Izzy Manzo — Photo Editor
The impeachment of Donald Trump almost seemed inevitable; despite what he called “the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country” in a rage-fueled tweet on Sept. 30, impeachment has been a plausible outcome before Trump even got the Oval Office seat warm.
On Sept. 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment investigation after it was alleged that Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden. However, Trump has been treading the line of instigating a formal investigation for a while now. Between the dismissal of FBI director James Comey and Trump’s comments in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, V.A. it is easy to think that impeachment is just a long overdue consequence of Trump’s actions.
Trump has chosen to remain defiant in the face of hardship, predicting that he would win over the Republican-majority Senate, according to the Washington Post. While the number of Democrats who are against an impeachment probe is dwindling, maybe Trump’s confidence is exactly what is needed.
When it comes to politics, Trump is not exactly the most wellversed. He was, and still is, a stranger in a strange land, an outsider in a world where people younger than him have more years of experience than he does. He has grand ideas and no idea how to properly execute them. We are talking about a man who thinks that he has an “absolute right,” perhaps even a duty to ask other countries for help in investigating corruption, according to a tweet he presumably furiously banged out on Oct. 3.
You know who does not have that issue? The next man in line, Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump is a bull in a china shop, speaking his mind in less than 280 characters and proving himself time and again as a sore on the face of international politics. Pence, on the other hand, is cold and calculated; he is a man with decades of political experience behind him who knows the inner workings of government.
Where Trump is a failed businessman, Pence is, depending on your feelings toward him, a successful politician. A Pence administration would make up for the one area Trump lacks: in actually making progress. However, it is not the kind of progress that anyone would like to see.
Impeachment is still a thought in the mind of the House Committee at this point; we are still on step one. According to the Atlanta JournalConstitution, undeniable offenses need to be found, 218 House Members need to vote for impeachment and the Senate has to hold a trial — and, even then, there is no guarantee that Trump would get the boot. Clinton was 22 votes shy of being removed from office during his impeachment proceedings in 1999, so Trump receiving the same treatment is a complete possibility.
Trump is scary at face value, and it is a good thing that he has little idea what he is doing. He is a bag of wind who continuously spews out big ideas on how to limit immigration and maximize the freedom to bear arms, but he has no clue what comes after the initial thought process. Pence would actually know how to make his dreams become a reality, and the prospect of him becoming president is, in hindsight, worse than keeping Trump in the Oval Office.
