What I was really getting at, and maybe it wasn’t clear, is that Trump seems to have a charisma that defies anything I can understand, but I don’t see anyone else being able to take his place in presidential politics in the same way. His fans are devoted to him in a way that scares the bejesus out of me. But on the bright side, I don’t see those fans being as devoted, in so intense a way, to someone else. It’s truly a cult of personality, and Trump is a unique personality in American politics.
I may regret asking this, but how do you think President Sanders would “do enough damage to undermine essential norms in democracy that are understood but not explicitly guranteed by anything in the Constitution.”?
Indeed, the Balkanization of our society into factions is what might make it difficult to reverse the trend, however unpopular Trump becomes. We’ve splintered into different tribes that increasingly agree on very little. It’s not only conservatives disagree with liberals, but factions within these larger categories disagreeing with each other, and often disagreeably so.
I don’t equate Sanders with Trumps in terms of ethics or morality - one is clearly superior to the other. But what I would say is that Sanders has in no way demonstrated he knows how to govern, and that’s different from being part of a legislative body. My fear is that Bernie’s incompetence would be on full display and inspire the support of a true right wing authoritarian ideologue as a reaction.
“Highly skilled”? He was a one-term Governor–you, as a Hoosier, know better than I that his chances of re-election looked poor, before he was elevated to the GOP presidential ticket.
Pence is almost universally despised. The left hold him in contempt for obvious reasons, but most Trump fans find him to be an object of derision, too. Those who crave a macho President with whom to identify won’t warm to a man who calls his wife Mother. He’s a boot-licker, and Trump fans know it.
Sure, evangelicals will be pleased if he becomes President, but even they are fairly lukewarm about him.
(I agree with all Jonathan Chance had to say on the topic, too.)
The larger point is that it’s important to ask who is pushing the ideas that ‘Pence would be worse than Trump’ and ‘will Trump leaving office solve anything?’ Who benefits if voters fear that impeaching-and-trying (or 25th Amendment-ing) Trump will make them worse off?
The obvious answers are: those currently cashing in, and those who believe Trump will do more to further their goals than Pence would. Russian oligarchs have no reason to believe Pence will slow-walk sanctions the way Trump has; the Kremlin has massive leverage over Trump, and much less leverage over Pence.
And Trump is destroying US credibility and the US economy at a pace that must please every enemy of America—could Pence possibly match that ‘achievement’? No. He’s just not suited to the task the way Trump is.
Ok can we replace “highly skilled” with “will not continuously sabotage his own agenda by acting like a complete idiot” and leave it at that? We all know all the GOP needs is a pulse that can sign bills.
The thing is… they wouldn’t have to. Whatever gets him gone (defeat, death, incapacitation, removal, resignation) will be big news for weeks, if not months. There’ll be plenty of meat on that bone to pick at for a long, long time. We’re STILL arguing about the 2016 (beyond the investigations, that is).
And there will be ripples to the cause of his leaving. If he’s impeached and removed (or resigns like Nixon to avoid it), there will be other resignations, possible/likely criminal convictions for various cronies and enablers. If it’s death, it could be weeks of “See kids? This is why you eat a green salad from time to time and walk your fat ass around the golf course instead of using the cart.”
Obama left quietly and with dignity and it really closed the book on his administration. Whether he’s here for six more hours or six more years (ugh), the news won’t suffer.
With Thump gone, however it happens, you will see a field day of arrests, indictments and major prison sentences. Remove the head, and the body will die. Not the body of idiots who elected him, but the body of corrupt pustules that are his cabinet and advisers. Pence doesn’t rouse the scum like Thump does.The Feds and the states will have a feeding frenzy to see who gets the biggest bites out of Thump Administration asses. My estimate is that there would be 50+ new inmates by the time it ran its course. Plus a couple of suicides, a “fled the country” and a couple of suspicious accidents.
Bernie wouldn’t have led a full-out assault on truth and the media, nor would he have pulled us out of every deal he could get his hands on, or threatened nuclear war with NK. He also would have been smart enough to surround himself with people who are capable of giving him pertinent advice, and he likely would have listened, certainly much more so than Baby Huey.
He wouldn’t have been able to get any of the things he wanted done, but he also wouldn’t have done his level best to destroy the country.