The line of presidential succession

[knapplc]

When a President is no longer able to fulfill the duties of their office, the Vice President steps in. This has happened twice in recent memory - first, when JFK was assassinated and Johnson ascended to the presidency. 

 

The most recent time was after Richard Nixon was forced to resign due to his criminal behavior associated with Watergate. At that point, Gerald Ford, Nixon's VP, took over.

 

But what happens if both the President and Vice President are no longer able to serve?

 

Because - and you're going to love this funny story - Trump implicated Pence in this whole Ukraine debacle yesterday. Implicated him hard.

 

 

Quote

 

Trump encourages questions to Pence about his own Ukraine calls

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that reporters should ask Mike Pence to release details of his conversations with Ukraine, seemingly drawing his vice president into the scandal that has engulfed the administration.

 

“I think you should ask for Vice President Pence’s conversation, because he had a couple of conversations also,” Trump said at a news conference on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “I could save you a lot of time. They were all perfect. Nothing was mentioned of any import other than congratulations.”

 

Trump also said he could be persuaded to release more information about an earlier conversation he had with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, while repeating that he did nothing inappropriate in his contacts with the foreign leader.

 

“The word is they’re going to ask for the first phone conversation,” Trump said at the news conference. “You can have it anytime you need it. And also Mike Pence’s conversations, which were, I think, one or two of them. They were perfect. They were all perfect.”

 

 

 

Who knows what issues there are with Pence and his involvement here. Maybe there's no "there" there, as the Republicans are fond of saying these days.

 

But what if there is?

 

And what if, after Trump is potentially forced out of office, Pence has to resign as well?

 

Who succeeds to the presidency?

 

Turns out, it's the Speaker of the House.

 

Nancy Pelosi.

 

Wouldn't that be hilarious?

[sho]

37 minutes ago, knapplc said:

When a President is no longer able to fulfill the duties of their office, the Vice President steps in. This has happened twice in recent memory - first, when JFK was assassinated and Johnson ascended to the presidency. 

 

The most recent time was after Richard Nixon was forced to resign due to his criminal behavior associated with Watergate. At that point, Gerald Ford, Nixon's VP, took over.

 

But what happens if both the President and Vice President are no longer able to serve?

 

Because - and you're going to love this funny story - Trump implicated Pence in this whole Ukraine debacle yesterday. Implicated him hard.

 

 

 

 

Who knows what issues there are with Pence and his involvement here. Maybe there's no "there" there, as the Republicans are fond of saying these days.

 

But what if there is?

 

And what if, after Trump is potentially forced out of office, Pence has to resign as well?

 

Who succeeds to the presidency?

 

Turns out, it's the Speaker of the House.

 

Nancy Pelosi.

 

Wouldn't that be hilarious?

 

 

Especially if the impeachment is wide spread, could it even hit someone like McConnell?  It would be very interesting to watch the scramble of Rs trying to figure out who will be running to get the nomination in 2020, and to see how the Dems act and change plans with a Dem in the WH.  A lot of the Dems agenda that they are running on for 2020 could be implemented with Pelosi in the WH.  

[Redux]

That's how I always wanted the first female to take office...

[Cdog923]

I cannot tell you all how excited it makes me to be a Social Studies teacher at a time like this. 

[TGHusker]

Trump is such an idiot.    I can't imagine what Pence was thinking when he heard what Trump had said.

 

[BigRedBuster]

@TGHusker for some reason, the pictures you are posting aren't coming through.  Is that just on my end?

[TGHusker]

12 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

@TGHusker for some reason, the pictures you are posting aren't coming through.  Is that just on my end?

They are showing up on my screen - I'm on a laptop and not on a phone.

[BigRedBuster]

Strange...I'm on a lap top also.

[knapplc]

11 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Strange...I'm on a lap top also.

 

If you're running an adblocker it may have giphy in its filter.

[Redux]

I can never get Giphy to work if I post from mobile

[Cdog923]

Here's an interesting question: let's go down the rabbit hole and presume that both Trump and Pence are no longer in office, and Pelosi becomes president. What does that do to the democratic primary? 

[knapplc]

13 minutes ago, Cdog923 said:

Here's an interesting question: let's go down the rabbit hole and presume that both Trump and Pence are no longer in office, and Pelosi becomes president. What does that do to the democratic primary? 

 

This is all pie-in-the-sky because I think we all agree that there's a .001% chance of this scenario playing out.

 

But, because it's an interesting question, I'm game!

 

The biggest question is - would "president Pelosi" want to remain in office? If she takes on the role because she's constitutionally obligated, but doesn't want to, she could make it clear early on that those in the race should remain, and continue to campaign. She could spend the duration of her lame-duck presidency attempting to fix some of Trump's most egregious legislation, and for sure draining Trump's swamp.

 

But, if she wants to hold the office, she would have to immediately start campaigning, and see who the GOP puts up against her. It would become a bit of a party crisis if Biden and/or Warren remained in the race and challenged "president Pelosi," but it would be hard to blame them - especially Biden, since this is likely his last shot at getting the presidency.

 

 

[Ulty]

19 minutes ago, Cdog923 said:

Here's an interesting question: let's go down the rabbit hole and presume that both Trump and Pence are no longer in office, and Pelosi becomes president. What does that do to the democratic primary? 

 

If this actually happened and the Dems were smart, Pelosi would do nothing to disrupt the ongoing primary process and not generate any unnecessary conflict between the candidates, the house, and the executive branch. Then Pelosi would just have to babysit the office for a year avoid any scandals. The candidates would need to keep their focus on their own qualities and be the anti-GOP so they don't splinter their own party.

 

If we got into such a situation, there would have been an unprecedented amount of chaos and rolling heads, so a calming influence would be needed while the mess was sorted out until the election was over. It would be a tremendous opportunity for the Dems to really differentiate themselves from the GOP and actually act like adults.

[QMany]

2 hours ago, sho said:

 

 

Especially if the impeachment is wide spread, could it even hit someone like McConnell?  It would be very interesting to watch the scramble of Rs trying to figure out who will be running to get the nomination in 2020, and to see how the Dems act and change plans with a Dem in the WH.  A lot of the Dems agenda that they are running on for 2020 could be implemented with Pelosi in the WH.  

 

Not with #MoscowMitch heading a Republican Senate. 

[commando]

48 minutes ago, Cdog923 said:

Here's an interesting question: let's go down the rabbit hole and presume that both Trump and Pence are no longer in office, and Pelosi becomes president. What does that do to the democratic primary? 

unless pence is impeached at the same time trump is....wouldn't he name his own vp when he ascends to  president?