Are we destined for “President Pence?” Should that scare us more than Trump?

Spending time as I do working as a reporter-type person on the other side of State Line Road, I have found a group of Democrats to whom the concept of the upcoming presidency of Donald J. Trump is not the most terrifying thought.
 

PENCE: From Indiana to U.S.A., could it happen?

For them to really get a jolt of fear down their political spines, it is the thought of “President Michael R. Pence,” their state’s former governor, ascending to the top post of the United States government.

PENCE GAINED HIS national infamy back when Indiana gave us a version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that went so far over the top, even the conservative elements that govern the Hoosier State (which is truly a Bizarro-world take on what we have here in Illinois) felt compelled to scale it back.

But it was the measure that would have put the law on the side of those people who wanted to cite their religious beliefs as the reason to discriminate against people who weren’t like themselves.

Particularly when it comes to those who differ based on sexual orientation issues. But it gave Pence a national reputation – one that helped bolster Trump’s chances of getting elected back when the conservative ideologues weren’t sure if they could trust the rich to be president.

Now, Trump is the president-elect, and Pence moves up to the position of being one step down from becoming U.S. president – should something happen that would prevent Trump from being capable of finishing his term.

WHICH IN THIS political environment may well be a real concept – and just because at age 70, Trump is one of the oldest men ever elected president of this country.

There are those who speculate how unlikely it is that Trump will finish out the four years of the term to which he was elected last month and which will begin in January.

Of course, there are different reasons for their speculations.

 

TRUMP: Will he finish what he starts?

Some believe Trump is just too much of a political amateur to realize what he has got himself into, and will either become frustrated or bored when he finally realizes that image of himself as being the guy who bellows “You’re Fired!” at everybody who displeases him just doesn’t work in government.

HE COULD EASILY turn out to be like Sarah Palin – whose government credentials prior to her 2008 vice presidential bid were being governor of Alaska. But she didn’t even finish out that one term – making it only about two years into it before using her newfound VP nominee status to justify moving on to more visible ventures.

Which in her case amount to being a political loudmouth who spews her thoughts to whomever will listen (and usually winds up giving the real majority of us a good laugh).

Would Trump quit when he realizes life in the White House and on Air Force One isn’t garish and gaudy enough to live up to his tastes?

Or there’s the more extreme option – one that says Trump will do something severe enough to warrant his impeachment. I can’t envision what it would be, but anything is possible in this unpredictable political climate.

I COULD ENVISION a scenario in which his alleged Republican allies, some of whom were never thrilled with his presence instead of a more-reliable GOPer, turn on him. Or it could be the ideologues who banded together to give him that likely Electoral College victory next week decide that he’s not keeping his word to impose all those tyrannical measures that Trump talked about during his campaign that THEY TRULY DESIRE!

 

CLINTON: We can only dream of her presidency

Saying he’s not likely to move to prosecute one-time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton like he said he would during the campaign is a serious broken promise – along the lines of “Read my lips, no new taxes” is to more rational people when discussing the legacy of the first President George Bush.

I state it in that sarcastic manner because on a serious level, the only “crime” that Clinton committed was having the unmitigated gall to think she had any right to seek the presidency in the first place.

People who think like that could easily turn on their guy, particularly if they think they have a more stable and reliable conservative voice in place in the form of Pence – of which the thought of him in the Oval Office does give shudders down the back of the progressive majority peeved that the Electoral College didn’t reflect their reality in this particular election cycle.

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