Pence is a grownup, not vengeful, not thin-skinned, and doesn’t Tweet. That’s all to the good.
Nuclear war.
Trump’s positions on NATO and China are incredibly destabilizing. That’ the downside; nuclear war. Well, that and his position of trade could cause a global depression.
Look, this is an exercise in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
PENCE: Gay people may have barriers to marriage
TRUMP: Gay people may be vaporized in a nuclear war
PENCE: Americans who aren’t Christian have more Christian crap shoved down their throats
TRUMP: Americans of all religious beliefs swept away in a sea of fire
PENCE: Abortions harder to get
TRUMP: The few pregnant women left alive, huddled in shelters, self-abort due to all the radiation poisoning
PENCE: Supreme Court justices really conservative
TRUMP: Supreme Court justices are reduced to plasma by a nuclear warhead that explodes above the Supreme Court
The choice is really, really easy to make here. Mike Pence would not help the United States as President. But there would BE a United States when his term ended.
Pence, by a mile. Pence may be a blow-hard with many domestic policy views I disagree with but he also a grown up who does’t undermine our democratic values and standing in the world. He is also not all that likable, especially over time, and would probably be easily beaten in the next election. He’s like a less personable Dubya without the whole grand peace maker delusion. At the end of the day, I’d sleep better with Principle Scowl near the red button than that deranged orange monstrosity.
Also, all this “Trump is more socially moderate” business is nonsense. Everything he has done so far proves this is not true. Pence is a conservative guy that wants conservative outcomes for their own sake. Trump is an amoral phony that goes miles father to the right than rational just to communicate to his flimsy power base how tough and conservative he is.
He’ll give us death cake.
I’ve lived in the hell that was Indiana with Pence as governor, and I would still prefer him to Trump. But that isn’t saying much. I would also prefer Jill Stein, Ted Cruz, Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and possibly even Robert E. Lee*.
*Depends on how accurate Harry Turtledove is.
There are no checks in place for launching nukes. The President has sole authority. There still is no means by which to test if the order from the President is lawful.
The only “check” is hoping that the people actually releasing the nukes would deliberately disobey orders, and that no one else would replace them. In a military that mostly supports Trump, and has been psychologically conditioned to follow orders.’
Nuking a country is a very real threat with Trump. The only thing holding him back is his own distaste for nukes. But he does a lot of things when he is pissed.
Yeah. If Putin unfriends him on facebook, duck and cover.
Not exactly.
It takes the POTUS and Sec. of Defense working in collusion to launch a nuclear attack. While the SoD cannot stop the order by his own authority, he can alert the VP and Congress if he feels that the order is spurious.
Could the POTUS and SoD conspire to nuke the world and all others in the chain blindly follow their orders? It could happen. Is it likely? Not remotely.
Pence, by a mile. We’ve had awful presidents before. We’ve never had this before.
I feel towards Trump rather as I do towards Ruth Ginsberg. I don’t wish them any ill, but whoever the replacement would be is bound to be better.
Regards,
Shodan
Pence. I think it’s fairly obvious even this short a time since his inauguration that Trump will use his office in the same way he uses Twitter. He wants to punch people, to bite and kick and make his presence felt. He wants to be the focus of all attention all the time. He is the tantruming child who would rather be taken out of the restaurant for spitting than ignored. He is desperate for validation, for attention, for people to think about him, to love or hate him, to feel his power.
Pence is wrong. Trump is mean.
And I’m stunned to see people still talking about all the checks on Trump’s power. The Republicans mutter a bit, then do whatever Trump wants.
An order from the POTUS to launch nukes is lawful as far as the military is concerned, and they have all the nukes. If Trump goes nuts, and pushes the button, we’re all screwed. Except the Trump family, they will already be in a shelter somewhere.
I was on the fence when this was originally posted. I thought that Trump would be more damaging to the Republican brand than Pence would, and help Democrats in the long run.
But the total shit show of massive incompetence, lying, self-absorption, venality, and derangement that’s been on display since the inauguration has convinced me that virtually anyone would be better. Trump is doing damage not just to Republicans, but to the American brand. He’s not going to improve. Having this idiocy go on for another four years would be unthinkable.
Anyone who isn’t clear on that after the Senate confirmed Sessions and DeVos…well, I don’t know what it would take.
It’s a tough choice but I go with Pence. Trump is an obvious twitifying nutjob with a white supremacist in his ear, garbage fire cabinet, and no real intention of governing. Pence is at least a nuanced politician who would presumably be interested in playing the Washington game. The biggest drawback is the Pence actually drinks the proverbial Kool Aid as far as being a far right “Christian” goes.
The next question is who would assume the VP position should Pence be elevated to presidency. Pence would get to nominate his VP, would it go to Ryan?
Pence= evil. Trump= evil + mentally ill. Pence gets my vote.
Pence, not even a contest. Pence is predictable. Pence has actually been in a fairly high level of government. Trump seems to just be there to sign anything koo-koo Bannon cooks up for him, and that is terrifying.
edit: as an aside, does anyone else think Bannon is a heavy drinker? he seems to have or is forming a drinker’s nose.
As much as I dislike Pence and all that he stands for, he at least appears mentally stable. So I prefer him to our current “pussy-grabber-in-chief”.
It’s a bit early. Let Trump get settled in and used to the restrictions of the position and ask again.