Presidential Succession (Update) by Tom Reynolds
Last April 12th, SCOPE wrote about the problems the Democrats had – even then - with Biden’s apparent mental issues. Politically, things have gotten worse with Biden’s and Harris’s (well deserved) plummeting approval ratings. There are numerous articles being currently written about this issue, but the bottom line is that the Democrats don’t have any good political choices. Below is a reprint of parts of the April 12th article, which explains the box that Democrats are in. The issues raised in it are even more relevant, today.
If Biden should step down or be removed in his first two years, it will be obvious that Democrat insiders knew, prior to the election, that he was failing and hid it from the voters. That should cause a major negative reaction amongst voters, even amongst the usual Democrat supporters. There would be legitimate questions: concerning the leader of the free world’s ability to lead; about the judgment of the man with his finger on the nuclear button; about the man tasked by the Constitution with defending it – and thus defending us – from all enemies foreign and domestic; was he incapable of doing his job; what unelected person was acting as President while pulling the strings from behind the curtain; who was really responsible for all the Executive Orders Biden signed? The legitimate uproar would be overwhelming. And it would be worse if Biden’s policies are failing at the time he steps down.
If Kamala Harris did succeed to the Presidency within the first two years of Biden’s term, the Vice President’s position would need to be filled. She would nominate someone but that person must be approved by a majority of both houses of Congress. Here’s the monkey wrench in Democrat’s planning; currently, both Houses of Congress are Democrat controlled but the Senate is split exactly 50-50 with the Vice President’s vote being the deciding factor that gives Democrats their control. If there is no Vice President, the Democrats have only a tie and must seduce at least one Republican vote in order to approve a Harris nominee for Vice President. (And if one or more Democrats do not vote for the Harris’ nominee, that makes the situation more difficult.) As a side issue, while the Vice Presidency is vacant, the Democrats do not have a tie breaking vote on any proposed legislation. Oops!
This would force Harris to nominate someone very much less radical than the current President and Vice President. Joe Manchin, the Senator from West Virginia, comes to mind but that would lose Democrats their majority in the Senate, at least until a replacement election was held, and maybe after the replacement election since West Virginia tends Republican.
This leaves Democrat insiders with the option of delaying Biden’s removal until two years have passed and after an off-year election in 2022, which causes them more problems, (besides putting their own political careers above the safety and security of the nation). Historically, the President’s party loses seats in Congress during an off-year election. If Democrats should lose one seat in the Senate, they lose their majority. If Democrats lose about a half dozen seats in the House, they lose their majority. Losing one or both houses of Congress is a real possibility and must weigh heavily on Democrats’ decision making.
If Kamala Harris should succeed to the Presidency after the 2022 election, she would nominate someone but, as previously stated, that person must be approved by a majority of both houses of Congress. And if one or both of those houses has a Republican majority, a nomination would certainly have to be very much less radical than the current President and Vice President. And depending on how firm the Republicans held, the person could be middle to right leaning.
But it gets worse for Democrats.
When the Vice Presidency is vacant, the next person in line is the House Speaker and next after that comes the President Pro tempore of the Senate. If either or both houses are under Republican control, they would be Republicans! If Republicans control the House, they might be very slow in approving any Harris’ nominee, in order to keep a Republican next in line. And what if the Republicans decided that impeachment payback was in order at the same time that the Vice Presidency was vacant?
Back to present day.
Many current articles are now writing about removing Harris from the Vice Presidency but none spell out how to do it:
She “aint gonna” resign, that’s for sure.
She may be incompetent but that is not a basis for removal under the 25th Amendment.
She could be impeached for her statements made about the riots in 2020. If the Democrats are desperate enough to save their own skins, some might cross the aisle and vote for impeachment. That would be good for the country but impeaching a semi-black woman might hurt their personal political support amongst those typically Democrat voters, so it’s not likely.
SCOPE has often said that the Socialist policies always fail. Our problem is that the failure would take the rest of us down with it. Twin international crises loom with China/Taiwan and Russia/Ukraine as well as always bothersome Iran and North Korea creating mischief. Then there continues to be the national problems with runaway inflation, a southern border open to criminals and Covid, a possible recession, and government overreach under Covid. We need (the world needs) wisdom and strong leadership in the White House and that isn’t happening or likely to happen under the status quo.
