Mediaboss Marketing

The election of President Trump sent shockwaves throughout much of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, who, after achieving eight years worth of political gains under the Obama administration, now faces an administration many LGBT leaders deem hostile to its civil rights goals.

But as controversy continues to cloud Donald Trump's presidency, with a growing investigation into his campaign ties to Russia looming over his administration, the odds of Vice President Mike Pence assuming the nation's highest seat before the next presidential election have people talking.

And a chunk of them belongs to the LGBT community, who are not so certain Pence would be a better choice for gay and transgender Americans given his long history of opposition to LGBT rights.

Last year, Glenn Pannell, a gay man who people thought looked eerily similar to Pence, made headlines after donning short shorts while collecting money for health care and LGBT rights organizations in the wake of the election.

But nearly seven months later, Pannell, who said he was "hit hard" by Trump's victory, believes his worse fears have been brought to fruition.

"I think Trump is very scary. I joined the course of people who are terrified of what is happening to this country and what is happening to people's opinion of this country, both here and abroad," Pannell tells AOL News.

See photos of Glenn "Hot-Pence" Pannell

14 PHOTOS

Mike Hot-Pence

See Gallery

Photo credit: Abby Stokes

Photo credit: Jared Chrysostom

The line between activist fundraiser and pole dancer is ever so thin. #NPSR #MikeHotPence #activismishot (Photo credit: Scott Lynch/Gothamist)

Washington, DC: January 19, 2017 at the Arena Stage "Thanks Obama" event with organizer Bejide Davis

Cupids Undie Run to benefit The Childrens Tumor Foundation and neurofibromatosis research

Its time we started loving our planet like its the only one we have. Ill be in Times Square today 3/25 near the corner of 46th and Broadway from noon to 3pm to raise money for Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit that works to safeguard the earthits people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Come give me some bucks and a hugIll pass it on to the trees. (PLEASE NOTE: all tree-touching in the above photo was consensual.)

Health. Passion. Freedom. Strength. Care. For 100 Years. #StandWithPP

My biggest fan. #aprilfoolsday #MikeHotPence #activismishot

My life-size Mike Pence cutout arrived today. Let the games begin...

Tax March DC, April 15, 2017.

GQ says the hottest look this summer is activism. Check out the June issue!

Im making sure every hair is in its proper place for my upcoming weekend in DC for Capital Pride. Join me for Pride + Shine at Urbana Restaurant to raise the roof and raise some funds for Trevor Project on June 10 from 10am-6pm. Come fuel up and fun up before you get your march on! #MikeHotPence #CapitalPride

Happy National Selfie Day! Ill be out this evening 6/21 from 6:30pm to 8pm near the corner of 46th and Broadway raising money for International Refugee Assistance Project. So come chuck some bucks in my collection jug and snap a selfie. The skies are fair and my thighs are bare!

HIDE CAPTION

SHOW CAPTION

Pannell believes Trump has been working hard to roll back some of the progress made by the LGBT community under the Obama administration.

Since Trump's inauguration in January, LGBT activists have grown embittered by the current administration's rollback of federal guidance advising school districts to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

And many members and allies of the community, including Pannell, complain that Trump, who campaigned in 2016 as a potential ally of the community, staffed his team with opponents of LGBT rights, such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and, more notably, the next in line for the presidency in the event Trump is unseated, Vice President Mike Pence.

But as far as the talk of Trump or Pence as president goes, "it really is a sort of pick your poison dilemma, Pannell said when considering his look-alike's staunch opposition towards LGBT rights. "Do you want unfocused and dangerous or focused and dangerous?"

For many in the LGBT community, it's no secret that Pence has long stood against the expansion of rights for gay and lesbian couples. But, for many, his distaste for LGBT equality goes even further.

SEE ALSO: LGBT groups: 'We are at war' with Trump during Pride month and beyond

As governor of Indiana, Pence attracted the public's attention when he signed into law a bill that legalized the refusal of service to gay and transgender people on account of the business' religious freedom, for example, a bakery that cited its religious freedom as probable cause to refuse to bake a cake for a same-sex couple getting married.

"The sad reality is that if [Trump] is impeached or if he resigns, then we are stuck with a President Pence," which Pannell adds might actually be more dangerous for the LGBT community.

And he is not alone.

Sarah Kate Ellis, the President and CEO of GLAAD, agreed, telling AOL News: "From his time as U.S. Congressman to being Indiana's governor, Pence's anti-LGBTQ activism spans decades, and it would only continue if he reached the nation's highest political office."

Though the early administration of Trump has been criticized for its perceived anti-LGBT appointments and decisions like proposing cuts in funding for HIV and AIDS research, many still predict worse would happen for the LGBT community in the event of an actual Pence presidency.

"What LGBTQ Americans are witnessing since Donald Trump became president is a systematic erasure to the LGBTQ community," Ellis continued. "The Trump Administration has removed LGBTQ people from government websites and the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census, but if Mike Pence were to ever become president, this erasure would be placed into overdrive."

Images from LGBTQ Pride month 2017:

9 PHOTOS

LGBTQ Pride month 2017

See Gallery

BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 27: Thousands of members of the LGBTQ community gathered today for the Birmingham Pride parade on May 27, 2017 in Birmingham, England. The Birmingham Pride is an annual festival for the LGBTQ community usually taking place over the Spring Bank Holiday. The event begins with a parade from Victoria Square in the city center to the Gay Village in Hurst Street. PHOTOGRAPH BY Jim Wood / Barcroft Images London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com - New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com - New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com http://www.barcroftimages.com (Photo credit should read Jim Wood / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

A picture taken on June 5, 2017 shows a new green pedestrian crossing symbol depicting a same-sex couple in Madrid as the capital will host this year's World Pride festival from June 23 to July 2. / AFP PHOTO / OSCAR DEL POZO (Photo credit should read OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP/Getty Images)

A picture taken on June 5, 2017 shows a new green pedestrian crossing symbol depicting a same-sex couple in Madrid as the capital will host this year's World Pride festival from June 23 to July 2. / AFP PHOTO / OSCAR DEL POZO (Photo credit should read OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP/Getty Images)

QUEENS, NY - JUNE 4: Members of New York City's gay, lesbian and transgender community prepare to march in the Queens Gay Pride parade on June 4, 2017 in Jackson Heights, Queens. The parade route down Northern Boulevard travels through a working class immigrant neighborhood. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

QUEENS, NY - JUNE 4: Members of New York City's gay, lesbian and transgender community prepare to march in the Queens Gay Pride parade on June 4, 2017 in Jackson Heights, Queens. The parade route down Northern Boulevard travels through a working class immigrant neighborhood. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

<> on September 29, 2016 in New York City.

BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 27: Thousands of members of the LGBTQ community gathered today for the Birmingham Pride parade on May 27, 2017 in Birmingham, England. The Birmingham Pride is an annual festival for the LGBTQ community usually taking place over the Spring Bank Holiday. The event begins with a parade from Victoria Square in the city center to the Gay Village in Hurst Street. PHOTOGRAPH BY Jim Wood / Barcroft Images London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com - New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com - New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com http://www.barcroftimages.com (Photo credit should read Jim Wood / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 27: Thousands of members of the LGBTQ community gathered today for the Birmingham Pride parade on May 27, 2017 in Birmingham, England. The Birmingham Pride is an annual festival for the LGBTQ community usually taking place over the Spring Bank Holiday. The event begins with a parade from Victoria Square in the city center to the Gay Village in Hurst Street. PHOTOGRAPH BY Jim Wood / Barcroft Images London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com - New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com - New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com http://www.barcroftimages.com (Photo credit should read Jim Wood / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

HIDE CAPTION

SHOW CAPTION

However, the divisive nature of both Trump and Pence's positions on gay and transgender issues made it difficult for Rea Carey, the executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, to ponder which man would be better or worse for the LGBT community.

"They are both terrible as is third in line, Paul Ryan and fourth in line Orrin Hatch," Carey said in a statement to AOL News. "They all represent policies that are designed to reverse progress and to hold back lived freedom, justice, equality, and equity for LGBTQ people and everyone."

During his campaign, LGBT leaders were alarmed when Trump promised to nullify all of Obama's executive orders, including an order that protected federal contractors from anti-LGBT discrimination, which many are saying weakens the protections of LGBT employees.

But leaders say Pence has done little since his days in Congress to suggest he disagrees with the president's actions.

The vice president's history of opposition to gay rights dates back to his first congressional campaign in 2000 when he argued against same-sex marriage and non-discrimination laws that protected members of the LGBT community.

The self-described "Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order" politician also said being gay was a choice before a group of 100 conservative House members in 2006 as head of the Republican Study Committee. He even cited a Harvard researcher to justify the views stated in his speech, saying, "societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family."

SEE ALSO: The internet has fallen in love with a couple who recreated their Pride March photo

David Stacy, the Government Affairs Director of the Human Rights Campaign, also said it's difficult to draw a distinction between a Trump or Pence presidency in relation to its impact on LGBT rights.

Stacy said he thinks the country is already seeing "Mike-Pence policies" being pursued across the nation.

"Mike Pence appears to be quite empowered in this administration," Stacy said. "His people that are most ideologically similar to him, who are most in agreement around LGBTQ issues, are the one's that seem to be making decisions, whether it's Tom Price and HHS or its the Attorney General."

But, even if the political climate drastically changes by way of the growing FBI investigation into the Trump campaign's relationship with Russian officials, Stacy contends the struggle for gay and transgender rights will inevitably continue.

"The country is in a different place," Stacy said, citing stats from a 2015 Gallup Poll revealing 60 percent of Americans to be in support of same-sex marriage, including the "majority of Republicans," which he said is evidence that "the country is way ahead of the politicians."

He is not entirely optimistic, however, that the Trump administration will change its stance on LGBT issues anytime soon.

"I think we have an administration that isn't being driven by what's popular," Stacy concluded. "They're being driving by ideological agenda and, unfortunately, that ideological agenda includes an anti-LGBTQ agenda.

Click through images from LGBTQ protests outside Ivanka Trump's home:

4 PHOTOS

LGBTQ protest outside Ivanka Trump's home

See Gallery

Protestors rally during the Queer Dance Party for Climate Change outside the home of Assistant to the President Ivanka Trump in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 1, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

Protestors rally during the Queer Dance Party for Climate Change outside the home of Assistant to the President Ivanka Trump in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 1, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

Protestors rally during the Queer Dance Party for Climate Change outside the home of Assistant to the President Ivanka Trump in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 1, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

HIDE CAPTION

SHOW CAPTION

More from AOL.com: US Vice President Mike Pence hires his own lawyer for Russia probes After weeks of secrecy, US Senate to unveil healthcare bill Poll: Feelings on Trump administration's relationship with Russia unchanged amid House Intel Committee probe

Excerpt from:
Mike Pence's doppelgnger says Pence would be worse than Trump as president - AOL

Vice President Mike Pence gave Attorney General Jeff Sessions the White House's vote of confidence Wednesday after a few weeks of turmoil and questions about the relationship between President Trump and Sessions.

"Thank you to this attorney general for your leadership at the Department of Justice," Pence told a crowd at the National Summit on Crime Reduction and Public Safety just outside of Washington.

Pence praised Sessions as a "law and order attorney general" and said both he and President Trump "are proud and honored to have him at our side."

The words come roughly a week after Sessions fended off lawmakers at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing who pressed him on his alleged contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign when he was advising Trump on foreign policy.

Sessions defended his actions including his failure to originally disclose two meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at one point calling the idea of collusion "an appalling and detestable lie."

There have been reports of turmoil between Sessions and Trump, the New York Times reported earlier this month. Following the report, Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump has "confidence" in Sessions after multiple attempts to avoid the question.

Original post:
Mike Pence tells Jeff Sessions: Trump 'proud' to have you as attorney general - Washington Examiner

President Donald Trump riffed on Democrats at his campaign-style rally in Iowa on Wednesday, saying the party has been "unbelievably nasty" while at the same time admitting he hasn't made bipartisanship easy.

I am making it a little bit hard to get their support, but who cares," Trump said Wednesday.

The President said Democrats were not willing to work with Republicans on the pending health care legislation at his Wednesday night rally, saying that even if the GOP came up with the "greatest health care plan in the history of the world" they would not get a single vote from Democrats. Democrats generally oppose the Republicans' plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Obama's signature legislative achievement. And in the Senate, Republicans have been working on a bill to partner the House's replacement plan largely in secretwithout input from a large swath of members of both parties.

For a little over an hour, the President worked to convince the crowd of supporters some of whom donned "Make America Great Again" hats and held signs that his administration is making "tremendous progress" back in Washington. In signature Trump fashion, he took jabs at the "fake news media" complaining that the news cameras never show the crowds at his rallies.

Trump also couldn't help but take a little victory lap, chiding Democrats over their disappointing loss in the Georgia special election on Tuesday. After that win and the win in South Carolina, Trump said his party is "5 and 0" when it comes to special elections. "The truth is, people love us," Trump said. "All we do is win, win, win."

In his effort to rouse his supporters, Trump touted his recent announcement on changes to U.S.-Cuba policy, his decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords, his tax and infrastructure plans, and the tough approach his administration has taken to immigration enforcement.

On Wednesday, Trump told the Iowa crowd that the southern border wall he promised to build and make Mexico pay for could feature solar panels. "Thats one of the places that solar really does work," Trump said, noting the hot climate in the southwest, where a border wall would primarily be built. "I think we could make it look beautiful, too."

Though the President poked at Democrats, he did concede that unity on Capitol Hill would be good for the country. "Just think about what a unified American nation could achieve," he said.

During the 2016 election, many independent Iowa voters came out in support of Trump and helped him win the state. The President's Wednesday night rally marked his first trip to the state since his inauguration.

Go here to see the original:
President Trump Admits He's Not Making it Easy to Get Democrats' Support - TIME

Donald Trump promised to get Congress to repeal Obamacare, enact tax reform, pass a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, impose tariffs on outsourcers, subsidize child care and fund a border wall with Mexico all in the first 100 days of his presidency. Not surprisingly, none of those things happened. What is surprising is that little of this agenda has even been submitted by the president to Congress: no tax bill, no infrastructure bill, no anti-outsourcing bill, no child-care bill and no legislation to build the wall. Why?

The explanation goes beyond the usual factors that bedevil any new president overpromising on the pace of action, underpreparing for the challenges of office, trouble in staffing up. These do play some part in Trump's achingly slow start. But Trump's failure to get key agenda items to the starting line reflects more fundamental problems in policymaking problems that will persist even after this administration is fully staffed and acclimated.

First, policymaking at the White House is hard and tedious work that involves digesting reams of paper, weighing difficult trade-offs and enduring hours of meetings. There is little evidence Trump has any interest in this sort of endeavor. The campaign anecdote that Ohio Gov. John Kasich, R, was offered a vice presidency with control over domestic and foreign policy, in a White House where Trump would be responsible only for "making America great again," speaks volumes.

Even an "art of the deal" president cannot make policy if he is unaware of key parts of his proposals, as he was shown to be on the question of preexisting conditions in health-care reform or whether he had approved the Keystone XL pipeline without a requirement that it would be built using U.S. steel. In a constantly leaking White House, it is revealing that there have been no stories about Trump making, say, a hard choice on tax reform after a long review session. Trump's most memorable comment about policy was revelatory: "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."

Second, Trump's career reflects an inconsistency and expediency about ideas that indicate he will never take policymaking seriously. Yes, all political leaders shift their views over time, some dramatically. But no major figure in either party ever has been as helter-skelter as Trump. He has embraced government-funded universal health care, supported late-term abortions and proposed the largest tax hike in history and the exact opposite of all of these things, as well to achieve his political objectives at a given moment.

While running for president, Trump said that the minimum wage was "too high," that it should not change and that it "has to go up." On a single day of the 2016 campaign, he broadcast three stances on his core campaign issue immigration policy. I say this not to relitigate a campaign charge about Trump and flip-flopping, but rather to suggest that, absent specific direction from the president at each juncture in the process, his team is probably hard-pressed to divine the Trump policy approach to any question, beyond political expediency. This doubtlessly lengthens the process as underlings wrestle over several possible approaches. Policymaking is hard if one cannot take the president literally; impossible if his ideas cannot be taken seriously.

Finally, the Trump policy process must surely be gridlocked because to the extent there is any indication of what Trumpism is as a policy philosophy it is a jumble of populist slogans and corporatist concessions totally at war with itself. The Trump plan includes a promise to raise taxes on corporations that outsource and a pledge to cut taxes on those same corporations to a record low. Trump has embraced a Democratic plan to restore limits on Wall Street that were removed 20 years ago while advancing a Republican plan to strip away limits imposed after the 2008 financial crisis. He has called for $1 trillion in new infrastructure spending but proposed a budget without a penny of net new spending or borrowing. He promised voters they would get better health-care coverage, then held a party in the White House Rose Garden for a House bill that would allow insurance companies to slash benefits a bill that he characterized as "mean" the following month. Every campaign agenda contains some half-zebras, half-elephants but the Trump platform designed to appeal to disaffected manufacturing workers who resent globalization, and disaffected globalists who resent taxation and regulation, is especially problematic in implementation.

When Trump hit the 100-day mark with no major legislative wins, his allies told the world to give him time. But time is not Trump's trouble: His lack of interest in policymaking and an incoherent agenda are the obstacles. Congress can't dispose of plans when the president can't even get his act together to propose them.

Washington Post

Ronald A. Klain served as a senior White House aide to presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and was a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.

What to read next:

Trump's Putin crush, and other signs of guilt

What is the Trump administration trying to hide?

Paul Ryan can't wait to cut taxes on the rich and corporations

Republicans, beware. The tables will turn.

Here is the original post:
Why Donald Trump will accomplish nothing as president - Chicago Tribune

To almost half of America, Donald Trump apparently can do no wrong. But tolerance has its limits, and the presidents latest offense is pushing them.

During a recent round reportedly at his club in Bedminster, N.J., Trump sent shivers through the golf community when he gasp! drove his cart on the putting green. He might as well put ketchup on a well-done steak or eat pizza with a knife and fork.

But hey, when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

A video of this dastardly deed was posted on Twitter:

In Trumps defense, he does own the course, and he can drive wherever he damn well pleases. And to his credit, he was rather chummy with the guests, joking (maybe) that hes got the best security in the history of golf.

While the guy taking the video was able to look past Trumps transgression and bask in the glow of his presidential presence, Twitter was much less forgiving.

Read this article:
Donald Trump may finally have gone too far - MarketWatch