{"id":4942,"date":"2017-05-17T09:34:55","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T16:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/?p=4942"},"modified":"2017-05-22T09:30:42","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T16:30:42","slug":"11-reasons-president-pence-not-just-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2017\/05\/11-reasons-president-pence-not-just-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Reasons President Pence Would Not Be “Just As Bad”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I know. I know. Practically every week\u00a0since Trump announced his candidacy, there\u2019s been a \u201csurely this will be the end of him\u201d headline, and\u00a0none of them ultimately amount to anything. And\u00a0even now,\u00a0there remains a carefully crafted narrative that his base will uphold\u00a0no matter what<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And yet. This one might be different.<\/p>\n

Things are starting to hit the fan. Even his biggest supporters in the House and Senate are starting to skulk away, with midterms on their minds. It is getting harder to make excuses for his blunders; and nearly impossible to deny to the obvious shady business surrounding\u00a0Comey, ties to Russia, and now, the possible obstruction of justice related to both.<\/p>\n

There must be a boiling point, after all. The current pace of everyday gaff and scandal is not sustainable\u2013not even for a giant demagogue with every resource and tool of manipulation at his disposal. Whether it\u2019s today, or next week, or a year from now,\u00a0something is going to burn this thing down. And it will probably be a spark from within.<\/p>\n

As the certainty of some game-changing revelation grows, I keep hearing the same thing from progressive circles: \u201cBut Pence is just as bad.<\/em>\u201d Or, \u201cPresident<\/em>\u00a0Pence will\u00a0be worse<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Donald_Trump_and_Mike_Pence_-_Caricature\"<\/p>\n

While I get the general sentiment, he is not worse. Not even\u00a0\u201cas bad.\u201d Is he an ideological nightmare? Sure. Would he be a friend to women, people of color, the poor, or the LGBT community? Lol, no. But he\u2019s a far safer presence than the current resident of the Oval Office. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Global relationships and diplomacy.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Whatever damage he might do, policy-wise, here at home, he will not be a stage 4 cancer on America\u2019s worldwide credibility. DJT has proven, again and again, that he doesn\u2019t know who our friends are, doesn\u2019t care and won\u2019t learn how foreign policy works, and cannot keep his tiny hands off of the big red button. It is terrifying. Say what you will about Pence, but his brand of gross will not lead to this level of escalating global tension.<\/li>\n
  2. Experience<\/strong><\/em>. \u201cCareer politician\u201d is not always a selling point in campaign season. But I\u2019d rather have a career politician than a zero-experience constant liability. As a seasoned politician, Pence knows about things like \u201coptics\u201d and \u201cethics.\u201d He knows, for instance, that you cannot fill the highest positions of power with your kids and your billionaire BFF\u2019s. He has experience, and so he will value experience in those he places around him.<\/li>\n
  3. Conflicts of interest.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Pence doesn\u2019t have them. At least, not on the obvious and epic scale that Trump does, with his endless web of corporate connections and favors owed and expected.<\/li>\n
  4. A Vague Awareness of Other People.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Whatever I may think of his politics (terrible) or his personal beliefs (gross) he is not a complete narcissist, incapable of taking feedback or gathering input from trusted and informed sources. One of Trump\u2019s biggest weaknesses is the utter lack of regard for what anyone else thinks, even within his own circles.<\/li>\n
  5. Military Experience.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>He has some. So maybe he\u2019d\u00a0be a little less likely to send our children\u00a0off to a conflict without thoroughly plotting a path in and out, and discerning the consequences.<\/li>\n
  6. Family.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>I\u2019m just guessing that a guy who will not eat a meal alone with another woman<\/a>, would not be too wild about the idea of living apart from his wife. No more\u00a0spending obscene amounts of taxpayer money to secure basically the whole city of New York, to build a secondary fortress for the First Family.<\/li>\n
  7. The Private Resort Situation. <\/em><\/strong>To the best of my knowledge, Mike Pence does not own a resort in Florida, or elsewhere, that he would treat as his second office. Trump\u2019s frequent travel to his vacation spots is not just concerning because of the expense; it also means he frequently takes state affairs\u00a0out of the public eye. \u201cPrivate\u201d is the operative word\u2026 When\u00a0the White House goes to Mar a Lago, a lot of \u201cour\u201d national business happens behind closed doors. Or behind the 9th tee, if you will.<\/li>\n
  8. \u00a0Faith.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Do I agree with his theology? Hell nah. It is harmful, and I\u2019ve expounded on that in other posts. However\u2013it is, at least, what appears to be a more genuine faith than Trump\u2019s \u201chow do I work this communion cup thing\u201d and \u201ctwo Corinthians\u201d performances that clearly pander to a certain demographic. Trump\u2019s posturing makes a mockery, not just of a particular faith, but of faith in general. Not to mention, I\u2019d like to think that a President who at least believes in a higher power could muster up a certain degree of humility on occasion. That\u2019s always nice to see in a leader.<\/li>\n
  9. Education<\/strong><\/em>. Again\u2013Pence has some. I\u2019m over Trump\u2019s blatant anti-intellectualism, disregard for facts, and consistent scorn for informed and intelligent people. Pence might not have the oratory skills of Kennedy or Obama, but damn, it would be nice to hear at least a high school vocabulary when we turn on the State of the Union. I mean, let\u2019s be real.\u00a0I will settle for complete sentences at\u00a0this point.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n
  10. Temperament.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>If nothing else, I look forward to a break from the midnight Twitter storms. It might be refreshing to live in a country that is no longer the laughing stock of the world.<\/li>\n
  11. Freedom of the Press.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Remember what that is? We may be stuck with the legacy of \u201c2 Americas,\u201d and the tension between Fox News and\u2026well, everyone else. But Pence does not appear to have the overt animosity for the free press that puts Trump constantly at odds with them. And therefore, we might return to a somewhat stable relationship with our shared narrative.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The main thing that concerns me about Pence is that\u00a0he could, in this moment, strategically position himself as the anti-Trump, and come out smelling like a rose. A hero to both conservatives and moderates, and possibly even a portion of the progressive base. It could mean a certain win for him in 2020, and unprecedented power for Christian fundamentalists in the upcoming midterms. That makes me shudder. But ultimately, his brand of damage is easier to reign in than the full-on global meltdown we face with the existing Trump administration.<\/p>\n

    Yes, Pence exhibits his own brand of racism; his own harmful kind of patriarchy; his own willful ignorance of poverty, and an overt homophobia that might set\u00a0equality back a\u00a0few decades. But these are all things we can fight<\/em>. These are all issues that we can resist at local and state levels\u2026provided\u00a0we remain a functional democratic system. And, you know, that we don\u2019t get blown off the map by North Korea. If we want to keep democracy\u00a0in tact\u2013and stay alive to fight another day\u2013that means first ousting the sitting President.<\/p>\n

    The bottom line is, this would all be so much more fun to watch if there weren\u2019t nuclear weapons involved\u2026<\/p>\n

    Photo Credit<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I know. I know. Practically every week\u00a0since Trump announced his candidacy, there\u2019s been a \u201csurely this will be the end of him\u201d headline, and\u00a0none of them ultimately amount to anything. And\u00a0even now,\u00a0there remains a carefully crafted narrative that his base will uphold\u00a0no matter what. And yet. This one might be different. Things are starting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":4943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1105],"tags":[1515,1513,1478,1516,9,1514],"class_list":["post-4942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-good-week-for-progress","tag-comey","tag-donald-trump-scandal","tag-mike-pence","tag-obstruction-of-justice","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-russia"],"yoast_head":"\n11 Reasons President Pence Would Not Be "Just As Bad"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ideological nightmares aside, Pence is a way safer presence than the current resident of the Oval Office. 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