Robert Reich is calling for the immediate removal of Donald Trump. Reich said a principled right-winger is better for America and the world than an unhinged sociopath. Mike Pence? I have been resisting Trump’s removal for selfish political reasons. I will explain why below.
If the House/Senate removes Trump from office through impeachment or via the 25th Amendment, Mike Pence becomes president, and that is enormous and dangerous.
Robert Reich wrote a blog post titled “Remove Him Now” where he said the following.
We have endured Donald Trump for 7 months. Although he has had few legislative victories, he has almost single-handedly destroyed the moral authority of the presidency of the United States at home and abroad, brought us to the brink of a nuclear war without consulting anyone, and sown division and hatred. He has given encouragement and legitimacy to the ugliest in America. How can this nation endure another 41 months of this man?
Reich wrote that the country cannot wait for Robert Mueller’s evidence of Russian collusion. The reality is that it is unlikely that Congress would have enough votes to remove Trump for collusion. It is more likely that findings of financial wrongdoings, which are not prosecutable till after he leaves office by some accounts, would be his ultimate undoing.
Reich believes there is enough evidence to use the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump. But is that what we want to do? He writes,
I know, removing Trump would mean having Mike Pence as president. But a principled right-winger is better for America and the world than an unhinged sociopath. Republican as well as Democratic members of the House and Senate must commit themselves to removing this president.
We do not need Mike Pence to save us from Donald Trump
Our country is bigger than any, one president. The grassroots, principled politicians, and career government officials continue to mitigate any fatal damage Trump may attempt to inflict.
However placing Mike Pence into the presidency is dangerous. Why? In Mike Pence, we get a real ideologue. Worse, we have a man who can speak very well and make a false narrative seem correct to the less than politically savvy. In other words, a Trump removal at his two-year anniversary could create a ten-year Mike Pence presidency. An immediate removal is a potential seven-year Pence administration.
Pence’s first two or three years would be used to complete the steps necessary to ensure a select popular vote minority and an electoral college majority governs this country. He will stuff the courts with judges that will uphold voter suppression tactics throughout the necessary states. It makes it that much easier to win his first and second terms irrespective of the popular vote.
Trump has proven to be so incompetent and dangerous for the country that he may ultimately lose to even a marginal Democrat. As long as the grassroots remain activated, for which Trump is the best catalyst, Trump’s chances of winning a second term dies a slow death. A Mike Pence presidency likely will not generate near the angst that Trump does and may lull many again into complacency.