Trump-Pence, get thee hence!

Il Duce has reportedly selected Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate.

Gov. Pence's political career is thus over. He does- theoretically- stand to inherit Trump's mantle after November's defeat, but it's questionable, to say the least, how much the mantle of a discredited joke will be worth. Instead, Gov. Pence, who had been spoken of as a rising Republican star.  is taking upon himself a stigma that will never go away.

A shame. Newt Gingrich (who has no political future in any case) is reported to have been the other finalist. Since "trump" is English slang for "fart," I was anticipating a few months of writing about "Toot and Newt." Darn.

Jim Geraghty of National Review has reported private remarks by Gingrich agreeing with criticism that Trump is not really a conservative, suggesting that he talks to voters as if they were children, and saying that he faced a landslide defeat if he didn't change his style. That can't have helped.

Assuming (as I do) that NeverTrump's coup at Cleveland on Monday fails, Trump probably has a running-mate who probably won't embarrass him. Of course, Trump can be counted on to do a more than adequate job of consistently embarrassing himself.