MSNBC anchors and guests are floating the idea that Vice President Mike Pence may assume the role of president prior to 2020 because President Trump will either resign or be impeached.
Pence swatted down a New York Times report that claimed he was gearing up for a presidential run in 2020, insisting that he remains loyal to Trump and the president will be running for reelection.
In response, MSNBC pundits are suggesting that Pence won’t have to wait until 2020 to run for president–instead, they say, a Trump resignation or impeachment will allow him to take over much sooner.
“We’re starting to hear the idea of a Mike Pence presidency,” host Joy Reid said. “Whether Democrats were able to, let’s say, take over the House of Representatives and impeach Trump or [Trump] got tired of all this…the idea of Mike Pence.”
“The Last Word” host Lawrence O’Donnell went even further with the idea, stating that not only is Trump likely to be removed from office, but that Pence is preparing himself for that inevitability.
“Mike Pence knows that he may be a plea bargain away from the presidency,” he argued. “He may be our next Gerald Ford and assume the office of the presidency because the president, in effect, plea bargains with the impeachment process and resigns.”
“He knows how erratic and impulsive Donald Trump is and knows Trump may just be the next incumbent president to quit in the middle of his reelection campaign,” O’Donnell continued.
A former Watergate assistant special prosecutor agreed, telling O’Donnell, “[if Mueller finds something on Trump] it’s going to be well before the next election and this rumor about Mike Pence could be true.”
“I don’t fault Mike Pence for doing what Mike Pence is doing,” Joe Scarborough, host of “Morning Joe” asserted. “There are questions as to whether Donald Trump will make it through the four years without being pushed out of office or without resigning.”
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