--- description: Mike Pence decried political "name calling" Friday just as Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton "crooked" and Michael Bloomberg "little." title: Donald Trump's Running Mate Decries 'Name Calling' in Politics image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1975f7bb276a4816/6988a0730a4a223fed9cabcb/mike_pence.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump's Running Mate Mike Pence Decries 'Name Calling' in Politics  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jul 29, 2016 8:01 PM CUT  Republican vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks at the American Legislative Exchange Council annual meeting in Indianapolis, July 29, 2016. Republican vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks at the American Legislative Exchange Council annual meeting in Indianapolis, July 29, 2016.Michael Conroy—AP  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jul 29, 2016 8:01 PM CUT GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence [decried](http://www.hughhewitt.com/indiana-governor-mike-pence-responds-secretary-clinton-president-obama-kareem-abdul-jabaar/#more-31382 "undefined") political “name calling” Friday just as Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton “[crooked](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/759008377577967616 "undefined")” and Michael Bloomberg “[little](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/759025610249216000 "undefined").” Pence’s [comments](http://www.hughhewitt.com/indiana-governor-mike-pence-responds-secretary-clinton-president-obama-kareem-abdul-jabaar/#more-31382 "undefined")—made to conservative radio personality Hugh Hewitt—were directed at Barack Obama after the president called Trump a “demagogue” during his speech at the Democratic National Convention. “I don’t think name calling has any place in public life,” said Pence. “I thought that was unfortunate that the president of the United States would use a term like that, let alone laced into a sentence like that.” The comments come as Trump has adopted name-calling in a fashion unheard of in modern presidential politics. Throughout the primary he developed monikers for his opponents like “[Little Marco](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/04/20/little-marco-lying-ted-crooked-hillary-donald-trumps-winning-strategy-nouns/ "undefined")” for Senator Marco Rubio, “[Lyin’ Ted](http://time.com/4346173/clinton-trump-election-hell/ "undefined")” for Senator Ted Cruz, and he continues to use the title “Crooked Hillary” frequently when referring to his Democratic opponent. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4431311/mike-pence-donald-trump-name-calling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4431311/mike-pence-donald-trump-name-calling/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Running Mate Mike Pence Decries 'Name Calling' in Politics","datePublished":"2016-07-29T20:01:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:40:07.808Z","description":"But he's not talking about Trump","url":"https://time.com/4431311/mike-pence-donald-trump-name-calling/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1975f7bb276a4816/6988a0730a4a223fed9cabcb/mike_pence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1975f7bb276a4816/6988a0730a4a223fed9cabcb/mike_pence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mike Pence","caption":"Republican vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks at the American Legislative Exchange Council annual meeting in Indianapolis, July 29, 2016.","creditText":"Michael Conroy—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4431311/mike-pence-donald-trump-name-calling/","name":"Donald Trump's Running Mate Mike Pence Decries 'Name Calling' in Politics"}}]}] ```