There have been many articles in the last few weeks about what a second Trump administration would look like. There have also been many articles about Project 2025 and the draconian plan to undermine democracy, attack the rights of various groups of Americans, embark on mass deportations and install an authoritarian, Christian nationalist government similar to what Viktor Orban has done in Hungary. The prospect of another Trump presidency is certainly scary. However, there is another aspect of a second Trump presidency that is receiving far less ink than it deserves.
The recent assassination attempt notwithstanding, Trump and his minions believe he is invincible and will live forever. The fact is, Trump is seventy-eight, not the healthiest person in the world, despite claims to the contrary, and lives an incredibly stressful life. Many Republicans and even, a growing number of Democrats, were questioning Biden’s ability to survive a second four-year term. Biden is only three years older than Trump so it would seem fair to now ask the same question about Trump.
This brings us to the question of presidential succession. If something happens to the President of the United States, the Constitution says the Vice President will become President. If something were to happen to the VP as well, the Speaker of the House of Representatives will become President. Given the current lay of the land, Trump’s VP pick, J.D. Vance is next in line to become president if something happens to Trump and right behind J.D. Vance is Mike Johnson, the current Speaker of the House. Thinking about that should scare the heck out of most Americans.
J.D. Vance is extremely unpopular for his increasingly polarized (and ignorant) rhetoric – think ‘childless cat ladies’! The simple fact is, J.D. Vance has very little government experience and is virtually unknown on the world stage. He would immediately be in way over his head. Remember the chaos of the first Trump administration? If Vance had to immediately step up, I have no doubt his administration would make the first Trump administration look like a finely tuned Swiss watch. Is J.D. Vance really the guy we want one heartbeat away from an aging, and increasingly unhinged President? President Putin and President Xi would eat him up and spit him out. He would certainly be nothing more than a puppet for his mentor, Conservative libertarian, Peter Thiel, who, in a 2009 essay stated that he “no longer believe[s] that freedom and democracy are compatible”.
Right behind Vance, there is Mike Johnson who believes he has a direct pipeline to ‘God’ and wants to run the government based upon ‘Biblical principles.’ And again, Mike Johnson has little, if any, experience on the world stage. He can’t even control the members of his own caucus in Congress. How the hell is he going to run the country? Putin and Xi would devour him like a tasty midday snack.
Even if you don’t like Vice President Harris, its hard to argue against her qualifications – prosecutor, Attorney General, Senator, Vice President. Compared to J.D. Vance? Come on? Now that Harris is set to be the Democratic presidential nominee, she will have to pick a running mate. Any one of the candidates who is reportedly on her short list will be significantly more qualified than Vance or Johnson.
Perhaps the MAGA faithful are so hyped up on ‘the Kool-Aid’ that they are incapable of running the ‘what if’ scenarios in their minds but it does not take an intellectual giant to understand that if Trump is re-elected and something were to happen to him, the country will end up in the hands of someone who is even more unfit and unqualified to be president than Trump.
A second Trump presidency would be scary. A premature end to a second Trump presidency would a combination of the Keystone Kops and Nightmare on Elm Street!! Sounds funny now. It won’t sound so funny if it happens.
