Rachel Maddow: Mike Pence 'Choked' Under National Spotlight

When it was Marco Rubio's turn to try taking down Donald Trump during the primary, Trump branded him "Little Marco" who was a choker.

Rubio had infamously panicked under the national spotlight. While delivering the live, nationally televised, official Republican Party response to President Obama's State of the Union, Rubio reached for a bottle of water. It was the stuff of late-night mocking. Then during a primary debate that might have done him in, Rubio turned into a "robot" (that's what pundits called him) who repeated a single talking point over and over when attacked by the other candidates.

Now Rachel Maddow says Trump has picked another lawmaker who "choked" under pressure. Before Trump today announced his pick, Maddow was already warning that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence won't be able to handle the role of running mate.

Pence had his own nationally televised awkward moment, one that lit up Twitter. Pence was being attacked last year for signing a Religious Freedom Restoration Act that activists said was actually a "license to discriminate" against LGBT people. Businesses were threatening to leave the state as outrage spread. Pence called a news conference, and walked up the podium as 24-hour cable news broadcast live. Then he just stood there, not making a sound, except for some curious deep breathing.

Watch how Maddow remembers the moment that Pence "choked" in her segment from earlier this week: