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Still, judging the debate purely as a piece of theater, Kaine clearly came off worse. He constantly tried and failed to interrupt Pence, making him seem impatient; Pence's calm baritone, by contrast, projected a cool, collected front. Kaine had a few obviously canned talking points—"Do you want a 'you're hired' president in Hillary Clinton, or do you want a 'you're fired' president in Donald Trump?"; "You are Donald Trump's apprentice"—that Pence easily swatted aside as "pre-done lines."Pence earned such universal praise from the media for his demeanor and control that it may have pissed Trump off—Tuesday night, multiple reporters said that the candidate was angered about being upstaged and upset that Pence didn't defend him more aggressively.It likely didn't help Trump's mood that the VP candidate broke with him on a few issues, offering a vision of an alternate universe where the Republican Party nominated a more mainstream leader. During a discussion of policing, he rejected the notion that institutional racism was a problem for cops and denounced the "badmouthing" of law enforcement—but he did voice support for criminal justice reform, even though Trump's own idea of criminal justice reform is just more aggressive policing. Later, Pence called Putin "the small and bullying leader of Russia" and suggested that the US should use military force against Syria's Russia-allied Assad regime, though Trump has praised Putin and hasn't said anything about attacking Assad.
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