A Mike Pence Presidency Is No Longer Just Dinner Party Chatter in DC — Is He Up to the Job?

A Mike Pence Presidency Is No Longer Just Dinner Party Chatter in DC — Is He Up to the Job?


That scenario has seemed far-fetched — until this week. At the moment there don't seem to be enough GOP senators who would vote to convict Trump if the Democratic-controlled House passes articles of impeachment against him. But the president hasn't been able to quash "Ukraine-gate," the scandal that erupted after a White House whistleblower reported that Trump pressed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky for dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Releasing the transcript of the call, which the White House apparently believed was exculpatory, only intensified the pressure. A recent Fox News poll showed a majority — 51 percent — now want Trump impeached and removed from office. That was the first major poll showing a majority in favor of Trump's ouster.

But it's a separate, unrelated presidential phone call that's making Trump more vulnerable — and a Pence presidency less unlikely.

Trump's October 6 announcement, after a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that the administration would remove U.S. troops from northeast Syria, enabling Turkey to attack Syrian Kurds, infuriated Republican senators. Ankara believes the Kurds in Syria aid a separatist group within Turkey, but Kurdish fighters have been crucial U.S. allies in the defeat of the Islamic State group. Like most of the U.S. foreign policy establishment, GOP leaders saw Trump's pullout as an indefensible abandonment of a stalwart American ally — and a reckless move that played into the hands of ISIS, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Not a single Republican senator voiced support of the troop withdrawal. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denounced the move publicly, as did Senator Lindsey Graham, previously a no-daylight-between-us Trump partisan. ...
... When, in July of 2016, Pence got word that Trump was going to call in 30 minutes to let him know about his decision on the vice presidency, he was in his office with his wife and three senior members of his staff, devout evangelicals all. He asked them to join hands and pray together. A half-hour later, his prayers were answered. Mike Pence had long wanted to be president. Now he had the chance to be a heartbeat away. Should the Senate hold a vote on Trump's fate, will Pence, his wife, Karen, and their top aides once again gather in prayer?
And if so, what will they be praying for?
Bill Powell | 6 hours ago | Newsweek | Read Full Article Here.

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