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From: Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (ReacTor) Five SF Scenarios Involving the US Presidential Line of Succession
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2024 08:38:37 -0700
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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)=20
>>>>>>> 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-=20
>>>>>>>> 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,=
=20
>>>>>>> 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=20
>>>>>>> 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-=20
>>>> election-day/
>>>>
>>>> The new Congress is sworn in Jan 3, and counts the electoral
>>>> votes Jan 6.
>>>
>>=20
>>>
>>> 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.
>>=20
>> Without, one hopes, disenfranchising a million Americans.
>>=20
>You can't be disenfranchised if you don't have the ability to vote in=20
>the first place.  ;)
>
>If you are going to take out every elected official at the Federal level=
=20
>and all the SC Justices then you have to hit a LOT more places than just=
=20
>DC.  Someone from the Cabinet or Congress is ALWAYS away from DC.=20
>Taking them all out would require basically glassing every major city in=
=20
>the country.  Anything that's left after that is going to be little=20
>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.
--=20
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"