire.

BOTTOM LINE - Pence has avoided the political backstabbing in the West Wing and does parts of the job Trump wont. Can he help get the president back on track?

See more here:
Mike Pence Is More Important Than Ever for Trump - Bloomberg