July 20, 2016

Donald Trump Reportedly Plans to Delegate All Domestic and Foreign Power to his VP

Introducing President Mike Pence.

Evan Vucci/AP

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In the week since Donald Trump declared Indiana Gov. Mike Pence his official running mate, it’s become apparent that the Republican nominee for president wasn’t totally enthusiastic over his religious-conservative pick. The delayed and then bungled announcement, the repeated insistence by a frustrated Trump that Pence, contrary to rumors, was in fact his first choice, and Pence’s lackluster performance on the 60 Minutes interview all contributed to the speculation.

A new report from the New York Times Magazine goes behind the scenes of the VP selection process and claims that Trump’s first choice was his former rival, Ohio  Gov. John Kasich. Perhaps more interestingly, the report sheds light on the unprecedented level of power Trump plans to delegate to his vice president if elected. According to the Times, Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was responsible for vetting the potential candidates. Here’s a scene from one conservation he had with a Kasich adviser.

Did he have any interest in being the most powerful vice president in history?

When Kasich’s adviser asked how this would be the case, Donald Jr. explained that his father’s vice president would be in charge of domestic and foreign policy.

Then what, the adviser asked, would Trump be in charge of?

“Making America great again” was the casual reply.

If true, this means that Trump doesn’t plan on doing much governing at all. It may also reveal that he actually agrees with Hillary Clinton’s claim that he is temperamentally unfit to become president of the United States. As for Kasich, he declined the offer and isn’t even showing up to the Republican convention that’s taking place in his home state.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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