The subject of presidential succession isn’t something people spend much time contemplating, but, God help me, I find it interesting.
Yes, I intend to elaborate, so if you need to be somewhere else right now, I fully understand.
You may recall that, when Biden won the 2020 election, former President Grab ‘em and the GOP promptly began to cry foul and act the fool — engaging in a series of jerk moves of the tantrum variety. You know, the type of petty and spiteful behavior they now embrace routinely. More about that directly.
Most people know that if a U.S. President dies, resigns, is removed from office, or becomes incapacitated, the powers and duties of the office pass to the Vice President.
Further, if the Vice President is unable to serve, the Speaker of the House is next in line.
But there’s more. Third in line is the President pro tempore of the Senate, followed by the Cabinet secretaries, in the order their offices were created.
Currently, Biden’s Cabinet consists of 15 secretaries. All those folks are eligible to ascend to the presidency if they meet the qualifications required by the Constitution.
The details of presidential succession were set down in Article II of the Constitution, then tweaked in the 12th amendment (1804), the 20th Amendment (1933), and the 25th Amendment (1967). The 25th Amendment, in fact, deals solely with presidential succession and disability.
As for eligibility, Article II establishes three requirements to become President: a person must be a natural-born citizen, must be at least 35 years of age, and must have been a U.S. resident for 14 years.
Currently, two members of Biden’s Cabinet are ineligible to serve as President because they are not natural-born citizens. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was born in Canada, and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas was born in Cuba.
Everyone else in the line of succession is eligible, as unlikely an event as that may be.
Thus, if some terrible calamity occurred, the above-mentioned officeholders would be sworn in as President in this order:
1. Vice President Kamala Harris
2. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
3. President pro tempore of the Senate Patrick Leahy
4. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
5. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen
6. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
7. Attorney General Merrick Garland
8. Secretary of the Interior Deb Halland
9. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
10. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo
11. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh
12. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra
13. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge
14. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg
— Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm
15. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona
16. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough
— Secretary of Labor Alejandro Mayorkas
The truth is, I couldn’t pick most of those folks out of a lineup. But Team Biden chose them, which speaks to their competence and qualifications. I’m confident any of them could serve ably. After all, they aren’t Republicans.
Speaking of Neanderthals, the succession list during the Trump Administration was so depressing, so populated by villains, fools, and ne’er-do-wells, that I choose not to display it.
Another matter related to presidential succession originated in the 1950s during the Cold War era: the practice of naming a designated successor or designated survivor when the above officials gather for an event.
Accordingly, at all large official gatherings — inaugurations, State of the Union addresses, Presidential addresses to Congress — one person in the line of succession is whisked away to a secure, undisclosed location in case some awful mass-casualty event wiped out all the other would-be presidents.
Before the 2020 election, as you recall, the Orange Vulgarian predicted that the Democrats would try to rig the election. Then, when he lost on November 3, he alleged widespread voter fraud and other nefarious misconduct (providing no specifics or evidence, of course; he simply was lying as usual), and he insisted he was the actual winner.
So, instead of having a normal period of transition to the new administration, we had the sorry spectacle of Trump blocking Biden’s transition team from doing its work.
Specifically, a Trump flunky refused to sign certain official paperwork, and for several weeks, the Biden team was not given access to the normal funding and office space. A typical jerk move by the Republicans.
The flunky was Emily Murphy, Trump’s Administrator of the General Services Administration. Before her gig at the GSA, Murphy was an attorney for the Republican National Committee, which explains a lot.
On November 23, she finally relented and signed the authorizing documents. Two weeks later, she resigned and left the administration. Buh-bye, Emily.
It’s an interesting fact that when Biden was inaugurated as President on January 20, the Trump White House did not announce a designated successor for the event. When pressed, a Trump spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny that one had been appointed.
Which probably means that Trump, class act that he is, declined to name one; doing so would seem like acknowledging the Biden victory.
One final fact on this subject: in April, when Biden addressed a joint session of Congress, no designated successor was appointed.
Why not? Because naming a successor wasn’t necessary. Attendance was limited due to COVID restrictions, and most of the Cabinet would not attend anyway.
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