Boston weekenders say ‘It’s about time’ for impeachment, some hesitate at the potential for Pence

BOSTON — Bostonians interviewed along the Commonwealth Avenue Mall this weekend agreed that the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump is the right move for America, but disagreed whether Vice President Mike Pence would be any better as president.

“It would be better than Donald Trump even though Pence, I think, is a disaster in his own right, but it's a matter of lesser of evils,” said Ben Stone, a Boston publisher and Democrat, and self-proclaimed proponent of the impeachment inquiry.

President Trump is alleged to have engaged the Ukranian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of Trump’s 2020 political opponents.

If the House of Representatives finds sufficient evidence of impeachable offenses and vote on Trump’s impeachment, it will be taken to the Senate, where if two-thirds vote to convict the Trump, he will be removed from office and Pence will become president.

“I don't think Pence would have the power that Trump has,” Stone said, throwing a Frisbee to his rescue dog, Xena. “I don't think anyone in Congress is afraid of Pence like they're afraid of Donald Trump.”

Josh Pensky, a Boston-based developer and Democrat, said that if Trump is removed from office Pence becomes president, Pence will be able to get more done.

“[Pence] will be able to do more corrupt things under the radar,” Pensky said. “Unlike Trump, who’s kind of waddling around on Twitter.”

Stella Manning, a high school senior, said she doesn’t think much about the impeachment and doesn’t keep up with the news.

Manning said she is concerned that a new president would be worse than Trump.

“One thing I'm worried about is that we get somebody worse,” she said. “As long as he's not acting like our current president.”

Rhiannon Werder and Jason Lynch, both medical postdocs studying in Boston and originally from Australia, said that Pence as president would be better than Trump.

“He seems like more human than Donald Trump,” Lynch said.

“And more presidential,” Werder added, holding the leash of her dog, Morris.

Without knowing the U.S. Constitution in detail, Werder said the conversation with the Ukranian president seemed to be the most obvious offense.

“That would be a good one,” Werder said. “And just generally not being a nice guy.”

Cadence Seeger, a Boston University alumna and the operations and outreach administrator at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, said she thinks it is a problem with the governmental system that nothing has come so far.

“It's good that it is coming to light and that there's a possibility and people are talking about it,” Seeger said.

Seeger said that the impeachment is further dividing people and party lines, for better or for worse, she said.

“How that's going to shake up in the 2020 elections,” Seeger said, “I don't know that a lot of people, if they are already thinking of voting for Trump, at this point, are going to be swayed by any sort of impeachment process.”

Norma Weinberg, 60, of Maine, said she registered with the Democratic Party after Trump was elected president.

“I was always independent,” Weinberg said, “and I wanted to vote against Trump earlier on.”

Weinberg said that everything Trump promoted during the elections was wrong, and she said that not all his wrongdoings are being made public.

“I see too many inaccuracies of what he says and what he does,” Weinberg said. “I think the Democrats should use every one of these little flaws and attack Trump.”

“You can’t ignore [Trump],” Ben Stone said. “You used to be able to not think about who’s president for a while.”

“Now it’s like every morning you get up and go ‘What atrocity did this man commit? What stupid [expletive] thing did he say? What idiotic remark did he make? Who did he insult?’” Stone said. “It’s like checking the sports scores.”