What Happens If the President Dies?

Understanding the Line of Succession and the 25th Amendment

Photo by Sean Foster on Unsplash

Like many people, I woke up this morning to the tantalizing buzz on social media that Trump hadn’t been seen in three days, and discovered that the hashtag #TrumpIsDead was setting the world ablaze. Was Trump dead? Alas, not true. He appears to be “fine.”

But the question started circulating—what would happen next, really?

Thanks to the vast right-wing conspiracy (not just Hillary complaining—a thing that turned out to be real after all) that has removed basic civics from our schools, a lot of people genuinely don’t know.

The question of presidential succession has shaped U.S. constitutional law over the history of this country. It was particularly important during the 20^th Century with the death of FDR in his fourth term, the assassination of JFK, and the ousting of Nixon.

When a U.S. president dies or is removed from office—whether through illness, assassination, or other circumstances—the Constitution and its amendments, in conjunction with US Code, lay out a clear process for who steps in and what happens next.

The Line of Succession

The Presidential Succession Act (passed in 1947, post FDR), together with the 25th Amendment (ratified in 1967, post JFK), determines who will take over if the president can no longer serve.

The first in line is, of course, the Vice President, currently Couchfucker McGee JD Vance. If the vice president is unable to serve, the line continues through the Speaker of the House, the President pro tempore of the Senate, and then through the eligible cabinet members, starting with the Secretary of State.

The line follows the cabinet offices in the order in which the departments were created, so the Secretary of Homeland Security is last, regardless of whether you think she or he might be more qualified than the Secretaries of Agriculture or Education, for example.

Here is the current Line of Succession:

1. Vice President

2. Speaker of the House of Representatives

3. President pro tempore of the Senate

4. Secretary of State

5. Secretary of the Treasury

6. Secretary of Defense

7. Attorney General

8. Secretary of the Interior

9. Secretary of Agriculture

10. Secretary of Commerce

11. Secretary of Labor

12. Secretary of Health and Human Services

13. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

14. Secretary of Transportation

15. Secretary of Energy

16. Secretary of Education

17. Secretary of Veterans Affairs

18. Secretary of Homeland Security (added in 2006)

Because the Republicans currently hold the Presidency and both houses of Congress, everyone on this list is a Republican, except for RFK Jr., who is a registered Nightmare, I mean Independent.

Fun fact: the next person in line doesn’t get it, no matter what. They have to be constitutionally eligible (35 years old, native-born), not previously impeached, and still must be confirmed by the Senate. If that person doesn’t meet those criteria, they are skipped, and the next in line is up. When Madeline Albright was at State, and Jennifer Granholm was at Energy, neither qualified, as they weren’t born on American soil.

The 25th Amendment in Action

The 25th Amendment provides detailed instructions on what to do if the presidency becomes vacant. Section 1 of the amendment states simply (trigger warning! Hard-coded gendered language!):

"In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President."

This establishes the vice president as the immediate successor. But the amendment goes further. Section 2 explains how a new vice president is chosen when the vice presidency is vacant:

"Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress."

In other words, the new president (formerly the vice president) gets to choose someone to fill their old role, and that nominee must be approved by a simple majority of both the House and the Senate. Note that this does not mean that they vote as one unit. The House would vote and would need 218 votes to approve, and the Senate would vote and need 51 votes to approve. Fun quirk—there would be no VP to break a tie: the former VP would now be President, and since the vote itself was to approve the selection of the new Veep, that chair would still be unoccupied.

It’s important to note that the Line of Succession doesn’t automatically just step people up one spot—if the VP becomes President, the Speaker of the House doesn’t automatically get tagged for VP. Speaker Mike Johnson is currently second on the list, but if Vance becomes President, while Vance*could* select Johnson as Veep, he would not be obligated to.

While the 25th Amendment has only been invoked a handful of times, there have been some fun examples that in the 1970s resulted in two men who had never been elected to the offices of President and VP holding those seats.

When Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973, President Nixon nominated Gerald Ford as vice president. Later, when Nixon himself resigned, Ford became president and nominated Nelson Rockefeller as his vice president, following the same constitutional procedure.

The gist is this: when the time comes that Trump shuffles off this mortal coil, which seems like maybe possibly it could be soon, JD Vance becomes President. Who Vance picks as his Vice President is anyone’s guess, but in theory, he’d pick someone with some rizz, and quickly. That person must then be approved through votes of both housees of Congress, which under Republicans seems like it should be a cakewalk.

The challenge for Vance, though, and the fun scenario to imagine is—what if Democrats take back one or both houses of Congress in 2026, and Trump manages to linger that long?

I’m not sure there’s enough popcorn in the world for the drama and negotiations that would have to take place.

PS: My friend

Grey Galaxie

has a great article today about what the stars and the cards say about JD Vance as the inheritor of the MAGA throne. You should check it out. Spoiler alert: it won’t go well for JD!

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Lawrence Winnerman and Dana DuBois (Troublemakers in Charge at GenXy)

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