My thoughts about a President Pence
One of the most common questions I am asked by folks who know how fervently I am working to get the word out that Trump’s malignant narcissism makes him unfit to be president is “would Pence be any better?”
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Assuming that Pence becomes #46, once he tidies up the mess the president he so ass-kissingly supported, he may have little time left in his term to do much of anything.
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The crucial thing for progressives is how much of the Pence evangelical and very far right agenda mostly non-idealogical Republicans are willing to vote into law. Consider these quotes from the AlterNet article:
Virtually all of his policy positions are in sync with the GOP’s draconian 2016 platform, adopted at the convention soon after he introduced himself as “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.” While it might be a relief for virtually everyone left of the political center should Trump be fired, Pence actually knows how Washington works and could deeply damage government and many public policies.
A quick survey of Pence’s stances is revealing—beyond his habit of never meeting alone with a woman other than his wife because he believes such interactions are implicitly sexual. As the Washington Post put it, “There’s little distance between that perspective and that of the ultra-Orthodox Jews who refuse to sit next to a woman on an airplane, or the fundamentalist Muslims who demand that women be covered head to toe to contain the unstoppable sexual allure that renders men unable to control their urges.”
With Pence we can easily predict what he wants to do to the country by looking at his record as governor of Indiana. Here’s the Dirty Dozen:
- He cut tens of millions from the budget for higher education, social agencies and human services.
- He signed bills blocking local governments from raising the minimum wage or requiring businesses to offer better benefits.
- He pushed cutting income and business taxes, but would not sign laws reversing other regressive taxes.
- Pence was a big booster of privatizing government services, whether new highways or traditional public schools.
- He clashed with educators over treatment of transgender students.
- He rolled back energy efficiency standards, denounced and fought with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and declared Indiana was a pro-coal state.
- He signed a bill to let people keep guns in their cars parked on school grounds, recruited the NRA to train the Indiana National Guard and pre-empted the city of Gary from suing gun manufacturers whose weapons were sold illegally.
- He and the state GOP defunded Planned Parenthood, even with southern Indiana experiencing an HIV epidemic. He opposed needle exchanges for drug addiction treatment. While he did accept Obamacare funds to expand state-run Medicaid, he added bigger co-payments for recipients.
- Pence received national attention after signing a so-called religious freedom bill in 2015, prompting some big state employers—notably Angie’s List—to cancel a state-based expansion in Indianapolis, costing the state 1,000 jobs. The backlash forced him to rescind parts of the law.
- He signed into law a bill banning abortion procedures and penalizing providers. A federal court overruled the law, saying it was unconstitutional.
- Pence also tried to create a state-run news service, to circumvent local media. He’s repeatedly stonewalled reporters seeking public documents.
- And he tried but failed to prevent Syrian refugees from resettling in the state. A court stopped him.
Is this the dream agenda for enough Republicans in Congress? More to the point, if Pence becomes president prior to the mid-term elections, how many GOP members of the House want to run on having supported some or the majority of these?
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There’s no doubt we will have a Republican White House until the next presidential election. Because of who is running for the Senate in the mid-terms it seems unlikely that more than a few Republicans will loose their seats though even one or two would be a big win for the Democrats. We only hope that this is a miraculous election for the House, and that Democrats actually take it over. A slim chance — so I don’t want to get my hopes up — but it is possible if the Democrats get enough really good candidates.
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In 2019 I expect we’ll see a scramble in both parties for the nomination. If Trump manages to survive the scandals and keeps the illusion of being mentally stable going, I see a few brave Republicans as contesting his nomination. If it’s President Pence running, I see as crazy a primary as the last one.
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With so many excellent possible candidates, I think the Democrats will have an inspiring primary and this time around will select a candidate who will win handily. If Congress swings and becomes the majority party in both the Senate and House, look to what we could call “the great undoing” as all the damage to our progressive agenda is repaired.