First of all, Trump will not be impeached. Second, --if it did happen, Pence most certainly would pardon him. He would resign if looked like conviction and Pence would agree to pardon. Furthermore, Trump is the reason that Pence is where he is. ---Pardoning is a 100% bet. --maybe not for murder, but then again--maybe that too.
The executive branch of government is the branch that sees about enforcing laws. There is only one person who has say in that branch.--and it's the sitting president.
Pardoning Trump would doom any chance Pence has at re election.Fords Presidency is defined for pardoning Nixon. Again,not to sure Pence wants to have the same legacy as Ford.
Quoting the Washington Post nullifies all credibility to your thesis . The WP is the winner of the tin foil hat award.
It looks like Trump is getting it right. Clearly, some American - CIA linked - people in the know about Russia, must have known about Trump russian'dealings. Why did Trump not get a hint when the CIA itself put out their guy to ridicule his business acumen implying that Trump was bought by Russians ? I hope Trump does not finish like one Billionnaire "outsider" politician who finished ruined after being 'investigated' also by team of people who could not be bought, nor intimidated. At least this billionnaire did not handle 'overseas dangerous money'. Now, IF the heat get too much and Trump starts to "talk" so as to save his skin, "Trump" will have to remember that Putin has shown to have been extremely ruthless with Russians oligarch ( aka multibillionnaires who even entered politics). It will be important to track during this investigation, if anybody start committing "suicides", or if some are getting "100 years jail sentence in high security prisons" like Murdoch so as to protect their own lives. If Trump is not regretting his previous life, then I wonder what really motivates him now in this job. I can understand he wanted to win : the pride of winning. But with such a team - who can not be bought nor intimidated - behind him, surely he might want to start falling "mentally" ill - as some Presidents in EU did, even as their own spouses claimed they were fine - so as to get all investigations stopped.
If you want the popular vote to decide, then all you have to do is change the Constitution. Apart from that, stop whining already.