I was thinking about John McCain, how if he accepts his fate, the probable finality of his disease, he could make a decision to express his contempt towards President Trump, that’s is fueled by the repressed outrage of his insults directly to him. This "throwing the first stone” just could open the floodgates of other Republicans who see that he is leading a parade they no longer want to march in. I wrote a diary that I haven’t posted that went into details, but then I thought about who would take Trumps place, Mike Pence.
I decided to do some research, which I’m almost embarrassed to say is made so easy by we who labor over editing articles such as his biography in Wikipedia. When I was done re-reading it I realized I'm not sure I wanted the trade off, if Congressional Republicans chose to turn on Trump, something I see as being triggered by the bill passed unanimously in the Senate and now about to be brought up in the house to deny him the right to remove sanctions against Russia.
It is reported that Trump attempted to remove these sanctions as soon as he took office but the outrage that ensued prevented it-- temporarily. Then in June the a bill was passed in the Senate, with every Senator save two Republicans voting to require Congressional action to remove the sanctions.
With the House in recess there is a standoff as described here:
But the bill is stuck in the House of Representatives now amid a struggle between congressional Democrats and Republicans that ties into a larger debate over the president’s policy toward Russia.
The Trump administration entered the fray this week, saying that the legislation should give Trump more freedom to negotiate with Russia without congressional approval.
White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short told reporters on Monday that the bill "sets an unusual precedent of delegating foreign policy to 535 members of Congress by not including national security waivers that have always been consistently part of sanctions bills in the past."
The latest version of the bill includes a substantive change that reduces the oversight powers of the Congress. The change would permit only the Speaker of the House to bring up a resolution to oppose the president should he try to weaken sanctions instead of any member of Congress.
Democrats are objecting to the change and argue that it was added by Republicans in response to the White House’s displeasure with the bill.
As of now almost every Republican Senator has cast a vote asserting their rights opposed to Trump, and the Republicans in the House are in a quandary. Either they will be servile to a Russia loving President, or break with their Senate Republican legislators. If they pass the bill, Trump will either sign it or if he can veto it, Trump will have allowed the entire Congress to oppose him, and it would open the floodgates.
My guess is a motion of censure would do the trick, and once he lost his supporters he would resign. Of course just as he condemned the “media” and anyone who dares to criticize him, I would bet that he would resign his office, with a bold, “Fuck You” to the entire Republican party while announcing not only his starting a new party. He will boast how he never wanted to do the actual work of being President and never needed the aggravation of being a “government employee”
The Question of this diary is would the "world, the U.S.A. and the Democratic party be better off if it was Mike Pence at the helm rather than Donald J. Trump. Personally, I’m not sure. There is no need for me to summarize what we were warned about, and has come true , that he is by intellect, experience and character, unfit to be President. Now we know the way this lack of fitness has unfolded.
But, his erratic and egocentric behavior could cast a pall on anything he proposes, which in areas of income distribution, domestic and international policy are, if anything, more moderate than Pence. Here’s the Wikipedia list of Mike Pence's history and position on key political issues.
While Trump will say anything on any given day, he has not defined anything like a coherent position of the radical right, much less tried to advance it. As an example Trump considers the right to abortion and same sex marriage as settled issues. Pence would want the current acceptance reversed, and says so. Someone who is this radically a Christian Conservative could not be nominated by his party or elected by this country -— so what could we expect if he were to become President.
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This is a re-post of this Dailykos Diary of yesterday that received 30 interesting comments that answered the question. a summary of which I will post in this comment section. Everyone on this site feels it is an excruciating “Sophie’s Choice” and would greatly prefer any liberal candidate. The reality is that under our Constitution and laws, it is these two men or one from the line of succession that is only conservative Republicans. Another lawful option, although fraught with unknown adverse consequences is a Constitutional Convention — which should be indicated as “other.” But please choose one of the first two poll options, because these are the only realistic options until January 2021.