In a normal world, in the event of a President resigning, becoming incapacitated, or being Impeached and removed from office, the order of succession is pretty clear. The Vice President would then step in to take control, and if he was unavailable then the Speaker of the House, and so on and so forth as called out in the table below:
All well and good. But the question I've been pondering lately is considering how deep Russian collusion may go in this administration, how far down the line of succession will we have to travel in order to get a Chief Executive who untouched by the scandal?
The VP has been conspicuously silent on the whole affair, but if this bit of reporting is to be believed, it's for good reason. Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House apparently has his own ties to Russia. Orrin Hatch? I haven't heard his name come up in anything regarding Vladimir Putin, so he may in fact not have the stench of this upon him, but who knows?
Obviously Hatch would not be my first choice for President, but after the dog and pony shit show of the last sixty days, I think I—and perhaps the vast majority of the rest of the country and the rest of the world—would breathe a collective sigh of relief at the prospect of actually having someone (regardless of his politics) who is at least a competent adult in the White House again.
If it is shown that the tentacles of Russian collusion reach further into our government than just the upper echelons of the Executive Branch, we are facing a truly unprecedented situation. If it can be proven that 45 and his gang of thugs were illegitimately installed during the last election, what can be done about removing the entire lot? Does the country call for a new election, or is it somehow awarded to the person who actually won the popular vote?
We're in uncharted waters here, folks.
hillary clinton IS the only legitimate POTUS! replace the treason-filled guvmint with a REAL leader!
If the investigation is permitted to proceed to the point where it can be proved (never gonna happen), then Hillary should be sworn in. What I think will happen, unless there is an explosion of proof, 45 will be forced to resign keeping Hillary out of office, a new election is prevented and the treasonous thugs keep the White House.
That said, I'm seeing a glimmer of light and I think it might be hope and not a locomotive that's going to drag our bloodied, mutalated bodies out of the tunnel we've been in since 11/09/2016.