Pence embarks on 11-interview tour in afterglow of Trump’s big speech

Following President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, Vice President Mike Pence embarked on a daylong interview tour praising the president and further promoting the administration’s agenda.

Though Trump offered little new in the speech, he nevertheless won plaudits for staying on message and for what many described as a “presidential” tone — an approach infrequently embraced by the president.

For his part, Pence also stayed remarkably on message in his appearances, to the point of repeating some talking points word for word in some interviews. On “Morning Joe,” “Good Morning America,” “Today,” “CBS This Morning” and “Fox & Friends,” he repeated, nearly verbatim, “It was a great speech, and more importantly, it was a great night for America. What the American people saw is the president I serve with every day: broad shoulders, big heart.”

Pence also raved about the president’s “compassion” and called him a “fighter” many times, complimenting him for staying on message and promoting the agenda his campaign was run on. Pence and Trump both stressed the administration’s focus on investing in the military and combating illegal immigration.

Pence had 11 interviews scheduled for Wednesday. In addition to the morning shows, he did four interviews with conservative radio hosts — Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham — and evening interviews with Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and MSNBC’s Greta Van Susteren.

Notably absent from the lineup was CNN. The president has repeatedly railed against CNN, often referring to it as the “Clinton News Network,” and accusing it of spreading “fake news” when its coverage of him is unfavorable. CNN anchor Jake Tapper, using a quote from Trump’s speech, suggested that the avoidance tactic was hypocritical.

In his interview with “Morning Joe,” Pence was asked by host Mika Brzezinski whether Trump would continue to wage what she called a “war on the media.” Pence defended the president, saying one of the reasons he was elected was that he’s a “fighter.”

During the campaign, Pence was often saddled with the task of cleaning up Trump’s more caustic statements, often those resulting from freewheeling campaign speeches. But with Trump basking in the glow of an on-message speech, Pence was triumphant, touting the address as a win for the administration and its agenda.

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