He has the reputation of being as dumb as a stump.

...he's VP.

C'mon, I've seen people totally unqualified at work get promoted just because of the politics they played. They can't do shit, but can capitalize on everyone else.

Is Pence a Russian asset, too? Time will tell.

...but many here presume Pence is a Russian asset. That's never even been remotely established. Manafort may have liked him purely because he shored up the big problem Trump had, issues with evangelicals. And he can easily chalk up his issues with Flynn as miscommunication. Plus everyone often forgets, Flynn was fired "officially" for lying to Pence...that gives him cover.

We have plenty of ways to connect Trump to Russia, with Pence, not so much.

And then there are more recent rumors that Trump's team is considering to drop him from the ticket as he's outlived his usefulness. That has to be playing in the mind of Pence.

Pence may be very much corrupt....but unlike Trump, he's got people who know how to do it.

and other useless types.

Including Pence. Trump never wanted Pence to begin with.

"Trump never wanted Pence to begin with".

That IS Pence's saving grace.

Many on DU thing Trump will be swept out of office with his entire administration along with Pence and be jailed.

I'm in the minority saying that Trump won't serve jail time and will be pardoned. And Pence will likely take over. Hell, to gain the base he may say he was wrongly "persecuted", then disavow what Trump did as a person under duress. Then do the tried and true method all GOP candidates do....reach for the middle.

He's biding his time and I don't think he should be dismissed as the "elf on the shelf" for long. The quiet person behind the power is always the most dangerous.

Trump has everything he needs to bring down Pence. Hell, Pence could pardon Trump and I bet Trump, being the vindictive asshole he is, would still rat out Pence.

Whether Putin, or someone else, has enough to blackmail Trump to prevent him from burning the entire GOP down is anyone's guess.

VP is not immune from indictment. Pence lied about when he knew and what he knew regarding Flynn.
Pence was a Manafort pick. Trump didn’t even know him before they were introduced in 2016.
There was a reason he was picked by Manafort that may still be behind blacked out lines in the mountains of documentation that Mueller has built.
The lies regarding Flynn will bring down Pence before the dust settles in all this mess.

Honestly, what was Pence supposed to do? 45 started off being an asshole thinking he was going to run over Chuck and Nancy. When they stood their ground, 45 put himself in the corner with the government shut down boast. At that point, Pence couldn't really interject without looking like he was contradicting 45.

Essentially, 45 tried to have a strong TV moment but instead got his ass handed to him.

His political career is over after this, even if tRump resigns or is impeached. Sure, Pence could finish the term, but being tRump's VP is going to ruin him. Especially if tRump gets indicted and Pence pardons him.

Pence won't recover from being tRump's VP even if he's by some stretch of the imagination completely innocent.

...if this was another era.

But we do have a country that "elected" Trump. I saw the bogus facebook articles and friends and friends of friends fall for it hook, line and sinker.

Pence should be done after this...just like Ford was done. But this isn't the same situation and some of the GOP are already trying to "normalize" some corruption.

I do think it will change everything.

Not that the trumpsters will leave their orange god, but that's the only support he'll have left and it won't be enough.

We don't know everything, yet.

The country did NOT elect trump. 46% of the voters didn't bother to vote.

Clinton had over 3 million "more voters" than trump.

Russia did their job of attacking Hillary and building up using trolls, hacking, and only they know what else they did. Without Russia trump wouldn't have won. If just half those who stayed home had voted, trump would hot have won. So no this country did NOT elect him, Russia did.

post-election interviews - nothing about this guy comes off as a calculated mastermind. He was installed to gain to make the holy conservative rollers feel good about voting for Trump. But alas, I'm not from Indiana and don't quite understand if he's actually as savvy as folks make him out to be.

...a dumb ass like Trump can't shut up.

But you can play coy and get exactly what you want without saying much.