Most political professionals believe that Donald Trump is screwed… long-term. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but Trump cannot survive. Beyond that, everything is unknown. Will there be impeachment proceedings? Will Mike Pence get caught up in everything legally? Will Mother’s Husband eventually need to take over and become president? Well, Vanity Fair has a new story which…made me laugh, honestly. According to VF’s White House sources, everyone in the White House is “freaking out” about the Michael Flynn memo, and they’ve convinced themselves that Robert Mueller’s investigation is nearing the “endgame,” and it will only get worse (for Trump & Company) from here. But what of Mother’s Husband?
But the ominous signs of Mueller’s progress have not completely overwhelmed other subplots. On Monday, Trump hosted a 2020 strategy meeting with a group of advisers. Among the topics discussed was whether Mike Pence should remain on the ticket, given the hurricane-force political headwinds Trump will face, as demonstrated by the midterms, a source briefed on the session told me. “They’re beginning to think about whether Mike Pence should be running again,” the source said, adding that the advisers presented Trump with new polling that shows Pence doesn’t expand Trump’s coalition. “He doesn’t detract from it, but he doesn’t add anything either,” the source said.
Last month, The New York Times reported that Trump had been privately asking advisers if Pence could be trusted, and that outside advisers have been pushing Nikki Haley to replace Pence. One veteran of Trump’s 2016 campaign who’s still advising Trump told me the president hasn’t been focused enough on 2020. “What he needs to do is consider his team for 2020 and make sure it’s in place,” the adviser said. “He has to have people on his team that are loyal to his agenda.”
Trump’s doubts about Pence are surprising given Pence’s frequent public encomiums and professions of loyalty. “Trump waxes and wanes on everyone,” a prominent Republican close to the White House explained. Part of what’s driving the debate over Pence’s political value is Trump’s stalled search for a chief of staff to replace John Kelly. According to a source, Kelly has recently been telling Trump that Pence doesn’t help him politically. The theory is that Kelly is unhappy that Pence’s 36-year-old chief of staff, Nick Ayers, has been openly campaigning for Kelly’s job. “Kelly has started to get more political and he’s whispering to Trump that Trump needs a running mate who can help him more politically,” the source said.
I never get tired of the stupid palace intrigue from the Royal House of Orange. It’s cute that Trump thinks he’ll even have a chance to run again in 2020, but sure, I’m not going to stop him if he wants to overthrow Mother’s Husband. Throwing Pence out would actually solve a lot of problems. Although, let’s be honest, it’s not going to happen. Mother’s Husband is still going to be sitting there in the West Wing, quietly eating his fruit plate for a few more years.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Getty.
Actually I think Pence will go down with Trump.
ITA, he’s in up to his orange hairline. When its all over, most of major GOP players will have gone down with the House of Orange – they will not go quietly and will take anyone and everyone with them. GOP will rue the day they climbed into bed with an orange white supremacist con man whose been bankrupt 5 times and owned by a hostile nation.
Digital Unicorn, yep—Trump is going to take down the GOP…and make it radioactive for at least three generations. Good.
And that makes Nancy Pelosi president. MWAHAHAHAHA!
Yep the second most hated woman in the Republican circle will become the first female president of the United States 😂
God, that would just be so amazing
I totally forgot about this, but Manafort was so desperate to get Pence as VP, that he lied to Trump and said there was mechanical issues with his plane so he had to stay 1 extra day in Indiana…which allowed him to get to know Pence a bit more.
I wonder how much Flynn knows about the Manafort-Pence connection.
From what I read, Pence will be implicated. The man ran the transition group. No way he didn’t get the memo on Manafort.
Maybe that’s why the left of center dems were trying to kick Nancy from the job. They work in conjunction with the GOPers.
You meant right of center, yes? It was the conservative Democrats that opposed Pelosi.
And I bet Pence never went down, not once in his life.
Me too. He was head of the transition team and Flynn sang like a canary. First the Apostle Pence and then The Circus Peanut
I believe that’s “Mother’s Father”
What does Mike Pence’s father in law have to do with it?
I assume Mike’s wife calls him Father. My obscure sarcasm 🙂
Pence being President will hopefully not happen. If Flynn has tapes/wore a wire, then I can see both going down. Quickly. With Trump having no opportunity to pick a new VP. Hello, President Pelosi. Cue the QAnon/Cult45 morons bursting into flames.
QAnon, btw, said DT was gonna use the funeral as cover to indict the Deep State. Lol…
Fundraising for 2020 has nothing to do with this, right? So much of this is about money. Get those bucks before it all falls apart.
Bingo.
Manafort convinced Trump to choose Pence. But who told Manafort to do that? Probably Semion Mogelivich and Putin, since they are allegedly the masterminds of the attacks on western liberal democracies worldwide. Trump and Manafort are just employees of the mob. The racist and economically destructive policies Trump is pushing through were written by a combination of anti-democratic forces like ALEC (Koch brothers) and other shady groups of kleptocrats (Trump is just following a script). Pence was the head of the Trump administration transition team. There’s evidence that he was aware of their many contacts with Russian players. Also, I’ve heard there may be some evidence that as Governor of Indiana he became beholden to Russian money men? And his brother’s company (Cummins) is in biz relations with Russian military? Questions pile up… Whether Pence loses his position or not, it won’t be Trump calling the shots.
Mike Pence was hated in Indiana as governor. Hated by everyone, Dems and Repubs. That’s why he was available to be VP.
He was going to be primaried by several Republicans if he ran for re-election and he was expected to lose the primary.
As I posted above, I had forgotten that Manafort lied to Trump about mechanical issues with his plane to get him to stay 1 extra day in Indiana to help Pence get the VP pick. I had no idea about his brother’s company being involved with the Russian military.
All of the details are really falling into place.
Isn’t it lovely how this is all playing out now!!! I am having a happy dance as we get closer to Muellers findings and word that Don Jr. will soon be in the hot seat too!! It’s wonderful when you see a plane of evil, conniving, criminal, egotistical, racist, demogod and dictator want-a-be go down in brilliant flames….🔥
If the GOP loses the presidency, which, by many accounts, is not a given (get it together Dems!), I could see McConnell/Trump trying to push something along the lines of what the GOP Wisconsin legislature just did to kneecap the newly elected Dem governor and attorney general. Only saving grace is the House is Democrat majority, for now.
I’m convinced Trump has the beginning signs of dementia and I don’t think he can physically handle another grueling campaign. That’s just my take though.
As for Pence… his name will forever be associated with the Orange One. That’s his legacy. And it won’t be a good one.
Untrustworthy because he’s Individual-1A?
When he was elected*, I felt immediately in my gut that he’d be in very hot water before 2020. I mean, how could he not? Anyone who paid any attention to him prior to 2016 knew how shady and dirty his dealings were. And when he refused to release his taxes, that was just super confirmed for me.
*not really elected
“Although, let’s be honest, it’s not going to happen. Mother’s Husband is still going to be sitting there in the West Wing, quietly eating his fruit plate for a few more years.”
So, Kaiser, are you saying you think Trump will survive Mueller and run for reelection in 2020?!? Say it isn’t so!
Nope. He will be indicted along with the orange turd and Nancy Pelosi will become our next POTUS!!
Trump indeed displays classic signs and symptoms of dementia – specifically of the Lewy Body type. (2nd most common type of dementia after Alzheimers) Lewy Body Dementia has a fluctuating component to it, where patient will have “good days” and “bad days”, which we see in Trump. His narrowed vocabulary, flights of thought, confusion, coarsened personality are all part of it. And he is beyond the beginning stages.
And all the worse for us, this is a man who has an obvious long-standing personality disorder underlying all of this.
2020? Dream on Donald.
I believe it was previously VF that said “mother” was none to happy when they were “not elected” into office (@Anastasia good reminder – thanks) and it will be interesting to view how the wives stick around as this goes down. Yesterday there was something in some headline (don’t recall where) that #orangedictator wasn’t going to worry about the economic woes, because he won’t be around. I honestly wondered, as did others, when Drumpf went to Argentina if he’d come back.
Pence is as guilty as Trump.
And probably of some different crimes, too, or else there’s be no kompromat with which to keep him in line.