I’d be more comfortable with Mike Pence as president than Donald Trump and you should be too.
It’s time to put to rest an oft-overheard saying, that Pence is “worse than Trump”. There are a number of misunderstandings and well-circulated myths that contribute to the liberals’ dreading of the former Indiana governor.
A common utterance is that a Pence Presidency would, “get more done” due to his experience. The first problem with this statement is that it suggests the president’s job is to “get stuff done” in legislative terms, but this is untrue.
The president has many jobs, the last of which is a legislator. POTUS can only suggest a congressional focus, but it’s ultimately up to congress.
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Any would-be fears that Pence produces on controversial social topics should be redirected at those in Congress who are far more likely to decide the fate of such rights.
Based on Trump’s few actions thus far, such as his conservative cabinet and staff picks, there is little reason to believe he will not operate as a normal Republican and approve Paul Ryan’s agenda.
With Trump pointing to towing the line on legislation, we should instead be judging him based on where he differs from Republicans like Mike Pence.
In spite of traditional rules, the president can impose tariffs in some cases, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. This could have an effect of increased prices for normal American consumers, or even start a trade war, lose-lose escalations in which countries retaliate to our tariffs by taxing our goods.
An extraordinary change Pence would not make includes softening relations with Russia. Relations with Russia are a bipartisan issue. Both Democrats and Republicans view Russia unfavorably, even after the shift in public opinion caused by Trump, according to a piece by Politico.
The most worrisome issue is also the hardest to quantify. Trust in political institutions is at its lowest in history according to FiveThirtyEight, a fact that Trump has used to his advantage, degrading common political narrative and facts.
Prior to this election, Mike Pence has never indicated anti-globalization tendencies, closer Russian relations, nor has he belittled the governing institutions we rely so heavily on.
Routine Republican policy is damaging, but it’s hard to recover from wrongheaded politics with increasing distrust of the institutions which genuinely seek to guide the way. This is why Trump is Dangerous but Mike Pence is Tolerable.
