The latest indication of the vast left-wing conspiracy against President Trump appeared in an article in The New York Times, March 29, on the emergence of Vice President Mike Pence as a significant figure in the Trump administration.  The article appeared on the front page of the Times and was continued on page A16.  On that page, in the eleventh paragraph of the article, was this sentence: "Democrats and Never-Trump Republicans still view [Vice President Pence] as a president-in-waiting, in hopes that Mr. Trump will somehow be brought down by scandal." 

What the article did not report was whom these conspiring "Democrats and Never-Trump Republicans" wanted to see installed as Vice President Pence's successor.

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified on February 10, 1967, provides in Section 2: "Whenever there is a vacancy in the officer of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress."  (This amendment was, of course, in effect as the Watergate Episode unfolded, and it brought the country Rep. Gerald Ford to replace disgraced, and ousted, Vice President Spiro Agnew – whose tenure as vice president was, this observer believes, President Richard M. Nixon's last hope of remaining in office.  Mr. Nixon should have realized that his days as president were numbered once Mr. Ford replaced Mr. Agnew as vice president.)

The chances of success of the vast left-wing conspiracy against President Trump will be vastly improved should the Democrats gain a majority of the House of Representatives in the 2018 elections.  With a Democrat majority, President Trump would likely be impeached for eating a ham sandwich (yes, a play on the old saw about how easy it is to get an indictment).  And at that point, isn't it more likely that President Trump would go the way of Nixon rather than of President Bill Clinton?

With President Trump an ex-president, and with the House, at least, in Democrat hands, who would be named to succeed Vice President Pence?  It is not difficult to imagine that the vast left-wing conspiracy would demand that President Pence name someone the left would regard as a symbol of political reconciliation.  Clearly, the views of the Democrats would be dispositive on the matter, as vice presidential succession in this context requires majorities in House and Senate.  If, in 2019, the House were controlled by the Democrats while Republicans held a Senate majority, serious negotiating would have to take place as to Mr. Pence's successor as vice president.

Whom would those negotiations settle on?  Does the name "Judge Merrick Garland" ring a bell?

Should the Democrats gain majorities in both houses of Congress in January 2019, and President Trump is impeached and convicted, the Democrats will, of course, be free to name anyone they choose as vice president, won't they?

By the way, Hamilton, in Federalist No. 69, pointed out that in the event that a president is "impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office [he] would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law."  Does anyone doubt that the vast left-wing conspiracy against President Trump is salivating at the chance to shout, the instant President Trump is removed from office, "Lock him up, lock him up"?

Suggestion to the president – hold on to that House majority in the 2018 elections.