Presidential line of succession

[Tigers!]

Last week watched the 3rd and final season of 'Designated Survivor'.
(Spoiler alert!)
So President Kirkman has been re-elected but hid information that could have shown that his opponent was not the racist he was claimed to be.
His campaign manager and her mole in the opposition camp have been arrested.
His former chief-of-staff has audio about the aforementioned revelation and it will be released eventually.
Kirkman knows that it is just a matter of time before he will be forced to resign in disgrace. His vice-president will not be able to survive due to his close association with Kirkman.

What is the presidential succession in such a case?
Would a new election be called or would a new president arise somehow?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

There's a whole line going down at least a dozen or so people.

However, when the new President comes in, he can appoint a new Vice President. That guy needs to get confirmed by the House and Senate, though, and the people in charge of those are the next in line for the Presidency, so if the VP is about to go as well, it's unlikely they'd put some other dude in front of them, so whichever of them will then take over.

 

[Keith&Co.]

There's a whole line going down at least a dozen or so people.

However, when the new President comes in, he can appoint a new Vice President. That guy needs to get confirmed by the House and Senate, though, and the people in charge of those are the next in line for the Presidency, so if the VP is about to go as well, it's unlikely they'd put some other dude in front of them, so whichever of them will then take over.

Depends on how the vacancy opened. Maybe it's such a shit show no one wants to bat clean-up?

 

[Bronzeage]

There's a whole line going down at least a dozen or so people.

However, when the new President comes in, he can appoint a new Vice President. That guy needs to get confirmed by the House and Senate, though, and the people in charge of those are the next in line for the Presidency, so if the VP is about to go as well, it's unlikely they'd put some other dude in front of them, so whichever of them will then take over.

Depends on how the vacancy opened. Maybe it's such a shit show no one wants to bat clean-up?

When there is a vacancy for Boss, there's always someone who will raise their hand.

There is an apocryphal story from the Watergate years. It seems that Washington insiders realized that Nixon's Presidency was doomed long before the rest of us knew anything more than that a Hotel had been burgled. Nixon's immediate response was to send cash to the burglars to buy their silence, which was probably the dumbest thing possible. This meant the President was a conspirator to obstruct justice and the evidence was unequivocal.

The problem was Spiro Agnew. No one wanted Agnew to become President. Fortunately, Agnew had a past. It was relatively easy to dig up a shady deal made while Agnew was Governor of Maryland and convene a Grand Jury. In short order, Agnew was forced to resign and the more conventional (read "harmless") Gerald Ford became President, with the full knowledge that the big job would soon be his, along with about a 20% chance of being elected in his own right.

This is one of those true stories, of which there may be other versions which are equally true.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Last week watched the 3rd and final season of 'Designated Survivor'.
(Spoiler alert!)
So President Kirkman has been re-elected but hid information that could have shown that his opponent was not the racist he was claimed to be.
His campaign manager and her mole in the opposition camp have been arrested.
His former chief-of-staff has audio about the aforementioned revelation and it will be released eventually.
Kirkman knows that it is just a matter of time before he will be forced to resign in disgrace. His vice-president will not be able to survive due to his close association with Kirkman.

What is the presidential succession in such a case?
Would a new election be called or would a new president arise somehow?

Congress acts likes a bunch of adults and...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Sorry... couldn't finish that statement.

 

[ZiprHead]

In the case that the president can no longer serve, the vice president would serve as president. If the vice president cannot serve, the line of succession falls to the speaker of the House, then to the Senate president pro tempore, then to Cabinet members.

https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/us/succession-presidential-and-vice-presidential-fast-facts/index.html

 

[Politesse]

And then there's the time Alexander Haig infamously forgot that Tip O'Neill and Strom Thurmond preceded him in the line of succession, and erroneously announced himself the head of the executive branch on live tv, while Reagan recovered from a boo-boo.

Or the time Lincoln nearly gave us a Confederate sympathizer for president two years too early, by foolishly sticking his head over a parapet to observe Jubal Early's siege of DC. Incredibly distinctive top hat and all. He wasn't shot, but it was a near thing; an officer standing right next to him was. Interesting fact: two of my temporally distant cousins were at that battle, one as a soldier and one as a drummer boy.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Last week watched the 3rd and final season of 'Designated Survivor'.
(Spoiler alert!)
So President Kirkman has been re-elected but hid information that could have shown that his opponent was not the racist he was claimed to be.
His campaign manager and her mole in the opposition camp have been arrested.
His former chief-of-staff has audio about the aforementioned revelation and it will be released eventually.
Kirkman knows that it is just a matter of time before he will be forced to resign in disgrace. His vice-president will not be able to survive due to his close association with Kirkman.

What is the presidential succession in such a case?
Would a new election be called or would a new president arise somehow?

Remember the original episode? He (I think Kirkman, but it's been long enough I won't swear I have the right guy as I only watched season 1) was way down the list and was picked as the one to stay away from the big event--and ended up in the presidency because everyone higher on the list was already dead.

Wikipedia lists 18 people (one ineligible): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

There's a whole line going down at least a dozen or so people.

However, when the new President comes in, he can appoint a new Vice President. That guy needs to get confirmed by the House and Senate, though, and the people in charge of those are the next in line for the Presidency, so if the VP is about to go as well, it's unlikely they'd put some other dude in front of them, so whichever of them will then take over.

Depends on how the vacancy opened. Maybe it's such a shit show no one wants to bat clean-up?

When there is a vacancy for Boss, there's always someone who will raise their hand.

There is an apocryphal story from the Watergate years. It seems that Washington insiders realized that Nixon's Presidency was doomed long before the rest of us knew anything more than that a Hotel had been burgled. Nixon's immediate response was to send cash to the burglars to buy their silence, which was probably the dumbest thing possible. This meant the President was a conspirator to obstruct justice and the evidence was unequivocal.

The problem was Spiro Agnew. No one wanted Agnew to become President. Fortunately, Agnew had a past. It was relatively easy to dig up a shady deal made while Agnew was Governor of Maryland and convene a Grand Jury. In short order, Agnew was forced to resign and the more conventional (read "harmless") Gerald Ford became President, with the full knowledge that the big job would soon be his, along with about a 20% chance of being elected in his own right.

This is one of those true stories, of which there may be other versions which are equally true.

Agnew had been taking bribes for years and that continued after he became VP. Maryland had been a hot bed of corruption for years and there were a number of ongoing investigations into that. Evidence Agnew was taking bribes came out of those investigations, not some Watergate investigation. There was a good amount of evidence uncovered such that Agnew, originally belligerent had to resign. He got off easy, no long prison sentence, a $10,000 fine and an agreement to never again run for office or be involved in politics.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

In the case that the president can no longer serve, the vice president would serve as president. If the vice president cannot serve, the line of succession falls to the speaker of the House, then to the Senate president pro tempore, then to Cabinet members.

https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/us/s...l-and-vice-presidential-fast-facts/index.html

Trump chokes to death on a cheeseburger. Pence, hearing the news has a heart attack. Nancy Pelosi becomes president. Works for me.

 

[steve_bank]

You can look it up. Pence becomes president, Pelosi as speaker becomes VP as 3rd in line. Then it goes through the secretaries I believe.

There was a made fr TV dome day war movie in which the secretary of the interior or one of the others advanced to president and was a looney hawk out to launch a massive nuclear strike.

From what has been reported on Pence he may be worse.

 

[Politesse]

You can look it up. Pence becomes president, Pelosi as speaker becomes VP as 3rd in line.

This is incorrect. In accordance with the 25th amendment, the new president can appoint anyone of their choosing to the vice-presidency, regardless of their current position (provided the Congress confirms the nomination). Nancy Pelosi, in all likelihood, would remain perpetually third-in-line unless by unfortunate circumstance both Trump and Pence were to expire within a short period of time. Indeed the whole purpose of this amendment, passed in 1967, was to eliminate the ambiguity and confusion that had followed previous presidential deaths.