Re: (ReacTor) Five SF Scenarios Involving the US Presidential Line of Succession

On Thu, 10 Oct 2024 18:44:41 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 10/10/2024 9:28 AM, William Hyde wrote:

Paul S Person wrote:

On Wed, 9 Oct 2024 13:51:44 -0400, Cryptoengineer
<petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>

On 10/9/2024 11:42 AM, Paul S Person wrote:

On Tue, 8 Oct 2024 22:18:12 -0400, Cryptoengineer
<petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>

On 10/8/2024 11:55 AM, Paul S Person wrote:

On 8 Oct 2024 14:16:07 -0000, jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll)
wrote:
>

Five SF Scenarios Involving the US Presidential Line of Succession
>
The American Presidential Line of Succession determines who replaces
a suddenly absent President. More importantly, it is an invaluable
narrative tool.
>
https://reactormag.com/five-sf-scenarios-involving-the-
presidential-line-of-succession/

>
I've occasionally wondered: in the event of a complete wipeout not
actually destroying the entire USA, so that most States could replace
their Senators and Representatives, would whichever of the Senate (by
electing a President Pro Tempore) or the House (by electing a
Speaker), depending on which is faster, actually be electing a
President of the USA?
>
As to maintaining order, I suspect the highest ranking military
officer would temporarily assume de facto control. As opposed to,
say,
one of the Federal Attorneys scattered around the country. The
military does have one advantage: there is /always/ someone who
outranks everybody else, so "who takes charge?" is clear.
>
Once a President exists, of course, the rest of the gummint (with the
advice and consent of the Senate, of course) would follow, and the
DoD
could be put back under civilian control.

>
IIRC, Congress is installed first, and they approve the
slate of electoral votes to declare the President. So Congress comes
first. That's what Trump was treasonously trying to disrupt on Jan 6.

>
Which is corrrect, but has nothing to do with my very wild
speculations.
>
Or are you contemplating an off-year/out of season Presidential
election before a new President can be installed?

>
No, the regular Congress.
>
Here's the timeline:
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/2024-election-key-dates-beyond-
election-day/
>
The new Congress is sworn in Jan 3, and counts the electoral
votes Jan 6.

>

 

>
I also suspect a new District of Columbia will be established,
probably in the middle of the country. Nothing like high mountains and
a thousand miles or two of land to make a government feel secure.

 
Without, one hopes, disenfranchising a million Americans.
 

You can't be disenfranchised if you don't have the ability to vote in
the first place.  ;)
>
If you are going to take out every elected official at the Federal level
and all the SC Justices then you have to hit a LOT more places than just
DC.  Someone from the Cabinet or Congress is ALWAYS away from DC.
Taking them all out would require basically glassing every major city in
the country.  Anything that's left after that is going to be little
fiefdoms scattered across the continent.

Ah! The /The Postman/ scenario, so to speak.

But you missed the Cabinet (the Secretaries are in the line of
succession). And, in the resulting confusion, a few well-planned hits
would take out the stragglers.

Note that this leaves perhaps 48 States intact (Maryland and Virginia
-- northern Virgina, at least -- are toast). So other scenarios where
the governors get together (by phone/computer conference) and work out
what to do are possible. Some might result in two different groups
forming, leading to the "flyover States vs the Coasts" or similar
scenario.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"