But I'm in full agreement. Trump has the potential to drag the US and a big part of the planet down with him.

... Pence is at least predictable domestically and status quo internationally. He wouldn't be the hour-to-hour flip flop and loose canon Trump is.

I hesitate to use the word...acceptable....but at least the heat will come down on the Republicans and they can have their own little civil war, the Trump cultists vs the GOP. The Dems can stay out of it while we plan for 2018. Because the fact is that if Trump does not enter the WH, his disciples will get violent.

and he is worse than Trump...imho

... and that is being predictable and being status quo on foreign policy. That's all I really want right now personally ... to be able to go to bed at night and not wake up to nuclear bombs going off somewhere in the world.

Plus, Pence would be forced to toe a very fine line as he will be seen as illegitimate by both Democrats and many Republicans. He may have supported policies we may not like, but he won't be able to carry them to a national level and he will be easier to keep in line.

The existence of the Republic is top priority now. Other stuff can be fought about later.

Would be for the EC to put someone like Kasich in. They won't get enough defectors for Clinton (though I tend to be a glass half empty kind of person), but they could for another Republican. Likewise, not sure Clinton's electors would go for Pence.

I don't know that much about him.

... and they don't reward disloyalty. To them, McMullin tried to undermine their ticket.

He was by far the best conservative candidate this election.

because he won the most electors on Nov. 9. What I'm talking about is what might result from Senate investigations.

Trump's denial of Russian involvement signals complicity to me. We know there is a server in Trump Tower that has regularly been in communication with Russia. I think there is a real possibility he is a knowing participant in the Russian interference. That would make him guilty of treason and even Republicans shouldn't want that in President. Then it would go to the VP.

... because he would have some ties to the government that was elected. Throwing the whole ticket out would incite a lot of the crazies. Pence being put in place would probably keep that scale lower.

Romney or Kaisich would probably be the best compromise for president if we threw the whole ticket out, but they'd also probably have to agree to take a Democrat as VP, which would create a weird situation.

I don't think it could be him.

... you at least want to have some integrity of the ticket intact if possible. Pence has positioned himself as the reasonable sounding and stable one. After all, he's the one that everyone knows is going to the Intelligence Briefings and he is the one who pulled most of the strings for the Carrier deal ... he's also toed the GOP line on most foreign issues.

All signs are pointing to him and have been since before the election. The GOP wanted him to reign in Trump and if he couldn't, then he'd replace him.

It would go to VP, Speaker of the House, then Sec of State. They just can't substitute a random Republican.

That is who is president.

and presumes enough will be know by the time the electors meet to swing their votes, in which case they would likely go to Clinton. I don't see that happening, however. There simply isn't time.

I'm talking about what happens when the Senate opens up investigations on Russian interference in the election, which McConnel has said they will.

Electors can very make a decision.

We've been emotionally devastated by this election, and some people haven't come to terms with the results yet. They hoped the recount would come out in Clinton's favor. It hasn't. She gained 25 votes in Wisconsin. There won't be a recount in MI. The electors will vote according to the results in their states. I think people should brace themselves for at least four years of a GOP presidency. If we're lucky, Trump won't last long.

At every angle.

My hopes aren't up.

But EC come first and Hillarys campaign is backing electors receiving cia briefing. So for me personally i will go one step at a time hopefully building to a crescendo.

Then SoS.

I just looked it up and it's Orin Hatch. I didn't realize he was still around.

All the alternatives are equally scary. I'll never forget Hatch during the Anita Hill hearings saying that they needed to end so that the women could go back to watching their soaps.

White House as long as they have an R after their name. The reason I said it is because POS trump never had as many friends in D.C. as he thought he had.

While I am loathe to see a President pence, hopefully there will be enough checks and balances to stop any radical theocracy he might try to impose.

Trump is a whole other thing in terms of unpredictability, dishonesty, and lack of patriotism. We at least would be on somewhat normal footing with Pence.

... you can count on a very nervous Senate and House the next couple of years. Going into 2018, the GOP has the advantage, but if they remove Trump or force his resignation, they will feel a lot of heat. Considering the map, that would be the best case scenario for us, considering we have to defend the senate in a majority red-state situation.

They might prefer our government be controlled by Putin.

... I think Trump is trying to force their hand. He seems to want a confrontation with them. I don't understand it, but it may be that Trump is truly nuts.

either. Absent a miracle, the electors will vote according to the results in their states.

It must go beyond Trump.

He doesn't seem to be that close to Trump. You know some of Trump's campaign staff are in on it.

Except they often show up dressed exactly alike, which is weird.

...I predict tRump will be IMPEACHED within the first 18 months. Pence will ascend to POTUS.

current picks?

Pence presents as normal but he is extremely far right. Trump is truly the loose cannon on deck and neither Party really knows how he will act in any given situation.

But he receives intelligence briefings and doesn't side with a foreign power over US intelligence services. He also wouldn't use the presidency for personal profit.

But no matter what happens, no matter who holds the office, it appears as if the SCOTUS will once again be a 5-4 conservative branch.

You'll notice that Trump has picked people with ties to Russia or who hate the agencies they'll be running.

Pence is still awful, and might still elevate incompetents, but at least he won't hand our military secrets to Russia. And Bannon would be out of the picture. And white supremacists won't have their guys in the White House. And our SoS won't bend over for Putin. That's a lot better than what we're facing now.

Reagan and Bush Jr. also picked Agency heads that were hostile to the defined agency goals. That is a modern GOP tendency and understandable when the GOP appears and acts as if it hates the concept of government.

How many Senate votes are needed to oust an impeached President?

It would be great to get Hillary instead, but I'll take keeping Trump out of office. That is a huge accomplishment itself. As much as I hate the GOP, this is a true lesser evil situation. He is significantly worse than most of their establishment.