What Would President Pence's Reign Look Like?

Mike Pence - Caricature
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Between the Mueller investigation into collusion with Russia and the sexual assault claims, the end of President Trump looks like it could be a real possibility . If he were removed from the presidency, we would have a new man in the oval office: President Pence.

So what would a Pence presidency look like? And would we be better with Trump (provided he doesn't get us nuked)?

Pence's most defining characteristic is his morality. He pushes legislation based on his religious beliefs, and he is guided by those beliefs. It's the reason why he once signed legislation making it legal for businesses to discriminate against gay people (causing the biggest brouhaha of his governorship). Of course, he quickly backtracked on that once the uproar threatened to take jobs from his state. His bid to "remoralize" America faltered hard -- and he caved.

When the famous "Grab 'em" Access Hollywood audio was released, Karen Pence was disgusted, according to The Atlantic. And even though she reportedly finds Trump "vile," Mike Pence is still his vice president. Did he think about jumping ship? Sure. In the end, though, he stuck with the vile man for political gains.

Part of the reason for his loyalty lies in the concept of servant leadership -- the idea that no matter your position, there's always someone to serve. Without Trump, who is the boss of President Pence? According to former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, it's the Koch brothers.

Trump ran on a platform of bucking the system; his money gave him freedom from being bought. Mike Pence, however, is not a wealthy man. The Koch brothers, worth roughly $90 billion, have a corporate strategy that involves heavily investing in candidates in order to push through legislation that benefits them. They've financed Pence's campaigns. Ironic, then, that a platform of bucking the system could bring us the most bought-and-paid-for president of all time. The Kochs's political agendaincludes repealing the Affordable Care Act, abolition of Medicare and Medicaid, welfare (and all government assistance programs), and Social Security. They're for the de-regulation of campaign finance laws, and the insurance industry. The want the dissolution of the Department of Transportation, the EPA, Department of Energy, and OSHA.

If you're female, President Pence is going to be a bad time. He's supported and has attempted to push through horrific legislation restricting women's rights. While he was governor he signed House Bill 1337, one of the most stringent pieces of anti-abortion legislature. It forbade the abortion of fetuses with life-ending chromosomal damage, and more disturbingly, required the burial of miscarried or aborted fetuses. The latter led to a movement called "Periods for Pence," wherein women flooded his office with calls and tweets to talk about where they were in their menstrual cycle, and what they should do about it. He's a part of the movement to defund Planned Parenthood and has funded abortion crisis centers -- places that pressure women into having unwanted children, don't provide medical assistance of any kind, and then charge insurance for the visit.

All of that aside, his views on women are just plain odd. He doesn't believe in sharing a meal with another woman or attending a gathering with mixed company and alcohol unless his wife is present. That's a strangely restrictive policy, and it has disturbing ramifications for any women who work with the president. He also calls his wife "Mother," both in private and public, but that's a whole other issue.

Pence's opinions on LGBTQ issues are the stuff of nightmares. When the Ryan White Care Act was in the works, he argued that resources provided by the act should be "directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior." He was a board member of the Indiana Family Institute, who believed the protests around vicious murder of Matthew Shepard to be homosexual-activist "propaganda." He thinks gay couples represent social collapse.

And let's not forget he thinks businesses should be allowed to discriminate against gay couples in the name of religious freedom.

Put all that together and it's hard to tell what's worse: a president with a tendency to rage tweet or a morally reprehensible gargoyle?