Good point Artie but given Republican senators are now calling Trump to task for his stand on the Saudi prince's actions, a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, and although the military does tend to be conservative it has been dragging its feet on many of the presidential hot buttons until they fall off the Hair God's radar and forgotten. I am not sure how much real influence he has. He does make a lot of noise, gets a lot of press, is an international joke, and an embarrassment to the nation but we can survive that.
Pense isn't the brightest candle on the alter of ultra-conservative Catholicism, but he knows congress and is cagier than Trump in dealing with them. (Trump appears to consider congress an unnecessary impediment to his reign.) As president I think Pense is far more likely to get truly onerous legislation past. The best analogy I can think of is John F Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson. Both very intelligent but Kennedy was far more urbane and charismatic but in spite of that was unable to get any meaningful social legislation through congress. On the other hand, although he was personally leery of most of the civil rights legislation espoused by Kennedy and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, when Johnson became president he was able to push it all through. Not because he was likable or liked but because he knew congress and where all the bodies were buried. Mike Pense is no Lyndon Johnson, but he does have that insider knowledge that makes for effective politics.
Something else to consider, have you looked at the ages of all of the leading Republicans in congress lately? Some of them are old enough to have invented dirt. How many more terms in office can 80 and 90 year olds serve survive?
If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?
