If Trump and Biden both died today, what would happen?
Imagine the following scenario: On the 9th of January 2024 in the morning we wake up to news that President of the USA Joe Biden suffered a stroke and died in White House. The administration confirms that the death was entirely natural and no third party contributed to it. Even before the news reach all TV stations another one breaks: Former president of the USA Donald Trump has suffered a cardiac arrest and died in his residence in Mar a Lago. Early reports claim that the site was secure and no malicious actor could reasonably reach Mr. Trump so the death is most likely natural.
What happens then?
uhh the vice president takes over, and the parties pick new candidates.
pretty basic actually.
and realistically, they havent even officially picked candidates yet. so other than trump tornado dying not much would change.
Not only that, but there’s an entire line of presidential succession. It’s part of a broader concept of ‘continuity of government’. Basically, it ensures that there’s always someone formally in charge. You could vaporize half the country including every senior official and there’d still be a legit, sworn in president in a few hours.
There’s basically contingencies upon contingencies. One interesting book on the topic is ‘Raven Rock’ by Garrett M. graff.
The plotline of the show Designated Survivor. Follows Kiefer Southerland as a Sec of HUD that has to take over following a terrorist attack. He basically carries the show, it's pretty good.
Also of Battlestar Galactica, the documentary about our past, where the secretary of education is made president, but has cancer and survives for all of the seasons.
Past*
The first couple seasons were
Don’t discount the tears of joy from billions of people across every political spectrum
Who do you think would be the DNC candidate?
Al Gore.
A backup clone of Biden
Hillery 🤢
Kamala Harris becomes President, VP office is empty until she nominates a replacement and they're confirmed by a majority vote of both houses of Congress, which likely does not happen.
DNC needs to figure out how to select a new candidate, likely using a process they've created already but never tested.
RNC already had primaries scheduled, and they'll remove Trump from ballots where possible, as he'd be ineligible on account of having died, and they continue their primary process. It's probably between Haley and Desantis in the end, seeing who can pick up more Trump voters. Ramaswami probably becomes a bit more relevant, but still loses.
The media loses their minds, and the people of the Internet make so many references to Death Note.
You forgot the part where millions of people still write in Donald Trump based on the widespread conspiracy that he's still alive, and we get to figure out what happens when a state tries to elect a dead man.
I hate that you're probably right
Disagree. I fully support this conspiracy theory and I am quite certain the GOP would do it if they had the chance. It’s better than running ads for a 3rd party candidate to splitthe vote. Just get on #chan and speculate or report sightings of him.
This happened in Missouri in 2000 for a senate seat. The governor appointed his widow to the senate seat which she lost in the special election shortly afterwards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000\_United\_States\_Senate\_election\_in\_Missouri#:\~:text=Incumbent%20Republican%20Senator%20John%20Ashcroft,three%20weeks%20before%20election%20day.
This would mean nothing because the electoral college exists. Likely all the red states would opt for the Republican candidate and blue for the Democratic candidate.
Election at Bernie’s.
If Biden died, his VP, Kamala Harris would become the president--the first woman president, as it happens. Everything would pretty much go on as it was.
Trump's death is entirely irrelevant to this scenario, and not useful to consider.
You're only addressing what happens with the current administration. OP's question as stated opens the door to discussion about the 2024 election, the MAGA movement, the state of fascism in the nation etc.
Never really thought it like this before, but would the entire chain move up? Like Speaker comes VP or would Harris get to select a new VP?
Harris appoints a new VP. Majority of Congress has to approve that appointment.
Check out Article 25 of the Constitution for more details.
Ford appointed Nelson Rockefeller to be VP after Nixon's resignation.
25th amendment describes this process. Harris selects a new VP. Both houses of congress confirm by majority vote (good fucking luck).
Here's a good explanation of succession
Kamala Harris becomes President, and the GOP implodes under the weight of a million conspiracy theories.
Don't forget the infighting. I imagine it would be glorious. Like watching the inbred redneck family having an all out brawl at Walmart.
And then comes the conspiracy theories. Which will happen if either of them die any time soon anyway. Because what are the odds of old men randomly dying, right? There must be a conspiracy!
Trump having a heart attack before the election would provide enough conspiracy theories for a lifetime, and it honestly seems about as likely as him not having a heart attack.
I'd love to hit a few qultists I know with the "dIeD sUdDeNlY!!" bullshit they spew if trump died before the election.
Well, it would be pretty suspicious given he's the world's healthiest man. /s
Hey man, don't bring Lauren Boebert's family into this!!!
A party, untill they democratically elect the next only given sociopathic geriatric option.
This is pretty accurate
Why? Are you thinking about doing this country a favor?
One person couldn't do both in one day
You crazy MF'r! That's exactly what someone who could do both in one day would say!
THIS SUMMER
loud music begins
TWO ASSASSINATIONS
split screen shot of Trump and Biden
ONE MAN
the crazy pickle guy from Independence Day
WILL HAVE THE GREATEST ROAD TRIP OF ALL TIME
several comedic moments with quick cuts
IN...
movie title appears as the music hits its peak
date flashes on the screen
small stinger scene appears to end the trailer
BEER THIRTY, HONKY TONK TIME
A new holiday would be created and we'd party for a week straight.
We'd have a real election race that's for sure
Not Burnie Sanders vs DeSantis.
DeSantis wins because old people are Republican and the youth don't vote.
Oh?
45-64 year old voting is in decline, declining from 75% to 71% over time.
Dancing and singing in the streets
Probably the parties and their donors would scramble to replace them.
Harris has a leg up as she would be promoted to President and would be the incumbent. But she might not be prepared for a primary. Probably Gavin Newsom, her and a couple people would fight over some key endorsements and donors.
Well Chris Christie and Mike Pence would probably kick themselves as they just dropped out of the race. In a lot of ways, the republican race wouldn't change much. At least Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis would still be fighting over the voters not waiting for Trump to resurrect three days later.
The really dicy shit happens if the winning candidate dies before inauguration.
I hadn't thought of this. Now there's no question in my mind there would be those adamant this would happen. Then on the fourth day, blame the democrats somehow.
Nah, they'd just say they counted wrong, "re do" their math, and pick a new day they expect him to return. It's a pretty common tactic in cults.
Well yeah it was three days in the Bible but you've gotta account for inflation.
Them both being dead is both convenient and conveniently suspicious. Since Trump is guarded by secret service, conspiracies would arise saying they (under Bidens order, or a Harris power grab) killed him. It would be completely absurd given the circumstances and no reputable source would support it, but people would believe it anyway and Fox would push the story. Widely broadcast funerals for each of them.
Then nothing... The conspiracies would flow, but nothing much would change.
Kamala Harris becomes president and both primaries will elect someone.
I'm not sure anyone on the dem side would primary Harris, however. If she is primaried, Gavin Newsome would probably be sworn in about this time next year.
On edit: jmho
If biden dies for sure someone jumps in.
Probably tweet some condolences to Hunter, then wait for Trump to buried, to finally go pee on him.
Trump's dead, though, right? Yeah, I can live with that.
Honestly, I think if Trump died instantaneous there would be a massive movement claiming that the current Administration was the cause of death and they would use the most recent judicial hearing regarding Seal Team 6 as evidence towards it. There would be no proof of anything because like you said it was a natural death but that would not be enough to prove anything and I believe there would still be riots
As for if the president dropped dead, the vice president would take over and there would likely be an investigation into an assassination attempt but I don't think anything would come out of it because like mentioned it would be a natural death.
Neither have been elected yet. The Democrat and Republican parties would both nominate new candidates for president and then people would vote on them.
If you're talking about after they've been elected then the vice president takes over as president, followed by the speaker of the house if the vice president is incapacitated.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession#:~:text=The%20order%20of%20succession%20specifies,of%20the%20Senate%2C%20and%20then
Important to note that the speaker only takes over if the president and vp died together. If the president dies, the vp takes over and picks a new vp, who would then be first in the line of succession.
And the new President doesn't necessarily have to pick a VP, it's just expected to fill the vacancy.
The VP has to be confirmed by congress so the vacancy could be a long one.
Thank you for the correction!
I'm pretty sure they've both been elected as president. Biden is even currently president, and I don't think he was appointed or anything.
You have a fair point there.
Since in OPs hypothetical they specified the Jan 9 date and that Biden had been elected, I misspoke.
tbf I didn't read the OP beyond the title! Haha
Cheers!
I think they meant elected as candidates or the next president.
Died today? The 9th was yesterday my guy, look at a calendar haha
Oh I know, but I wanted to make sure no one has any grounds to accuse me of prophecies or something worse. Also the precise date doesn't matter.
The world would be a better place!
Who am I kidding, America would just decend even further into anarchy, dragging everyone else with them....
Neoliberalism would live on…
if Trump died tomorrow, there would be zero impact anywhere.. it would be like a fart passing by and then nothing..
At minimum there would be mass celebration across the country, and some worldwide
if people want to celebrate a fart
"Trump" is synonymous with "fart" in British English. Plenty of Americans already did celebrate and vote for a fart.
some people are happy, some are sad. then we all get on with our miserable lives
Green party sweeps
It would probably be Nikki Haley vs Gavin Newsom. Would Kamala stay in the VP spot? Maybe.
Would Harris run against Newsom? Id bet.
The conspiracy theories would be insufferable
It's already 11th Jan why'd you write Jan 9
If Trump and Biden died today, the FBI would see this thread and you'd have some difficult questions to answer.