Introducing the Donald Trump-Mike Pence divergence tracker

Occasionally on the same stage. Often on a different page. (Mary Altaffer/AP)

Whether or not he sets foot on stage with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump is very likely to find himself engaged in some sort of debate this fall — with his running mate.

It's not that Trump and vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence are publicly sparring. (Try to imagine Pence sparring. Go ahead. We don't have nearly enough imagination.) It's that, rather than embrace a joint message, they seem to be running two distinct, parallel campaigns, often relating two very distinct, entirely unrelated — and sometimes opposite — points of view.

Here's how that usually works: The Indiana governor will watch a Trump comment explode across the media firmament. He’ll wait a decent interval — as long as several days — before issuing a response that either reframes the Republican nominee’s central point as the exact opposite of what he actually said or stakes out a different position entirely. And then, within minutes or hours, Trump will do the same — in reverse. (More on that below. A lot more.)

The fact that the distance between their respective messages is sometimes wide enough to drive a campaign bus through isn't a huge shock. That's not just because of their stark differences in biography and temperament. Or the reality that the main thing the two seem to have in common is that they both want Donald Trump to become president of the United States. It's because Pence has spent his career — up to and including the period after his selection as Trump's VP — advocating policies and supporting individuals that the nominee hasn't, and doesn't (at least: not while he's been running for president).

If you're having trouble picturing what that sort of debate might look and sound like, we've got a preview. Here are nearly a dozen positions Trump has advocated, starting with the beginning of his campaign last year and working through to the present, that Pence — hasn't. And vice versa.

— Free trade

What Trump said: He's not a fan. His opposition to current and negotiated trade agreements is a cornerstone of his campaign.

What Pence has said: The opposite thing.

— The Iraq War

What Trump has said: "I’m the only one on this stage that said, ‘Do not go into Iraq. Do not attack Iraq.’ Nobody else on this stage said that," he said at the February 2016 Republican primary debate — and countless times before and since. [There's actually no evidence Trump himself said that. But it's the position he's at least retroactively embracing.]

What Pence has said: He voted to go to war in Iraq.

For what it's worth, Trump told CBS's Lesley Stahl in an interview in July that he "didn't care" about Pence's support for the war: "It's a long time ago. And he voted that way, and they were also misled."

— The Affordable Care Act

Trump says he’s against it, and wants to replace it. So does Pence — but he signed on to a version of Medicaid expansion offered under it.

— A Muslim immigration ban

Donald Trump still stands by his plan to temporarily bar many Muslims from entering the United States, now with varying descriptions — though few details — on which nations would be affected by the ban, and exactly how it would work.

Meanwhile, Mike Pence tweeted this months before he joined the ticket:

He hasn’t deleted it.

— Abortion

What Trump has said: During a town hall interview in April, Trump — who, over the years, has been both a supporter and an opponent of abortion laws — said that there had to be “some form of punishment” for women who had abortions if they were banned nationwide.

What Pence has said: The office of the staunchly (and consistently) antiabortion governor released a statement weighing in on the remarks well before he became Trump's running mate.

That statement was as clear as Trump's hadn't been: “Governor Pence does not agree with the statement made by Donald Trump.” Of course, in the end, not even Donald Trump seemed to agree completely with the statement made by Donald Trump, so it's possible they could be in the same space right now. It's not entirely clear to us — and quite possibly, not to Trump or Pence either.

— Ted Cruz

What Pence said: Ahead of the critical Indiana primary this spring, Pence endorsed the Texas senator's presidential bid (albeit with comments so half-hearted the statement became an instant classic of 2016's fastest-growing genre).

What Donald Trump said: Well. You know. (Everyone who hasn't been stranded on a desert island knows.) You may also recall that the day after Cruz's convention non-endorsement speech in July, Trump decided it was time to relive such warm and fuzzy primary season moments as his insistence that Cruz's father, Rafael, might have had some sort of ties to President Kennedy's assassin, maybe.

Now, all of the above — along with much of Trump's Cruz criticism — happened before Pence climbed on board the Trump Train. He's riding it now. But that doesn't mean both members of the GOP ticket always seem to be rolling along on the same track.

— Gay rights

What Trump said: "As your President, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology," -- his nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. After the audience applauded, Trump said: "I must say as a Republican it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said. Thank you."

What Pence has said: Pence doesn't disagree with Trump that gay people shouldn't be targeted because of their sexual orientation. But to the gay community, he is the face of state laws they think are designed to discriminate against them. Pence signed a controversial religious freedom bill in 2015 and said he doesn't believe in same-sex marriage.

— The press

What Trump said: That reporters are, among other things, "scum." (Yep, that's a quote. From multiple rallies.) And that a string of news organizations, including this one, should not be accredited to cover his campaign.

What Pence said (after a Washington Post reporter was denied entry to a rally of his in Wisconsin in July): "We're all talking about [the ban]. I had a long — I have a long history, as you well know, Hugh, of advocating and defending for a free and independent press," he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. [Note: Back in Indiana, he also wanted to compete with that free and independent press with a government-run news service that was neither of those things. Amid an outcry, he scrapped the idea.] "...We're going to have those conversations internally, and I fully expect in the next 100 days we're going to continue to be available to the media, whether they're fair or unfair, and we're going to take our case to the American people directly."

What Trump said after that: He mused publicly, more than once, that he should probably ban other news outlets, too. And he kept referring to reporters as "horrible people," "the worst," etc. (We would list them all, but this story is running pretty long as it is.) The campaign also launched a new "Media Bias of the Day" message, telling supporters it planned to "begin calling out biased and unfair coverage" and that it "welcome[d] your suggestions for those deserving increased scrutiny." You may love that idea. You may not. Either way, you will probably agree it doesn't sound like "advocating and defending."

— The Khans

What Trump said early Saturday, following Khizr Khan's emotional remarks at the Democratic National Convention about his son, an Army captain who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq, to ABC: "Did Hillary’s scriptwriters write [Khan's speech]?" Then, later, to MSNBC: “His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me, but plenty of people have written that.” And so on. They were comments he repeated and doubled down on in the days that followed, kicking off what some analysts referred to as perhaps the worst three-day stretch of his campaign.

What Pence said late Sunday, in a statement: "Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American."

What Trump said after that: Well, nothing that would lead one to believe he "cherished" Khizr Khan. He continued saying the same sort of thing he'd said before, though with a greater focus on justifying his initial response. And some of his comments featured a less-glowing assessment of Khan than Pence's statement had said both he and Trump shared:

(We do not think he actually thought that was "Nice!")

Here was Trump's self-described last word on the subject to The Washington Post on Tuesday: "I was viciously attacked on the stage," he said of Khan's speech, "and I have a right to answer back."

— Name-calling

What Pence said: "I don’t think name-calling has any place in public life," he told Hewitt late last month.

What Trump said: What hasn't he said? There's too much to link to, because we're talking about virtually every speech and interview since the start of his campaign. The list of those he's bestowed less-than-flattering nicknames on, or delivered less-than-flattering descriptions of, is a very, very long one that includes most of his major primary opponents, his chief Democratic critics — even some world leaders. Here's a shortlist of some of the ways he's described his fall opponent — this week: (i.e., "Crooked Hillary." "Founder of ISIS." "The devil").

— John McCain

What Trump said about whether he would endorse the Arizona senator, who's facing a tough reelection campaign: “I’ve never been there with John McCain because I’ve always felt that he should have done a much better job for the vets,” Trump told The Washington Post's Philip Rucker on Tuesday. “He has not done a good job for the vets, and I’ve always felt that he should have done a much better job for the vets. So I’ve always had a difficult time with John for that reason, because our vets are not being treated properly.”

What Pence (who met with McCain after Trump's comments) said, in a clip quickly posted by the senator's campaign: "Senator McCain has provided the kind of leadership throughout his career that has stood up for our military, stood up for a strong America."

—House Speaker Paul D. Ryan

What Trump said: "I like Paul, but these are horrible times for our country. We need very strong leadership. We need very, very strong leadership. And I’m just not quite there yet. I’m not quite there yet," Trump told Rucker on Tuesday.

What Pence said, roughly 48 hours later: "I strongly support Paul Ryan, strongly endorse his reelection."

This list is a work in progress. When the time comes to add more — and it will — we'll update it.

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