"Like Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, [Tom LoBianco] is good at getting people to talk." - the Indianapolis Star
A seasoned political reporter and a regular political analyst on national television and radio, no journalist has reported on Mike Pence for as long or as closely as Tom LoBianco. From Pence's first campaign rally in his hometown of Columbus, Indiana to the moment he returned to Washington as Donald Trump's Vice President, LoBianco has covered Pence for his entire political trajectory: from defeats and distractions in the 1990s to his rapid ascension through the aughts, from the time he nearly sunk his career as Governor of Indiana, only to see it miraculously-and unexpectedly- revived by an unlikely Republican Presidential nominee.
"As I reported and researched for this book, I had the same nagging feeling that I had when I covered [Pence] in Indiana. I was missing something about him; I was misunderstanding him," writes LoBianco. "What I found was a clever politician, more cunning than most give him credit for, and precisely why he has eluded scrutiny for so long. Indeed, as one longtime acquaintance put it: 'Boring is his camouflage.'"
Drawing on his deep ties both within the Beltway and Indiana, as well as reams of research and deep access to those closest to the Vice President and his staff, LoBianco "allows the facts to speak for themselves . in his evenhanded debut book." (Kirkus Reviews)
PIETY & POWER: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House cuts to the core of the man who, despite being described as "spineless," "out of touch," and even "dull" by the media and fellow politicians, is more a cunning chameleon than anyone has ever realized. With no shortage of newsworthy anecdotes, the book highlights everything from Pence's early life in Indiana and the personal and professional steps he took to get to Washington to his often-strained relationship with Trump, including Pence's stunning response of "I don't need this" when Trump first offered him a spot on the ticket.
Beyond politics, we get an inside look at Pence's deep faith in God, in his country, and ultimately in himself. His real stance on social issues and the allies and enemies he's made along the way. His marriage to Karen Pence and the unprecedented influence she has on his policy decisions. The ongoing financial woes that have plagued his family for decades. And, most important, Pence's plans for America's future-including his own presidential aspirations.
So, who is the real Michael Richard Pence? The answer is like the Indiana cornfield of Pence's childhood home, LoBianco says. "There's a tassel of truth to the carefully crafted public persona, but so much more underneath the layers."
Select Anecdotes from PIETY & POWER The Making of the VP
The stunning exchange between Pence and Trump when Trump asked Pence why he should be his running mate (Chapter 13) "I need killers! Do you want this thing or not?" Trump pressed Pence. And Pence batted him aside, "I don't need this." . "Why are you going through this process?" Trump asked. Pence replied, "You're in my home, you tell me." - How Pence's team threatened to leave the ticket if Trump didn't publicly announce him as his running mate (Chapter 13) - Trump's request to vet his daughter, Ivanka, for Vice President and the in-fighting which led to Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, and Mike Pence as the final candidates (Chapter 13) - The clandestine message from George W. Bush to Pence, delivered by his donors (Chapter 13) "Please stop Trump and save the Republican Party." - New details on the secret effort to dump Trump from the ticket in October 2016 and replace him with Pence, just hours after the Access Hollywood tape landed (Chapter 14) "The Republican Party had a contingency plan." - The long-simmering war between Pence aides Nick Ayers and Kellyanne Conway (Chapters 12, 15) - A consummate guide to who's in and who's out in Pence's incredibly insular world, from his earliest campaigns to the White House The Power of Karen Pence - An inside look at how Pence's advisers fight to be the conduit to Karen, the sole gatekeeper to Pence - What troubled Trump's campaign about Karen when they vetted Pence (Chapter 13) "Mike didn't bother them. But Karen did. The Trump camp had heard horror stories about Karen, the same ones that percolated through the halls of the statehouse. But just as in those halls, Trump's campaign couldn't quite place a finger on her power-she was like a ghost, like a shadow governor." - Instances of Karen changing her husband's mind on policy items (Chapters 10, 11) - Karen's concerns for her family's financial well-being-from their time in Indiana to the White House- including Karen's request they ask Trump for money when leaving the governor's office, and Trump's transfer of $750,000 from the inaugural committee to the VP's residence fund (Chapters 3, 8, 14) "What are we going to do, Mike? We don't have any money!" Pence and Religion - The Biblical allegories that Pence's close friends use to explain his allegiance to Trump, from Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar to Joseph and the Pharaoh (Chapter 15) - The doomsday theology and Second Coming prophecies underpinning the Trump Administration's moving of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and the unprecedented access of televangelists to Trump (Chapters 2, 15) - The thin, but important, line between Pence's faith and his pandering-and his flirtations with the Christian Right, while never firmly ensconcing with them (Chapters 2, 15) - The pastor who found that Pence has a "discipleship problem" (Chapter 8) "There's a Christian Mike and Secular Mike, and that ambition fits into the secular role." - "The religious beliefs of Abraham [Lincoln] were no more static than they were easily discernible," Pence wrote in his senior thesis, reflecting his own ambivalence and uncertainty as he was pulled from the Catholic Church into the fold of evangelicalism (Chapter 2) Pence and Homosexuality - Pence's struggles to square his personal opposition to gay marriage with a country that largely supports it (Chapters 12, 13) - New reporting on the gay couple welcomed into Pence's broader family (Chapters 12, 13) - Trump's embarrassing digs at Pence at the 2018 Gridiron Dinner (Chapter 15) "He is one of the best straight men you're ever going to meet," Trump said. "He is straight, I mean it." Pence's Frenemies - Pence and Chris Christie grew close while raising money for the Republican Governors Association, only for Pence to push Christie out of Trump World not once, but twice (Chapters 10, 13, 14) - The long arc of Pence's relationship with Newt Gingrich, from his training at Gingrich's candidate school in 1987 to Pence ultimately outdoing Gingrich for VP in 2016 (Chapters 3, 6, 13) - How Mitch Daniels boxed Pence out of running for president in 2012 (Chapter 9) - How Brian Bosma (Indiana House Speaker) got his revenge after Pence stopped him from running for Governor in 2012 with a show-stopping joke (Chapter 10) ". there was a chalk outline around Karen." Pence's Angry Streak - How Pence's anger at online trolls heckling his children led to his near-fatal collapse on "This Week" in 2015, with George Stephanopoulos (Chapter 12) "He didn't go on there as the governor; he went on as a father." - How Pence came up with a racist ad to try and salvage his 1990 congressional race (Chapter 4) ".and then halfway through the spot, he would pull off his shade.and reveal a second set of shades. Because Arabs are always wearing shades!" - The shouting match between Pence and his longtime producer, which ended with his producer storming out of the station and quitting (Chapter 6) "You run your own damn board!" - How Pence got his start in negative campaigning, in the late 1980s, then used a public act of contrition to bury that image-until he signed on with Trump (Chapters 3, 4) "Fights Make News, Shyness Doesn't" (from Newt Gingrich's campaign school guidebook) Trump's Orange Tan - The untold story of how an Indiana insurance magnate and his stripper wife got Trump his orange hue (Chapter 11) "Live the Gold Life"