by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
The reasons why I think it’s even remotely possible that not just Trump but Pence might abruptly leave office are Trump is likely to lose his mind as the impeachment process proceeds and the sheer magnitude and brazen nature of what’s going on with House Trump.
While Trump going bonkers in the near future is pretty likely, the idea that political gravity might suddenly and abruptly snap into place is also something to at least mull. That not only Trump, but Barr and Rudy are implicated in this scandal is bad enough. But Pence in his craven desire to suck up to Trump is beginning to become to become implicated in this mess as well.
One thing that is curious is how often Barr keeps popping up in this self-own by Trump and how little political damage has resulted. No calls for resignation and barely even calls for him to recuse himself. So, for the time being, it appears Barr is pretty immune to the fate of Nixon’s attorney general John Mitchell.
But there may come a point when some pretty basic problems with what’s going on within House Trump become so existential and conspicuous that not even the abject refusal of Republicans to admit that Trump has ever committed any crimes at all might not be enough. It could all blow up in a surreal, spectacular fashion that would be the political equivalent of slicing a very painful boil.
Before you get too excited, let me point out the obvious. The specific set of events that would cause both Trump and Pence to leave office fast enough to cause Pelosi to become president are pretty damn near impossible. I say this because the position of veep under Pence will be highly coveted and Republicans are likely to fill it with lightning speed. It could be Don Jr. or Ivanka or Nikki Haley. So whatever forced Pence out of power would have to be swift. I just don’t see that happen. Pence is far more likely to be Jerry Ford. 2.0 than simply a historical speedbump.
Just for fun, though, let’s imagine President Pelosi. Pelosi is seen as satan by much of the Republican Party. She’s hated so much that a lot of moderate Democrats see her as a liability. So, I would suspect she would be a caretaker president. She would simply right the ship of state while the 2020 election campaign was taking place.
We would likely have a repeat of 2016, only maybe a little less “colludy.” All of the problems that existed in 2016 would resurface. And, remember, Ford only BARELY lost in 1976. He would have won if he had been a bit more politically adept in selling the Nixon pardon and had Reagan not come so close to defeating him at the convention.
As such, it’s pretty possible that having a controversial Democratic (and female) president on election day 2020 would help Republicans and we’d be right back where we were. Our republic is barely functioning. Barely. And, to date, I have not seen any indication that we’re going to have the political will needed to face how astonishingly corrupt House Trump is.
So, for the time being, this is simply a liberal fever dream.
