Posted on 05/13/2017 2:58:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
After a tumultuous week for President Donald Trump, a lot of people are talking impeachment. First, he fired former FBI director James Comey, then admitted he did so while considering the Trump-Russia investigation in a nationally televised interview. Days later, he tweeted the suggestion that he may have secretly recorded a conversation with Comey. With impeachment foremost in many people's minds, you might be wondering what Trump's removal from office would mean for the executive branch. Namely, would Mike Pence become president if Trump were impeached?
If you're a Democrat or a progressive dreaming of impeachment, it's worth pumping the brakes. Because of all the people floating the idea, Republicans in Congress are not among them, and nothing will happen unless they decide to break ranks. Under different circumstances ― either with a less brutally servile GOP, or one faced with a Democratic president who'd been behaving this way ― you can rest assured the talk would already have begun.
But Republicans seem utterly unwilling to do so, even when confronted by what looks a lot like an effort to obstruct a federal investigation. As such, the impeachment scenario will probably not come up. But if it did, and assuming Pence were not similarly implicated in serious wrongdoing, the answer would be yes: you'd be looking at President Pence.
Of course, it's worth noting that the last time a president resigned in disgrace, just narrowly ahead of being impeached outright, his original vice president was no longer standing. Former president Richard Nixon won in 1972 with Spiro Agnew as his vice president, but Agnew resigned amid a tax evasion scandal less than a year before Nixon departed. As a result, Agnew's replacement as vice president, Gerald Ford, ended up in the Oval Office.
There's no particular reason to think Pence would be brought down, however. As a well-liked and relatively stable member of the Republican establishment, he's ostensibly even more insulated from consequences than Trump is ― and nobody on the Republican side is making a serious move against Trump.
It is true that there are some major unanswered questions about his role in some elements of the Trump-Russia controversy, however. The most recent and glaring being the fact that he claimed Comey's firing was done at the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and had nothing to do with the Russia investigation, a story that imploded almost immediately when Trump admitted to NBC News' Lester Holt that he'd decided to fire Comey before talking to Rosenstein, thanks at least in part to "this Russia thing."
(VIDEO-AND-TWEET-AT-LINK)
In the unlikely event that Pence were somehow removed from office before Trump, a new vice president would be selected by Trump, although they'd require a majority approval by both the House and Senate. In the event Trump and Pence were removed from office at the same time, the presidency would go to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. And if Ryan for some reason couldn't serve, then you'd be looking at President Orrin Hatch. (Hatch is a Republican senator from Utah who is the current President pro tempore, which makes him third in line to the presidency.)
But rest assured, with GOP majorities in both the House and Senate, Trump getting the boot is extremely unlikely. As such, none of this is likely to come into play ― that is, unless there's an absolute decimation of the Republican Party in the 2018 midterm elections.
Many people assume that a crime has to have been committed for a President to be impeached. All that is needed is a trumped up excuse, public clamor for it, and a willing Congress.
View what is occurring in light of these facts, and the game the establishment is playing becomes crystal clear.
High crimes and misdemeanors you say. Anyone doubt that can’t be created out of thin air?
Hi.
“Unless she banks at Fifth Third. In that case, the Wizard of Oz would take over, Santa Claus would become the new Wizard, and the Easter Bunny would be the new Santa.”
Sounds like an ISIS chain of command.
5.56mm
They apparently don't teach math,either.
As such, none of this is likely to come into play ― that is, unless there's an absolute decimation of the Republican Party in the 2018 midterm elections.
The GOP currently holds 52 seats and is only having to protect eight of them in 2018. Which means if they lost all 8, they would still hold 44, or more than enough to fend off a removal vote.
Nitwits.
“lot of people are talking impeachment.”
Fake news or drugged out writing. They don’t even mentioned an unnamed source,
A recent observation by Rush Limbaugh re vicious fake news/propaganda to force Trump out of office!
“As you read, or any time you see “anonymous source said,” you must disbelieve it. The evidence is much greater and much of this is made up than that it is legitimate and real. You must remember that media isn’t media. You are not reading “the news.” You are being inculcated. You’re being propagandized. You are being misinformed for the purposes of advancing a narrative and agenda, which is to force Donald Trump out of office. The news about this investigation today is wonderful.”
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3552203/posts
Exactly, phoneman08.
If the Uniparty tries this, they will be dealing with 65 million very pissed off people, many of whom will converge on DC.
Whose nation this really is, will be decided.
If Paul Ryan can gin up enough backing and can find a half credible excuse, he will go for it. If he does and succeeds he will very soon find that his Democrat allies ain’t his friends any more because his purpose will be accomplished after which he becomes a thorn to be excised. Politicians who are not Democrats really need to learn what the difference is between Comrades and Friends. The Democrats and most of the Republicans are Comrades.
This does read like a middle school primer on civics.
So, what if he secretly recorded a conversation with Comey? The Federal communications interception law, AKA wiretapping law, allows one party to a conversation to record that conversation with or without the other’s knowledge or consent. Sometimes a very good idea.
Yep, sadly that’s what we see.
We saw a lot of this ignorance from the election results. How many times did we hear, how unfair that “Hillary won the popular vote”, in reference to the electoral college?
I’ve been mentioning to people who bring this up, that Hillary got 48% of the popular vote, and that she would have been a minority president if she had won the electoral vote.
I also mention that nobody bitched about the electoral college when Bill Clinton won in 1992 with only 43% of the popular vote.
I like to be able to counter some of the talking points with facts such as I’ve stated here. Bill Clinton got less than 50% of the popular vote in both of his elections, yet nobody, esp. Republicans, has ever said that his elections were not legitimate.
My main goal is to get everyone I know to get their kids and grandkids homeschooled. Turning kids over to the state for molding and programming is child abuse.
Ha ha ha ha go away stupid person.
Waste of time and energy wishing by the RATS. President Trump, you’re doing fine. Keep on coming on.
For me, the jury’s still out on Pence. On the surface he seems fine, but there’s something hinky there. I get RINO vibes from him sometimes.
My Idiot-Ometer is pegging!!!
Seems like they’re trying to turn the narrative a bit, so the liberal base will not expect Trump to be impeached. Because they realize it isn’t going to happen.
I cannot read this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.