Republican lawmakers who are getting sick of all the drama coming from the Trump White House may increasingly turn their eyes longingly toward Vice President Mike Pence, a staunch conservative who has the ability to maintain message discipline.
In a GQ article that speculates what would happen if Pence became president, reporter Jason Zengerle speculates that Pence would seem like a "godsend" for Republicans who want to get their agenda passed.
Unlike Trump, whose infamously short attention span makes it difficult for the GOP to focus coverage on areas of political strength for too long without having to answer questions about alleged bloody face lifts, Pence can be laser-focused on helping the party achieve its goals.
Or as one former Pence adviser explains to Zengerle, many Republicans see Pence as the perfect "think-tank-talk-news-created Republican robot."
As for what Pence would do if he took over the presidency, the adviser predicts that he would almost immediately clean house and oust top political strategist Steve Bannon and key White House adviser Stephen Miller -- and, of course, both Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner would be hastily pushed out the door.
That said, any Pence presidency would inevitably generate feelings of intense betrayal among hardcore Trump fans -- and could cripple his presidency right from the outset.
"I expect him to serve his full term, but if not there’d be a core group of [Trump voters] who’d forever think Trump was wronged and who’d view Trump’s exit as a coup,” GOP strategist Ryan Williams tells Zengerle. "Pence would need to pacify them to some extent and win them over."
