How would that work? Trump cannot be elected as Vance’s Vice President because, as pointed out in the Associated Press report, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution specifically states that “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States.” So Vance could not resign and step aside for a Vice President Donald Trump.
Now Trump World may fantasize as follows:
The House of Representatives could elect Trump as its Speaker (remember, the Speaker need not be a member of the House) making him third in line to the presidency as “Acting President” under the Presidential Succession Act, 3 U.S.C Sec. 19, if both the President and Vice President die or resign. So supposedly both Vance and his VP could resign, leaving the presidency to Trump.
But here is the rub. Section 19(e) of the Presidential Succession Act specifically provides that someone in the statutory line of succession may only become Acting President if they “are eligible to the office of President under the Constitution.” Since Trump is no longer eligible because he would have had two terms already, being Speaker would not permit him to become Acting President. And even if the Presidential Succession Act were amended to remove that phrase, it would not be constitutional. Any ruling to the contrary would mean that a 34-year old Speaker who was born, say, in Kenya to non-American parents could become president – violating the Constitutional requirement in Article 2, Section 1 that to be President one must be a natural born citizen at least 30 years of age.
I have no idea whether Trump's statement is yet another gaslighting of the American People, or simply another element of the firehose of lies and misrepresentations intended to numb us all and render us helpless and compliant to anything he wants. I have no idea whether Trump is a "useful idiot" for Putin, or an actual agent. But I do know that each of us must do whatever we can to resist.
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