Getting Rid Of Trump, But At the price of President Pence

AMONG LIBERALS, it is an article of faith, or perhaps a desperate wish, that President Trump will not complete his first term, that he will be impeached and removed, will resign in disgrace, or that hiss temper will make him stroke out. Liberals are capable of anything. They never five up hope. Trump will be exposed as a Russian operative. His financial conflicts of interest will create such a scandal that he will be forced out. The possible scenarios are endless. A good thirds of the American people do not support Trump, so even if he finishes his first term, he may not be reelected to a second. Those hoping he will leave before the end of the first four years would be well advised to be careful what they wish for. A Trump resignation would elevate Mike Pence to the presidency, and that might prove to be an even scratchier thorn in the progressive side than Mr. Trump. Pence was raised by very strict parents. he and his siblings were not allowed to speak at the dinner table, other than to ask for the passing of potatoes. A roman Catholic during childhood, Pence began talking about wanting to be president since high school. In college he converted to evangelical Protestantism, and his conservative religiosity combined with his very conservative political beliefs to form a hard right and very ambitious politician. Extreme conservative religion and hard right politics go hand in hand in America, inexplicably. They have on tradition and extremism in common/ Pence failed at his first attempts to run for office, but like all super ambitious office seekers, he kept trying, and ended up serving twelve years in congress, without ever sponsoring a successful piece of legislation, which might be a record for ineffectiveness. the previous record was held by Davy Crockett, who served three terms without ever shepherding a bill into law. but at least Davy spoke out a heap of times.. Pence was known more an a party organizer, and worked hiw way well up the republican party ladder. he was elected governor of Indiana in 2012, with the help of much money from his benefactors the infamous Koch brothers. his moment of "glory" came when governor Pence advocated and signed into law a bill making it legal for businesses in Indiana to refuse service to customers on religious grounds. If a gay person wanted to buy a wedding cake or a package of underwear, or anything else, and your Christian faith did not allow that gay people are acceptable, you were not required to render service. the very moment this weird piece of bigoted legislation became law, an uproar ensued, with great wailing and gnashing. Shoppers and corporations staged a massive boycott of all things Indianian, and the sate went into an economic downward spiral. The Indiana business community insisted that the law be repealed, which it was, but at the expense of Pence, who by signing the repeal angered his ultra socially conservative Christian base. Pence was damned if he did, damned if he didn't. He should have judiciously ignored the whole issue from the beginning. His reelection as governor seemed an impossibility, his political career seemed a dumpster fire in the dust bin, until Trump came to the rescue, wanting a little upright Christian social conservatism on his ticket to counter balance his own decidedly in Christian demeanor and reputation. And the rest ,as they say, is history. for the first nine months of the Trump administration pence has been a lap dog for trump, a true yes man, but why not? ironically, the tow men couldn't be more different, morally. Pence refuses to dine with any woman other than his wife, Trump refuses to keep his hands off any woman his is not his wife. As president, pence, like all extreme conservative Christians, would drastically cut any program intended to help people, spend a staggering sum on the military, try as he might to unite church and state, and preach and practice a doctrine of dog eat dog, you're on your own free marked capitalism, apparently believing that Jesus would approve. Not exactly a progressive agenda. The only appealing aspect to liberals might be that a President Pence might so discredit Christian based extreme right wing politics that the country might vote them out of office, for good.