Now that Donald Trump is officially becoming the 45th President of the United States we're alarmed. This is the richest White House cabinet in history and everyone on this team opposes LGBT rights. Our new vice president-elect, Mike Pence, believes in conversion therapy. Pence will now sit in the White House after routinely trying to enforce Stone Age values in Indiana but how much influence will Pence have? What does a Vice President actually do?
Well, let's get one thing out of the way, Pence becomes the President if Trump dies, resigns, or is removed from office. That's standard procedure and it's happened a few times over history (Anyone remember Dick Nixon?). The Vice President doesn't have many formal duties. In fact, they really only have one: presiding over the senate but they can't debate, address, or vote. They're essentially around to break tie votes. That's it.
However, the more informal responsibilities of the Vice President are far reaching. It's unclear how much they influence policy but if you look at Obama and Biden it's almost impossible to deny their chemistry. Years ago, Al Gore was instrumental in influencing Bill Clinton's environmental and foreign policy. More recently, people have argued that V.P. Dick Cheney was actually the acting President, and Bush was nothing more than a puppet. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.
Looking to know more? The above video breaks it all down. If you have any questions about Vice Presidents after watching, too bad, the video is already made.