Does anyone know what happens if a presidential candidate dies just before the vote? Both Biden and Trump are old and Trump has the body mass composition of a pork scratching so it is a distinct possibility.
1 Like
Half the country rejoices.
3 Likes
If Biden, one half would shrug their shoulders and the other half rejoice
If Trump, one half would shrug their shoulders and the other half reach for their guns as clearly he was taken out by deep state!
1 Like
Iām going to say that they canāt become president 
2 Likes
If you die in jail can you still be president?
Asking for an enemy.
1 Like
Being brutally honest, based on the stories of Trumpās lifestyle, Iām convinced heās part (big part) plastic.
Is there any PED rules that stop you becoming president?
1 Like
The one that was cancelled was due to covid, yes.
Depends before which vote. If it happens during primary season, the individual states may adjust their filing and voting deadlines. If it happens before the convention, you get an old-school convention where the delegates decide. If it happens after the convention but before the vote, the respective national committees are allowed to chose the nominee. If it happens after the vote, but before the meeting of the Electoral College, the Electoral College decides with real voting. If it happens after the Electoral College has met, the VP is inaugurated as President.
Trump repeatedly threatened not to do them, as Arminius says, putting unusual demands in place. He then used the absence of scheduled debates as a way to claim Biden didnāt want them because he was stuck in his basement.
In both cycles he has done abysmally in the 1-1 debates with the only credit he got out of any of them being how low expectations were for him that by failing to publicly soil himself people praised him for not being as bad as it could have been. He fared even worse against biden than he did against hillary, largely because Biden has a way of engaging him that demonstrates his worst traits, so the expectation is heāll try everything again to limit his debate exposure
2 Likes
There is also an issue of the deadline required to print the ballots. Do you recall why John Ashcroft was appointed to Bushās cabinet in 2000? He lost his senate reelection to a dead guy. Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash about a month before the election and it was too late to change the ballot so someone had the choice of voting to re-elect Ashcroft or vote for a dead guy and have the governor appoint someone in his place. He declared Jean, the dead guyās wife and present First Lady of the state would be the replacement and so thatās how she became senator
Yeah, anything state-level is primarily governed by the state constitution, most of them either tap the governor to decide or empower their legislatures to decide.
USA at some stage has to do something about the ages of public officials. 80 and nearly 80 for a president is ridiculous, even though they are(were) much more mentally and physically competent than Feinstein, and McConnell has had a few issues as well.
How would an age restriction come into force, or could it (due to constitution)? I assume it would have to go through house, senate and then president (not sure if amendment to constitution is same path, assuming itās needed).
I think it would need an amendment. I think two thirds of both houses are needed to bring the amendment to the table, and then to be ratified it needs three quarters in the State conventions (happy to be corrected if Iām wrong).
The main point is there is nowhere near the unity required to get anything to pass. Whichever side proposed anything, it would be shot down by the other side just out of spite.
If I were to draft it, the upper age would be based on social security retirement age, plus the rest of the elected term, to finish that out.
2 Likes
Yeah, thatās right for a constitutional amendment. And while typically we talk about the lack of unity for any new amendment to be passed, the issue here is really it is the people being negatively affected by the change being the ones required to usher it in.
The flip side is that government is complicated. It takes time to learn how to do it right, at least it does if your interest is in effective legislation. Part of the issue is our government is no longer made up of normal people and so our elected representatives end up not getting into office until too advanced an age (after making their name or fortune doing something else) not leaving them enough time to get good at it before they become old. I think we solve the issue as much by making room for more AOCs and Maxwell Frosts as we do by forcing old people out.
1 Like
On second thoughts, keep the old people.
Why?
Keep in mind that Iām not well-versed in US politics.
I thought Ox was in Turkey, not playing US politics
ā¦ and who would want less of that?
1 Like
Not sure if this belongs here, but Zelenski invited Trump to Kiev provided that he stops the war in 24 hours as he once declared:
Trumpās reaction:
I find it mind-boggling that there are still millions of people supporting this clown.
2 Likes
In same boat, however what I have seen from her is that she is left extreme, and comes across as naive or not very bright.
I would prefer my politicianās to be as moderate as possible with a smattering of stronger values if they so choose, however those values need to be negotiable when discussing policies that effect the vast majority of a nation