When he officially accepts the 2016 Republican nomination for president Thursday night, Donald Trump will do so as a different kind of Republican.

Or so the thinking goes.

Although Trump has won the Republican nomination for president in large part because he's taken very non-Republican stances on trade, foreign policy, and the social safety net, a Trump presidency would be just like every other Republican presidency, arguably even worse.

We now know this for fact.

According to a story out today in the New York Times Magazine, when Donald Trump was looking for a running mate, he initially offered the job to one of his former opponents, Ohio Governor John Kasich.

And while that's interesting enough on its own, what's even more interesting is the offer the Trump campaign made to try to convince Kasich to join the ticket.

According to the New York Times, when Donald Trump, Jr. contacted a Kasich advisor about the running mate job, he told that adviser that his father wanted to make Kasich the "most powerful vice president in history."

What happened next reveals a lot about the real Donald Trump.

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.

Now, we have no explicit confirmation of this, but everything in the Times' report suggests that Trump made this exact same offer to Mike Pence before making him his running mate.

And if that's true, it reveals two very important things.

The first thing it reveals is Trump's management style. Like a lot of billionaire corporate executives, Trump is a delegator, which is fine for the business world, but poses some big problems for the presidency, a job that requires attention to detail and around-the-clock engagement.

So that's the first thing this Times story reveals. The second thing it reveals is a much bigger deal.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Why Did Trump Pick a Pro-Trade VP? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

    

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Wednesday's Daily Stack 

Article: "Republican National Convention day 2 recap: what Republicans discussed (Lucifer) and didn't (jobs)" by Caleb Lewis.

Article: "McConnell: Trump Will Fill Scalia's Supreme Court Seat" by John T. Bennett.

Article: "John C. Calhoun" by Wikipedia.

Article: "How Donald Trump Picked His Running Mate" by Robert Draper.

Article: "North American Free Trade Agreement" (NAFTA) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement" (CAFTA-DR) by Wikipedia. (CAFTA pre January 2004)

Article: "Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement" (TPP) by EFF.

Article: "What Team Trump was prepared to offer John Kasich" by Steve Benen.

Article: "50 Shockingly Extreme Right Wing Proposals in the 2016 Republican Party Platform" by Steven Rosenfeld.

Article: "The old cassettes that explain Mike Pence" by Darren Samuelsohn.

Article: "Chris Christie Prosecutes Hillary Clinton in RNC Speech: Is She Guilty or Not Guilty?" by Tim Hains.

Article: "Ben Carson Ties Hillary Clinton to Lucifer as GOP Swaps Campaign for Witch Trial" by Gideon Resnick.

Book: "The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine.

Book: Rules for Radicals" by Saul Alinsky.

Article: "Lucifer" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Voting Rights Act of 1965".

Law: "Civil Rights Act of 1964" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Donald Trump accused of raping 13yo girl in new lawsuit" by RT.

 

Mike Pence: Bad for Indiana, Bad For America
- Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN), City of South Bend, IN    

Article: "Religious Freedom Restoration Act (Indiana)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "NASCAR: Indiana law fosters intolerance, exclusion" by George Diaz.

Hour Two: Rep. Steve King and the GOP Hate Machine
- Benjamin Dixon, The Benjamin Dixon Show  

Article: "Congressman Steve King: whites aided civilization more than other 'sub-groups'" by Scott Bixby.

Article: "Steve King is very wrong: Here are 8 major contributions to civilization made by non-whites and non-Europeans (including civilization itself)" by Sarah Watts.

Book: "King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa" by Adam Hochschild.

Article: "Twitter Bars Milo Yiannopoulos in Wake of Leslie Jones's Reports of Abuse" by Mike Isaac.

Book: Listen Liberal by Thomas Frank.

Article: "The world is taking its revenge against elites. When will America's wake up" by Thomas Frank.

Law: "Telecommunications Act of 1996" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Fairness Doctrine" by Wikipedia.

Site: Mondragon Corporation (co-op)

Site: Union Cab (co-op)

Article: "Marshall Plan" by Wikipedia.

Law: "G.I. Bill" (Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Mitch McConnell Blamed Democrats for Zika Funding Impasse, Forgetting One Crucial Fact" by Laura Wagner.

Book: The Republic of Letters: The Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison by James Morton Smith.

Article: "Concern troll" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan & Kevin McCarthy: Plot To Sabotage US Economy with Frank Luntz" by keepemhonest.

Article: "2016 shooting of Baton Rouge police officers" by Wikipedia.

Article: "2016 shooting of Dallas police officers" by Wikipedia.

Hour Three: Justice for Vets - Got Your Six - live from the RNC
- Melissa Fitzgerald, Justice for Vets  
- Bill Rausch, Got Your Six  

 

Article: "Melania Trump's Speechwriter Takes Responsibility for Lifted Remarks" by Maggie Haberman.

Article: "Watch Paul Ryan's Speech at the Republican Convention" by Julissa Higgins.

Article: "Black Lives Matter protest in Wichita changed to cookout with police".

Article: "Hundreds of Philadelphia airport workers stage sit-in over 'Fight for $15'" by RT.

Article: "Veterans Pension" by VA.

Movie: "Ghostbusters ".

Article: "Bechdel test" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Occam's razor" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Military Service - Portugal" by Wikipedia.

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I'll be talking with Senator Al Franken (D-MN).

 

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