The Donald Trump impeachment hearings started Nov. 13, and they are making both Democrats and Republicans happy that he might get out of office. However, if Trump is impeached, then that means Mike Pence will take over, and he’s not much better. 

Pence has more government experience and has shown more restraint than Trump, but would that mean we’re better off? Both Trump and Pence have views that a lot of Boulder High students would disagree with. So who is worse? Should we wait another year and hope Trump gets replaced or get rid of him now and have Pence for a year, then hope he gets replaced. It all depends on your views and who you think is worse. This is meant to help you decide on who would really be better in office. 

Mike Pence has had strongly conservative views for most of his career life. Pence supports criminalizing abortions and believes the LGBT+ community deserves fewer rights, as stated by The New Yorker. He even once supported federal funding for gay conversion therapy. Pence has also said that “unmarried women should be denied access to birth control,” which I think is very ignorant, especially considering that birth control does way more than prevent pregnancy. Birth control can be used to reduce or stop periods, make them lighter and more regulated, make menstruation less painful and even reduce acne. Pence having more government experience means he’ll most likely pass more legislation than Trump has, favoring big business mostly but also attacking the reproductive rights of women. Pence has been shown to change his ideas when a majority of the population goes against him, such as wanting to allow businesses to refuse service to gay people, something that didn’t happen because the public hated the idea. So even if Pence becomes president, if enough people speak out against things they believe to be unfair he can change, showing he works for the majority of the people. 

Trump’s time as president has been a roller coaster of events. His previous fame has made him the talking point of many conversations since before he even won the election. Trump has said many things on Twitter or the media that’s rallied Americans, either because they hate it or love it. As of now, everyone knows Trump has said sexist and racist things, which is horrible, but as far as getting things done goes, he hasn’t done too much. His proposal to build the wall started taking action this year, and the chance of this stupid wall being built is low, and will likely not continue after his time in office. According to his administrator Mark Morgan, “the 78 miles of wall is just replacing old barriers,” so his only big campaign promise hasn’t even been fulfilled. The problem with Trump is he says a lot of things that get attention, but in terms of making moves in his campaign, he hasn’t achieved a lot. He angers a lot of people, but as far as actually doing what he said he’d do, it isn’t a lot. Other than adding some walls and killing the leader of Isis, his presidential regime is forgetful except for the fact that he’s been on the media for so much of it by saying dumb things. 

In the debate of who’s better, Trump or Pence, the answer is neither. Our best bet is for young people to register to vote and then vote to get them out of office. The election is next year, so either way, Trump or Pence will not get a lot done between now and then. We have to hope that enough people vote to get them out, especially seeing what kind of people they are. Both have views that concern many Democrats and even some Republicans, so regardless of whether Trump is impeached or not we have to be the change we want. It’s up to our generation as well as other generations to elect someone who’ll actually tackle issues we have instead of making more.