I’ve been trying not to allow myself to get excited about the #TrumpImpeachmentParty, mostly because I feel like actual impeachment is still months away and I need to conserve my energy. If and when it happens, we’ll have President Mike Pence. Pence has been biding his time for months now – any fool could see the writing on the wall, and Pence is a smooth political operator who knows how Washington works. He just sat there, eating his fruit plates and watching Trump eat chocolate cake and two scoops of ice cream and he plotted. It’s also been said that many in the White House have made the effort to keep Pence “clean” of scandal, relatively speaking. It’s true that it’s rare to read any article in which Pence comes across as unhinged or someone who makes terrible political arguments, but that’s mostly because he’s standing next to an orange baffoon who literally sh-ts the bed every day. So here are some things to keep your eye on about Mike Pence:
Politico says there are whispers of President Pence in the air. The whispers are coming from Republicans who would rather work with Pence than deal with Trump.
He just formed his own PAC. Because he knows he’s going to be running for president in 2020.
The Enabler. This is an excellent piece about how Pence has “enabled and affirmed” everything Trump has done thus far. Pence does not have clean hands. Yes, he’s not a deranged madman like Trump, but he’s enabled a deranged madman with every breath.
Pence was in charge of Trump’s transition team. The same transition team that knew that Mike Flynn was being investigated by the FBI for working as a foreign operative on behalf of Turkey. Flynn informed the transition team about this investigation as he was being vetted for NSA. What’s worse is that Pence lied about his knowledge repeatedly, including this Fox News interview:
Here is Mike Pence lying two times about not knowing Mike Flynn was a foreign agent. He knew. The campaign knew. pic.twitter.com/eRR5kdkvN2
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) May 18, 2017
Photos courtesy of WENN.
And Paul Ryan too. This will stop at President Orrin Hatch
Yes Paul Ryan knew too. He also tried to suppress information. There was an interesting article yesterday about how these morons were talking about Orangino getting paid by Putin. It was Kevin McCarthy who said this. Ryan shut it down and said as a family they need to keep it in house. Well the Post got their hands on that transcript and confronted them. First they said it didn’t exist. Then the Post showed the receipts and they said oh they are kidding!
Yeah right sure!
yeah, if that isn’t a smoking gun right there…
“never happened.”
“I have a transcript AND a recording of it.”
“we were just joking.”
if you lied about it even happening, you got something to hide. if not, you’d say “yeah, that was a very poor attempt at a joke” from the get-go.
doofus, I know. How stupid does he think the American people are? Oh wait, never mind.
*tears my hair out in despair*
Ryan said something about not leaking and it will prove they were all family. That is Mob speak!!!
Yea a lot of people are wondering just how many top dogs are implicated. Defs Ryan and Pence. Maybe McConnell. It’s going to be a lot of dominos falling
And McConnell and Nunes and Chaffetz
Chaffetz is gone. Politico.com is reporting he will announce shortly that his last day will be June 30 and that he’s telling friends he’ll be joining Fox.
He’s sleezy and knows when to abandon ship. I believe he knew much of what is coming to light and distanced himself accordingly. He has eyes on the Governorship of Utah and the Presidency. At present he’s all about raising his media profile and making money.
Orrin Hatch, currently 3rd in line, is the highest one currently not having any rumors about him being implicated in Trump/Russiagate. Tillerson who’s 4th in line as Secretary of State, is perhaps more deeply implicit than either Trump or Pence because of his dealings with Russia in his business career.
A coworker is a bit too engrossed in some of the conspiracy theories about this whole fiasco that circulate on Twitter. In particular, he gives too much credence to Louise Mensch. He honestly thinks that we’ll have Pres. Orrin Hatch by the end of the year. I’m more of a realist.
I would love to have Trump, Pence, Ryan, and company fall like a bunch of dominos, but realistically the GOP will only start impeachment hearings if Bigly Boy’s ratings fall into the high 30s/low 40s in very red areas of this country. The other tipping point could be if his baggage starts stinking up re-election campaigns for governorships, Senate seats, and all House members.
Right now, Justin Amash of Michigan is the one of the few GOP House members calling for Trump’s impeachment and he’s a bit of outlier. He represents Gerald Ford’s old district. I lived in his district for several years and it’s an area that went heavily for Trump and in the Tea Party heartland. Amash fancies himself as more of an intellectual than he actually is and justifies most of his votes in long pseudo-intellectual Facebook posts on his official page.
Tillerson is likely to go down with Trump & Co. He’s pretty deep in corrupt dealings with Putin, and that is likely to come out with the investigation. He obviously is not terribly interested in any affairs of State except getting sanctions lifted and going full speed ahead on oil drilling. He doesn’t even try to pretend.
Yup, Pence is out (said in Seacrest voice)…so is complicit Ryan.
The winner of American Idol Psycho team is {Interim} President Orrin Hatch.
Yup. Cardinal Richelieu Pence is just as dirty. That leaves us with Eddie Munster Ryan. Terrific.
There’s a tape with Ryan and other Republicans talking about Trump colluding with Russia. He (and a lot of others) knew, too.
Where is Steve Bannon in all of this madness? He’s had a pretty low profile for awhile now, which makes me nervous…
Trump’s presidency is just exhausting.
That’s exactly what it is.
Tony Schwartz (ghost writer of “Art of the Deal”) who knows Trump really well,
said last night, that Trump will resign & make it look like a victory.. He feels trapped & see’s no other way out.
BYE AGENT ORANGE!!
Truth, guest! It is soooooo exhausting, I’ve spent too much time digging into books and articles to understand it all. It goes along with certain history about wider issues of kleptocracy & fascism, but but I just never expected it to get THIS bad in in US 🙁
This newish article in Vox helped me understand better his diehard (scared to say diehard!) supporters and why they stay so loyal. It’s about psychology… the article is called ‘I choose not to listen’. Gosh, please, please let it all get better soon, somehow.
I’m seriously nervous an impeachmentt will lead to an all out national crisis – with Trump’s supporters genuinely believing he did nothing wrong – spurred to reactionary violence by brietbart and others that want to dismantle the ‘system’.
Yes the Republican Party may go down in flames, but the rest of us will go with them.
It almost feels safer to just let this insane administration play out, suffer the consequences, and hopefully be able to find some kind of stability and security afterwards. I don’t know.
And I say this as a visible minority, who fits in neatly in the camps that have been vilified by Trump and will almost certainly also bear the brunt of post-impeachment violence.
We would not be alive by the end of 4 years. That man has the nuclear codes and he isn’t afraid to use it.
How will the crazy, unhinged Deplorables react when Trump is ousted? They believe he is innocent and that this is a witch hunt. I fear the violence that will follow. I mean, I obviously Trump arrested and thrown to the wolves but I’m worried about the lunacy he has unleashed. It’s going to be scary times 🙁
I don’t know. Maybe it’s wishful thinking but I tend to think most of the deplorables talk a good game from the safety of their computers but I can’t see anyone organizing enough to act in any significant way.
I actually could see it Clare mostly because the right wing media is so full of it and Trump might never actually admit what he’s done.Part of me wants that pee tape to come out just so he gets exposed
Trump has to go regardless. I am telling my liberal friends to buy a gun and learn how to use it. I live in a very conservative area, and my husband just got his deceased father’s gun. I don’t think it will get that bad. But just in case.
Also, I think the Republicans fought this so hard because Pence is dirty too. They are both going down.
I think America is already engaged in a civil war of sorts. An ideological civil war. Now will it turn into an actual physical civil war? Who knows, but it is something to mentally prepare for.
We have to remember that 45 was not elected by the majority of voters. Hillary received 3,000,000 more votes. His people are more vocal and stubborn. Right now his approval is in the 30’s, not a majority.
On one hand, I fear violence, but I can’t sit by helplessly while Orange Mussolini attempts to destroy democracy here and in Europe. Four years with Trump as the leader of the free world is a much bigger risk than the reactions of his supporters, in my opinion.
If you are a visible minority 4 years of a Trump presidency will set you back to pre-civil rights days and his deplorables will have grown in number and boldness. Just a few days back we had KKK members holding a rally with their faces uncovered. That group will keep growing until you see your neighbors and co-workers joining them.
You will get to see cross burnings and ever more bold assault of POC and women. And you won’t have health care, clean air, clean drinking water. Not to mention what this thug will do to scientists your child’s schools and their health.
I’m doing self defense and company supported legal insurance to fight for me if I’m falsely attacked by the police or I defend myself against them and deplorableS. This is not the time to be passive and let traitors take over our Democracy.
Trump’s face in the header pic! Who voted for that?
DUUUH I, Give or take need every Adult Trump to die in Jail be exiled or close to it ( Tiffany Might or might not be Included but Melania CERTAINLY is) alongside with at least the first slate of the GOP governance, up to and Including Ryan, Pence, McConnell’s Turtle B*tchass self and his wattles, Priebus, Bannon I want them jailed, or unable to so much as run for Best Dog Catcher/Shool District, Best Inmate NOTHING
Tiffany and the boy are the only ones not involved in this mess. Hell the babies probably know stuff.
And even that is a STRONG maybe for me LOL
Hopefully Prince Jared and Precious Ivanka will be given consecutive prison terms so they can take care of the kids. Jared is in this or else he never would have tried to hide his Russian contacts.
Mother will not be pleased with this, Mike.
Mother is probably compromised, too.
haha!!!
Mother has the leather belt ready for Pence. She doesn’t get that he will actually like it. 🙂
Oooo Mother has been BAAAD!
*Shoots milk out of nose*
A gentle reminder that Impeachment is akin to indictment and is no guarantee that if Impeached 45 will be removed from office. Only after conviction in the Senate would he be forcibly removed from office.
I think it’s a given too say this lunatic is not going to resign like Nixon.
according to the author of “The Art of the Deal”, who knows Drumpf well and who’s been VERY critical of him, he thinks Drumpf would resign rather than face impeachment.
if he gets impeached, that’s “a loss”, if he CHOOSES to resign before that happens, it’s “a win”, because, in his addled brain, HE would have made the decision to leave, rather than being removed. one can only hope.
Tony has had tremendous insight into how orange ticks, based on the 18 months he spent with him. I always find his comments spot-on.
Someone needs to put the idea into Trump’s head that resigning equals “winning.” He’s so malleable that I think someone, not sure who, could convince him.
I hope he resigns and goes off with his sunset of followers preaching about how he was hounded into resigning. AS dearly as I would love to see his fat ass charged and in jail, i fear that US will end up in a nasty civil war started by his trigger happy deplorables!
He is tweeting about Clinton and Obama crimes now, and about witch hunts.
Remember that this is a 70 year old wealthy man who has never had to do anything he didnt’ want to do. He has never been told NO. This is NOT fun for him. The Twitter Rogue accounts say that he is eating himself to death, literally. Gained 63 pounds since November. I do think he will resign, which will allow him to complain about the Dems and everyone else, and have anti-Dem rallies the rest of his life, which is what he really liked about the process: the applause, not the work.
Do they serve chocolate cake and ice cream in Prison??
I think it is a real possibility that jar-jar and princess precious will be escorting baby fists out of the White House under the pretext of some health issue. Never acknowledging his actual mental issues, just helping him out the door. (After they have done their dirty business deals.)
The top picture in the article – I swear Pence is squeezing Trump’s forearm and thinking about how meaty it is.
He is more of a wingnut than Emperor Baby Fists, because he believes all of it deeply. He even attacked Mulan leading to an expectation about women in the military or in combat.
“Despite her delicate features and voice, Disney expects us to believe that Mulan’s ingenuity and courage were enough to carry her to military success on an equal basis with her cloddish cohorts. Obviously, this is Walt Disney’s attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate over the role of women in the military. I suspect that some mischievous liberal at Disney assumes that Mulan’s story will cause a quiet change in the next generation’s attitude about women in combat and they just might be right. (Just think about how often we think of Bambi every time the subject of deer hunting comes into the mainstream media debate.)”
In the same op ed from 1999?
“It is instructive that even in the Disney film, young Ms. Mulan falls in love with her superior officer! Me thinks the politically correct Disney types completely missed the irony of this part of the story. They likely added it because it added realism with which the viewer could identify with the characters. You see, now stay with me on this, many young men find many young women to be attractive sexually. Many young women find many young men to be attractive sexually. Put them together, in close quarters, for long periods of time, and things will get interesting. Just like they eventually did for young Mulan. Moral of story: women in military, bad idea.”
I can guess what his attitude is towards sexual assault of female military personnel, and that he thinks it is all the woman’s fault. If only they’d stay home, barefoot and pregnant, going to church every day and thanking God for men to tell them what to do.
What a moron. That story isn’t Disney’s. It’s a centuries old Chinese folktale. It may be true it may not but it’s been in existence before him and his ilk. Yes, there was actual life besides the Christian Right!
What an idiot! Hua Mulan is a Chinese legend from the 5th century! I live in a predominantly Chinese neighborhood and all the little girls practically worship her and want to grow up to be Mulan. She was a warrior for over a decade. And she imparts a positive message of respect for elders, love of family and sacrifice for one’s believes. Are those “bad liberal” values, Pence?
If Mike Pence becomes President, The Handmaid’s Tale will win an Emmy for best documentary.
Brilliant (and depressing because it rings so true) comment! Atwood knew three decades ago where the US was headed.
Pence is no worse than Trump on women’s right and autonomy. We have an anti-choice Supreme Court justice thanks to Trump. The only difference is Trump speaks about having great respect for women while stabbing them in the back. Pence is more honest about his hate.
I think what some Democrats don’t get is Trump was chosen by the religious Right and the anti-Paul Ryan Republicans. The Republicans had made promises to them for decades without delivering. Trump does exactly what they want so they are die hard supporters.
Mike Pence doesn’t have Trump’s charisma and he is a typical politician who will make compromises to stay in power. So he would eventually lose Trump supporters. He won’t have the balls to treat his fellow Republicans like Trump can.
Trump’s base hates Paul Ryan more than they hate Hillary. And his fellow Republicans have no problem disagreeing with him.
Trump is the most powerful Republican ever in his party. Once he steps down, the party will eat itself alive.
To put Pence’s commentary in perspective – he also thinks there is no connection between smoking and lung cancer. And that the planet is 6000 years old. He was busy putting Creationists into the Indiana education system. Not surprising that he had no idea that Mulan was a very old story that Disney just adapted.
Because I am a fundamentally petty person, I am having fun telling the few rueful Trump supporters in my circle, “How does President Hillary Clinton sound now, huh? You were so worried about her e-mails! Now you have to worry about never getting another Republic elected for the next fifty years and the possible end of the free world as we know it. Great job making America GREAT again!!!”
But then I start taking Tylenol and praying because every day brings a new fresh hell of ridiculousness from this administration. I have not had a full night’s sleep since January, and while I am making more money because lots of worried people want to make absolutely sure they are not deported, I long for the halcyon days of President Obama. And, God forgive me, I actually said the other day that even though I railed against President Bush and his ridiculous Attorney Generals (Ashcroft, Gonzales, Mukasey), in retrospect I did not realize how good I had it. Sigh.
I’m definitely having fun rubbing this huge ginormous disaster in the face of Trumpsters I know. Did they like their insurance, schools,food, etc. Oops guys, you’re making us all lose everything. Medicare and Medicaid! Big deal though it’s only THOUSANDS of dollars for an appointment. You guys must feel awesome! Good going!
Ugh. I take my anxiety meds and go for a long walk. I also barely sleep. I can’t believe so many trusted a long known con man, game show host instead of a real qualified politician
I have a stomach ache since November, but I am also fascinated by this process. I am stunned the Republicans won’t stand up to this tyrant, I am so proud of our newspapers, especially the NY Times and Wash Post which, although not perfect, have really dug up bombshell after bombshell.
If this episode doesn’t teach us the value of civics classes, a very strong press and that we need to lessen the power of the President, we are really doomed.
To be fair, is there a Republican not involved in this?
Also, QQ, nifty use of the word wattles.
It doesn’t matter. Trump would never resign…President Pence is fantasy.
Ding dong Roger Ailes is dead 🎼🎤🎉
My only regret of his death is he didn’t die behind bars.
Somehow I’m more upset about Chris Cornell’s death than that sicko Ailes.
Murder, she wrote. Hopefully someone got revenge for all the women he abused.
The scary thing is that if Pence actually did become President, the Republicans would rally behind him and both the House and the Senate would go crazy passing all of their agenda. The benefit of Trump being in office is that theres’ so much chaos that it’s going to be difficult to get anything passed.
The Special Counsel being named makes it even more important that we step up watchdogging on the destruction of healthcare and their desire for tax cuts for the richest. That work has still been going on behind the scenes, and they might surprise the House with a “completed” bill that decimates health care next week.
Well it depends how many of those morons are complicit. There’s already a big whiff that RYan, McCarthy and whoever was recorded, were. They covered up possible talk of collusion. All in the name of the party.
Pence is guilty because he was in the transition committee who interviewed Flynn. At that time, Flynn was already under investigation about his partnership with Russia. Pence was on the hiring committee so he does know full well what Flynn did. A lot of BS but Pence isn’t innocent either.
The idea of President Pence comes with an entirely new set of nightmares.
To add to the intrigue, ole Jason C is reportedly ready to resign next month. Where might he go? Rumor is — Faux News!
This may explain why he was bloviating last night on Tucker C’s show. I couldn’t figure out why he was so worked up when he’s already said he’s out by 2018.
He’s such a tool.
He is worked up because he has done everything in his power to prevent any real investigation of Trump and his cronies. Mueller’s appointment diminishes Jason’s control.
The GOP control the House and Senate. Imo, it seems unlikely there’d be a vote for impeachment let alone conviction.
Impeachment is just the trial; conviction would remove the President from office. A. Johnson and Clinton were both impeached but later acquitted. The impeachment process was started for Nixon but then he resigned before the vote so his impeachment was technically unsuccessful. (Back in the day, it was Ben Franklin who said that the removal of “obnoxious” chief execs is accomplished with assassination.)
The next president of the US: Orrin Hatch.
Republicans will vote to impeach when Trump is hurting them more than helping them. Lots of Repubs were all lined up to vote for a Nixon impeachment. Only the offer of a full pardon from Gerald Ford convinced Nixon to resign. (Info on this quid pro quo was denied for many years.)
I am actually amazed at how stupid Trump is. I am really sad for our country having to go through this, but I guess it is what it is. I thought all along that Trump was kind of dumb, but he has turned out to be far more stupid than I think many of us even suspected. Talk about the Peter Principal – I thought Nixon had that Grand Prize all locked up. Then along comes Trump!