--- title: Donald Trump Takes Credit For Mike Pence's Debate Performance description: Donald Trump praised Mike Pence's debate performance Wednesday afternoon, but he said the credit is really due to the top of the ticket. canonical: https://time.com/4520238/donald-trump-mike-pence-debate-performance/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-05T19:44:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:49:33.493Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Takes Credit for Pence's Debate Performance og:description: "Mike Pence did an incredible job, and I'm getting a lot of credit" og:url: https://time.com/4520238/donald-trump-mike-pence-debate-performance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2177b8583732a0a/6988a8b5ab6d7759636ab74e/vice-presidential-debate-tim-kaine-mike-pence-24.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5441 og:image:height: 3061 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Takes Credit for Pence's Debate Performance twitter:description: "Mike Pence did an incredible job, and I'm getting a lot of credit" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2177b8583732a0a/6988a8b5ab6d7759636ab74e/vice-presidential-debate-tim-kaine-mike-pence-24.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Takes Credit for Mike Pence's Debate Performance > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=2de7ec32-9c01-4265-8e73-e24221845374&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch The Top Mike Pence VS Tim Kaine Debate Moments [Watch (HLS stream): Watch The Top Mike Pence VS Tim Kaine Debate Moments](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XGIAbp2O.m3u8) (1:56)  _Published 2016-10-05. Vice Presidential candidates Mike Pence and Tim Kaine face off in their first and last debate at Longwood University in Farmville, VA._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 5, 2016 7:44 PM UTC Vice Presidential candidates Mike Pence and Tim Kaine face off in their first and last debate at Longwood University in Farmville, VA.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 5, 2016 7:44 PM UTC Donald Trump praised [Mike Pence’s debate performance](http://time.com/4519111/vice-presidential-debate-mike-pence-donald-trump/?xid=homepage) Wednesday afternoon, but he said the credit is really due to the top of the ticket. “Mike Pence did an incredible job, and I’m getting a lot of credit because that’s really [my first so-called choice](http://time.com/4409330/donald-trump-mike-pence-vice-president-2/?iid=sr-link3), that was my first hire,” Trump said in Henderson, Nevada. “I’d argue that Mike had the single most decisive victory in the history of vice presidential debates. I believe that, too. And last night America also got to look firsthand at my judgment.” The Republican Governor of Indiana remained calm during the first and only vice presidential debate Tuesday night as Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine lobbed a [series of zingers](http://time.com/4518958/vice-presidential-debate-tim-kaine-zingers/?xid=tcoshare) against him and tried to pin him to some of Trump’s more controversial statements. Pence coolly [deflected, denied and ignored](http://time.com/4519050/vice-presidential-debate-pence-trump/?iid=sr-link2) most of the attacks. ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] [ INAUDIBLE ] First off, thank you to [ UNKNOWN ] and thank you to Norwood University for their wonderful hospitality. Donald Trump started his campaign in 2014. He said, if I run for president I will absolutely release my taxes. He's broken his first promise. And he will. He's broken his first promise. At the risk of Agreeing with you. Community policing is a great idea. It's worked well in the Hoosier state and we fully support that. If you want to have a society where people are respected and respect laws, you can't have somebody at the top Who demeans every group that he talks about. And again I cannot believe that governor Pence will defend the insult driven campaign that Donald Trump has run. Insult driven campaign, I mean that's small potatoes compared to Hillary Clinton calling half of Donald Trump's supporters a basked of deplorables. He's got kind of a personal Mount Rushmore. Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong- un. Please. Muammar Gadaffi- Come on. And Saddam Hussein. You whipped out that Mexican thing again. Donald Trump and I would never support legislation that punished women who made the heartbreaking choice to end a pregnancy. Then why did Donald Trump say that? We just never would. Why did he say that? Well, look, he's not a polished politician like you and Hillary Clinton. This is the difference between a foundation that does Good work and a secretary of state who acted in accordance with American interest and somebody who is conflicted in doing work around the world and won't share with the American public what he's doing and what those conflicts are. Governor, I will give you 30 seconds to respond because I know you want to but again, I would remind you both, this was about North Korea. [ LAUGH ] Thank you. From Farmville, Virginian, I'm Elaine Quijano of CBS News. Goodnight. 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