Tully: Pondering a President Pence

It seems quite reasonable to consider the possibility that Donald J. Trump will leave the presidency at some point before the end of his current term.

Will he quit in a historic huff? Will he be pushed out by Congress? Or will he be lured away to host a reality show on Russian TV? I don’t know. For now, the last line of this book seems easier to imagine than all the pages before it. And while I don’t dispute the possibility that I could be wrong, the increasingly paranoid, reckless, authoritarian and generally unstable behavior of our new president makes it hard to see how the country or his own party sustains four years of this.

With that in mind, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the president Mike Pence would be. As the great actor Albert Brooks put it on Twitter over the weekend, amid Trump’s latest conspiracy theory outburst: “President Mike Pence. The president, Mike Pence. President Pence ... I was just practicing.”

It’s probably something worth practicing, and pondering. Seriously, is it really that hard to imagine a scenario in which Trump, who long ago lost his grip on facts and calmness, loses his grip on or interest in the presidency? Not for me.

President Pence — hey, who knows?

GOOD NUMBERS: Poll: Pence stands out with favorable rating

Now I’ll never argue that I know the vice president in any significant way — he never even sent me an email from his famed AOL account. He was the kind of guy who would invite media types like me out for breakfast or lunch to chat one on one, and then stick pretty close to his political shtick while occasionally giving you a glimpse of a real person. I never left thinking I knew him. He seemed far too polished for that. But those of us who toil in Indiana politics were able to see the nation’s number two up close when he was a candidate for governor and then governor.

We saw him through political crises, such as the religious freedom debacle and the embarrassing plot to create a state-run media outlet. At his best, we saw him forge impressive deals, such as his Medicaid agreement with the Obama administration and his push for the state government’s first investment in preschool. And we saw him at his ideological worst, such as when he killed a federal preschool grant application or when he signed an abortion bill everyone knew would be struck down.

Obviously, the Mike Pence story was thoroughly debated and discussed last year. In recent weeks, though, amid various Trump meltdowns and mistakes, it seems like conversations about Pence have centered on one certain question. It’s a question that has been posed to me by several people, and debated by many more on social media.

Would a President Pence be any better than President Trump?

Excuse my language but ... hell, yes.

Here’s the bottom line: Whether you reside on the political right or the left, or anywhere in the middle, Pence would be an upgrade. I say this as someone who arguably has written more critical columns about him than anyone, as someone who criticized both his politics and his leadership, and as someone who once wrote that he was “out of his league” as governor.

Despite all of that, I find myself these days hoping that Trump simply tires of the White House and hands over the keys to Pence.

President Pence? Given the alternative, I’ll take it. In a second.

Yes, I would then surely join many others in opposing many of Pence’s policies. I would worry about the influence of divisive culture warriors in his inner circle. I would criticize him for joining the Trump team in the first place and for being an enabler of the president’s antics.

Then I would take a deep breath and be thankful that a human being who has exhibited stability, calmness and caution was sitting in the Oval Office. I’d read about North Korea nervously, but not quite as nervously as I do now.

In these early days of the Trump presidency, I keep thinking back to Pence’s years as governor. It has surprised me but within those years, years filled with so much deserved criticism, I find clear evidence that Pence is simply a better person and leader than his boss. By better, I mean that he has more of the basic qualities you want to see in a leader, particularly a president, than Trump does.

Three things:

First, Pence has never spewed disgust at the institutions and ideals that sit at the core of our democracy, from the free press and the courts, to Congress and the ability of people to challenge their leaders. I disagree quite often with Pence’s political views, but I don’t fear that his goal is to bully or otherwise shut down the institutions and traditions that have made America great. He seems to respect these institutions, in fact.

Second, he doesn’t see enemies everywhere. Take the religious freedom controversy. Indeed, he stumbled when questioned and lost control of the debate, and he surrounded himself with an out-of-touch group before signing the bill. But here is what he didn’t do: He didn’t lash out at his critics or his staff. He didn’t label those of us questioning him as enemies or liars. He didn’t offer conspiracy theories. He didn’t descend into deep and dark places for his information. He actually listened to critics.

Third, while many mock Pence’s strict adherence to talking points, and it is indeed frustrating, the trait does make clear that he understands the value of carefully choosing one’s words. It suggests he sees the value in stable, consistent messaging. It shows that he understands the damage that can come with reckless words. Imagine that.

Once again, President Trump over the weekend showed that he is in no way suited for the presidency. With his conspiracy theory tweets, he showed that he is a reckless and dangerous man, and either dishonest or delusional. He once again made it easy to imagine a scenario in which he at some point loses or leaves his job.

Mike Pence would not be my preferred president. Not by a long shot. But he’s not unhinged, he’s not reckless and he’s not mean. That alone guarantees he would be an upgrade.

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Thank you for reading. Please follow me at Twitter.com/matthewltully.