Now that Donald Trump is in the thick of the discussion of two former associates who are set to go to prison for crimes relating to their association with him, most believe that the President will be impeached if the Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections.
Setting aside the fact that it’s relatively unthinkable that the Republicans have not already made moves to impeach Trump, given the information now available and the massive, incontrovertible case for obstruction of justice he’s made right out in public, the only thing that’s left in all the talk of Trump’s future is what becomes of the presidency.
Some believe that if Trump is impeached and it is found that he obtained the presidency illegally, the constitutional crisis that would follow would necessarily require a reversal of the entirety of the Trump administration and every action taken by it — court appointments, executive orders, bill signings, everything.
But if that didn’t happen, the line of succession is clear, should Trump be impeached: Mike Pence would become the President of the United States.
That’s a dream come true for many evangelical Christians who share Pence’s views that gays should be forced into heterosexuality, puritanical norms should be enforced in entertainment and society, and women’s bodily autonomy should be relegated back to the control of males.
Unfortunately for Pence — but fortunately for everyone in America who likes women’s rights, their gay uncle Sal, and R-rated movies — his future looks bleak as well. It’s not just Trump who should be worried about his connections to Paul Manafort, or indeed, to the occurrences at Trump Tower or during the transition period between Obama’s presidency and Trump’s.
Now reporters are looking back in time, and a watchdog group that pursues matters that aren’t taken up by an even higher authority is on the case. The Democratic Coalition is investigating Pence, and the compounding evidence grows almost daily.
According to a New York Times article that ran more than two years ago — as in, while we were all looking, but had no idea what we were seeing yet — Pence was literally hand-picked by Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager whose guilty verdict on 8 counts will combine with whatever he’s sentenced to after the second trial against him for a rather lengthy prison stay.
In a phone call with members of the campaign leadership, Mr. Trump questioned whether Mr. Pence really was the right choice, and Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman, reiterated the case for choosing Mr. Pence, according to a person briefed on the call.”
What’s more, although the news has gone relatively silent on Pence since Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors have taken center stage, there has been talk since the beginning of the Trump presidency of what Mike Pence knew and when he knew it — and whether or not Pence lied in the case of what former adviser General Michael Flynn had told the campaign.
Robert Mueller’s final report to Congress will certainly reflect an inability of either Trump OR Mike Pence to fulfill the duties of the presidency.
Featured image via screen capture
