Let’s face it, the possibility of Donald Trump taking charge of that big nation on the other side of the Atlantic is a very real danger. A surge in support for Trump has grown out of the discontent with the sneaky, sleazy, corruption of 21st century politics. Trump doesn’t sugarcoat anything and his stupidly racist, ignorant policies are suspected by many, to not have a chance of making it through congress, if Trump were to become Prime Minister.

Today, the 15th of July, Donald Trump officially announced Mike Pence, the Governor of Indiana, as his running mate: therefore the man to become Vice President if Trump wins the election at the end of this year. Pence has been in office in Indiana since 2013 and before that had been the Chair of the House Republican Conference.

With experience in US Politics, Pence’s ideas and beliefs are much more dangerous than the hyperbolic ‘build-a-wall’ concepts from Trump himself…

Foreign Policy and Immigration

First and foremost, not only did Pence support US entry into the Iraq war but he also opposed setting a public withdrawal date for the US army in Iraq. Pence has never once come forward and admitted the mistake of supporting the Iraq war and this puts him in the same stead as Tony Blair and George W. Bush Jnr, the problem being those two are not next in-line to become the second most powerful person in the United States of America.

Secondly, Pence, like many Republicans, opposed the potential closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Pence claims that “the Obama administration must overturn this wrongheaded decision”, which seems rich coming from a man who refused to “overturn” his “wrongheaded” support of the Iraq War. Pence believes that Guantanamo inmates should be tried in a military tribunal rather than being tried in the usual manner of the United States. Obviously, the downside of a military tribunal is bias as military officials and officers are more likely to treat the enemy with much less respect and objectiveness.

In terms of immigration law, back in 2006, Pence introduced his plan of “no amnesty immigration reform”, which basically does what it says on the tin. The main policy being far stricter border security and a ‘guest worker’ program. This program involves potential immigrants to apply for job placement agencies that match workers with employers that cannot find Americans to do their jobs.

Homosexuality and 9/11

Pence’s most extreme and ignorant ideas regard homosexuality. Firstly, Pence argued, back in 2000, that homosexuals should not be treated as a minority to be protected by anti-discrimination laws: obviously because if he endorsed these laws, he’d be sentencing himself. He also believes that state money should not be used to help celebrate the homosexual culture as it “encourages” the “spreading of the HIV virus“. Instead of state money being spent on celebrating the culture, he argued it should be spent on “conversion therapy”.

Not only this, but Pence believes that homosexuals are “incompatible” with the military and therefore shouldn’t serve in the army, believing that the presence of non-straight soldiers “weakens unit cohesion”. I don’t know from what planet or time period Pence comes from, but his backwards, traditionalist, frankly ignorant and stupid ideas are not fit to work within 21st century society. Furthermore, Pence has frequently opposed both same-sex marriage and civil unions, believing that these cause “deterioration of marriage and family” which leads to “societal collapse“.

On another note, which shows just how ludicrous Mike Pence really is, in 2012, when the Supreme Court upheld the ‘Affordable Care Act’, Pence claimed that this ruling was similar to the September 11 attacks on New York. Despite immediately apologising for these comments, it shows how delusional Pence is and highlights that this man should not ever become the Vice-President of the United States of America.

Conclusion

Of course, I’m just a student from the United Kingdom. I’m no expert on US politics and the individuals within it. I have an A-Level in Politics and have watched four seasons of House of Cards so it’s fair to say I know the basics, on a general level. However, what I can see is just how dangerous Mike Pence is. He is not only a delusional, backwards and traditional politician, but he is experienced too. This experience, to me, makes him a far more credible threat than Donald Trump himself. He is trusted and well known in the political scene and is the perfect supplement to Trump’s lack of experience.

Mike Pence is an idiot, but a far more experienced, dangerous idiot than Donald Trump could ever be. I laughed at Theresa May’s appointment of Boris Johnson as the foreign secretary here in the UK, but if Pence becomes the VP at the end of this year, it will be no laughing matter.