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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsYou think Trump is bad? Try Pence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/opinion/sunday/mike-pence-holy-terror.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=curThere are problems with impeaching Donald Trump. A big one is the holy terror waiting in the wings.
That would be Mike Pence, who mirrors the boss more than you realize. Hes also self-infatuated. Also a bigot. Also a liar. Also cruel.
To that brimming potpourri he adds two ingredients that Trump doesnt genuinely possess: the conviction that hes on a mission from God and a determination to mold the entire nation in the shape of his own faith, a regressive, repressive version of Christianity. Trade Trump for Pence and you go from kleptocracy to theocracy.
DeminPennswoods
(15,246 posts)over Chris Christie. Given Manafort's loyalties, makes one wonder...
blogslut
(37,955 posts)"The base' doesn't love him like they love their orange god. The reason these cowards kow-tow to BLOTUS is because he's the only thing keeping them in office. If he goes, the base goes with him.
kentuck
(110,950 posts)Then, their side will have more credibility than the Trump side...
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)kentuck
(110,950 posts)They win by him losing. They may have more credibility in their own Party?
mucifer
(23,374 posts)EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)If Trump is drummed out of office, these people will fall in line and in love with Pence
It's possible that Trump is the tool - the hammer - intended to smash and weaken our system enough to allow Pence to step in and turn it into something unrecognizable.
I can't believe how easily we're being fooled AGAIN into underestimating these people. We should have learned from 2016 the foolishness and danger of assuming people like Trump and Pence "aren't that bad."
Hugin
(32,778 posts)What a magnificent fall that will be... No matter who he's followed by, I plan on relishing this particular spectacle.
You are correct. We must shape what comes after Trump.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,539 posts)Donnie Two Scoops rated dead last on the Flesch-Kincaid scale, which was developed in 1975 for the U.S. Navy to assess the relative difficulty of training manuals. The study compared presidents starting at Hoover.
By every metric and methodology tested, Donald Trumps vocabulary and grammatical structure is significantly more simple, and less diverse, than any President since Herbert Hoover, when measuring 'off-script' words, that is, words far less likely to have been written in advance for the speaker, Factba.se CEO Bill Frischling wrote. The gap between Trump and the next closest president ... is larger than any other gap using Flesch-Kincaid. Statistically speaking, there is a significant gap.
Hoover, Carter and Obama held the top three spots, while Clinton ranked seventh, between Nixon and Kennedy.
janterry
(4,429 posts)Trump has made some folks very happy. Pence could never get that kind of support. Young folks hate him. Republicans are lukewarm (at best). He has no real ability to stir up a crowd - except at evangelical conferences.
I'm okay with that - as long as it dumps Trump. We'd get the Presidency, next
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)We should have learned our lesson by now about underestimating these people
manor321
(3,344 posts)EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)Voltaire2
(12,626 posts)dalton99a
(81,073 posts)Autumn
(44,762 posts)Squinch
(50,774 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,737 posts). . .one way or another.
Whether it's by the ballot box, or the jury box or whatever.
yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)"Impeach Bush. You get Cheney."
Maybe we are becoming aware of the true role of Vice Presidents?
TheCowsCameHome
(40,163 posts)Pence would never rally the base like Trump.
He is as charismatic as a bowl of soggy cornflakes.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Pence was about to lose Indiana - a deep red state - before he was selected to be the VP candidate. He can't even get his own people to support him. I doubt very much that he is going to gather much of a following nationally.
honest.abe
(8,556 posts)Trump is a psychotic lunatic who has aspirations to be a dictator. There is nothing more important than removing him from the WH. Once he is removed, then we will see about Pence.
njhoneybadger
(3,910 posts)Funtatlaguy
(10,856 posts)He wants to see the end times as prophesied in Revelations in the Bible.
Would he try to manipulate the world stage to bring that about?
Also, his religious viewpoints require him to fight for public policy that matches his interpretation of the Bible. He would work to eliminate abortion and any policy rights for gays.
He would renew calls for abstinence only sex Ed and prayer in schools.
He would want to see reduced roles for women in the workplace.
He would believe that people of color are born inferior to the image of Jesus who he believes was white (despite any historical evidence to the contrary).
dansolo
(5,376 posts)Trump isn't a true believer, but he desperately wants the support of those who are. So he will do whatever they want.
Demovictory9
(32,324 posts)dansolo
(5,376 posts)The only difference is that he will be out there front and center, instead of hiding in the shadows.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)who would not vote for Trump.
Do not underestimate the danger of Pence.
dansolo
(5,376 posts)I am just bothered by the suggestion that we shouldn't do everything we can to get rid of Trump because of who is waiting in the wings.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)If we don't do that - if we don't take control of the House or Senate, nothing else will matter. And we won't do that by talking only about getting rid of Trump. We need to talk to people about what we're going to do for them.
Once we take back part of Congress, we need to use the power to aggressively put Trump in check. But trying to impeach him is not likely to work. We won't have the votes and while we're focusing on impeachment, he'll continue doing damage and shore up his base even further. And if we try to impeach and fail to impeach and remove him from office, leaving him in control of the levers of government, he will be stronger in 2020.
Instead, we must emasculate him by stopping him from passing dangerous legislation, blocking his judicial nominations, exposing his corruption, censure him, strengthening voting sytems across the country, and softening him up to be defeated decisively in 2020.
njhoneybadger
(3,910 posts)Christianity is a cover for him. If you know what I mean. Knot that there's anything wrong with that.
tman
(983 posts)No doubt one shared by the GOP.
marble falls
(56,359 posts)Ponietz
(2,905 posts)JI7
(89,182 posts)stop with the Mike Pence is worse nonsense because it implies that Trump isn't doing all the fucked up shit that Pence would do.
MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Kablooie
(18,571 posts)So he could be restrained.
He wouldn't be given total freedom to destroy the country like Trump.
TheCowsCameHome
(40,163 posts)tblue37
(64,982 posts)Response to sweetroxie (Original post)
Guy Whitey Corngood This message was self-deleted by its author.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)but getting rid of Trump would be a horrible blow to the Republican Party and would make a huge difference in the next election. And many elections after that.
Anyway, I think Pence is controlling the bigot style policies already. Trump doesn't care about that stuff. He's getting it from Pence.