Fake presidential assassinations.
- Thread starter The Laughing Vulcan
- Start date
) I wouldn't know and am genuinely asking, but should we be considering spoiler code?In Doctor Who, the US President is assassinated by the Master. Well, the show actually refers to the "President-Elect", but it wouldn't make any sense for someone not actually in office to be doing what he was doing, so I attribute that to someone in the writers' room screwing up.
The TV series "7 Days" in the pilot, as I recall, had the president bite it. Then the Russians killed the vice president, and the speaker of the House.
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Sorry -- didn't even occur to me.
I linked to it, I didn't post it to YT.
I linked to it, I didn't post it to YT.
I've bee na naughty boy. I may need a spanking. That's not MOD ground either, right? ;-)
Sounds more of an admin thing to me. Spiff?
That's okay -- I don't want it anymore. 
The "World President" (I think that was the title) was assisinated in the pilot (1st part) of "Time Trax", using the gun that shot Abraham Lincoln, stolen from the Smithsonian. Show took place in the near future.
The "World President" (I think that was the title) was assisinated in the pilot (1st part) of "Time Trax", using the gun that shot Abraham Lincoln, stolen from the Smithsonian. Show took place in the near future.
Well, first off, I'd point out that "The Sound of Drums" (the episode you are referring to) was written solely by Russell T. Davies, then-executive producer of Doctor Who, and that the U.K. generally doesn't use writers' rooms. There are no staff writers apart from the executive producer -- he just commissions scripts from a bunch of freelancers.
Secondly, considering that President-elect Winters was acting as a representative of the United Nations (which is quite a bit more powerful in the Whoniverse than in reality), there's no particular reason that he couldn't have been a President-elect who out-politicked the sitting lame-duck President into getting himself assigned as U.N. Representative.
Well, it took place partly 200 years in the future, mostly in the present.
Surprisingly good movie, actually. The book "Trinity's Child" wasn't bad, either.
If you're looking for a decent book depicting the chaos after the President dying in a nuclear war, may I recommend "Warday" by Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka?
I have an interesting question. Series of them, actually.
In an election year, what would occur if the incumbent outgoing President died AFTER the election, but before the President-Elect could take office? Yes, I know the VP would then become President, but supposing some disaster so decimated the line of succession that it was in turmoil at the time that the Pres-Elect could take the oath? Would he/she be permitted to assume the Presidency at that time, or would he/she have to wait until after a clear successor to the previous administration's Presidency was established?
If the dead President's party was in severe disagreement with the President-Elect's party, they could dither about indefinitely if they were capable of delaying the Pres-Elect's taking office, could they not?
In an election year, what would occur if the incumbent outgoing President died AFTER the election, but before the President-Elect could take office? Yes, I know the VP would then become President, but supposing some disaster so decimated the line of succession that it was in turmoil at the time that the Pres-Elect could take the oath? Would he/she be permitted to assume the Presidency at that time, or would he/she have to wait until after a clear successor to the previous administration's Presidency was established?
If the dead President's party was in severe disagreement with the President-Elect's party, they could dither about indefinitely if they were capable of delaying the Pres-Elect's taking office, could they not?
Well the original date of the presidential inauguration was change from March 4th to the current January 20th, so maybe (I guess) the date could be changed again. I actual not sure how far the presidential line of succession runs, but likely all of those people would have to die before before congress would alter the laws concerning the presidency.
Barring some bizarrely fast amendment, no, he could not take over early. It would go to the speaker of the house, followed by the president pro tempore, followed by a whole bunch of cabinet positions, followed, arguably, by the deputies in these cabinet positions. This could go on infinitely until everyone in the government is wiped out. If that's the case, the President-elect wouldn't be able to do much even if he was allowed to take over.
In "Prison Break" the president was assassinated by "The Company" (a conspiratorial organization that was the "power behind the power" in the PB universe) via a poisoned drink advancing the Veep to Presidency (who was more involved with the Company and whom herself stepped down a short time later citing medical reasons. Meaning in all likelihood (since the events of PB's 1st and 2nd season take course over just a few months, the people in Prison Break's universe were the first to see the Speaker of the House advance to presidency as it's unlikely (or unclear) VP Reynolds has a chance to name a Veep when she advanced.)
As previously mentioned 24's history with the President is very muddy. President D. Palmer had an attempted assassination at the end of S2, he survived and retained his office; President Keeler was killed or critical injured in an Airforce One crash caused by a terrorist in a stealth jet and President W. Palmer was killed or critically injured in a "inside job" (operatives in his administration unhappy with how he was handling the day's crisis -including a peace agreement with a terrorist leader- tried to make it look like the terrorist leader assassinated W. Palmer) in 24's sixth season. Advancing the Veep.
Wayne Palmer also had a successful assassination attempt in his post-presidential career. (But during what would've been his second term of office but it's really uncertain if the attempt would've been tried if he got re-elected. Don't get me started. The people in 24's universe are probably just endlessly frustrated with their presidential line of succession they've had over the some 15 years or so of the show's timeline they've had something like five or six presidents.)
Prison Break and 24's presidential assassinations stand out the most to me as those were shows I watched. Movies would be a whole lot harder to dive into and probably a bit more complex.
As previously mentioned 24's history with the President is very muddy. President D. Palmer had an attempted assassination at the end of S2, he survived and retained his office; President Keeler was killed or critical injured in an Airforce One crash caused by a terrorist in a stealth jet and President W. Palmer was killed or critically injured in a "inside job" (operatives in his administration unhappy with how he was handling the day's crisis -including a peace agreement with a terrorist leader- tried to make it look like the terrorist leader assassinated W. Palmer) in 24's sixth season. Advancing the Veep.
Wayne Palmer also had a successful assassination attempt in his post-presidential career. (But during what would've been his second term of office but it's really uncertain if the attempt would've been tried if he got re-elected. Don't get me started. The people in 24's universe are probably just endlessly frustrated with their presidential line of succession they've had over the some 15 years or so of the show's timeline they've had something like five or six presidents.)
Prison Break and 24's presidential assassinations stand out the most to me as those were shows I watched. Movies would be a whole lot harder to dive into and probably a bit more complex.
There was also an episode of the new Outer Limits about much the same thing. A time traveler takes two present day teenagers back to the battle of Gettysburg to try and prevent one of them from assassinating the current US President much later. It doesn't go well.
in the end, the president is still assassinated, however this time it's done by a Confederate colonel - played by Meat Loaf, of all people - who gets caught up in the time machine and sent to the time traveler's present.
No.
If the entire presidential line of succession is killed -- an exceedingly improbable event -- then it would work like this:
Remember, the line goes to the Vice President, then to the Speaker of the House, then to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, then to the Cabinet members. If the entire line is killed, that means that there's no mechanism for replacing the VP or Cabinet members (since there's no President to nominate them). That means that the only members of the line that can be replaced are the Speaker and the President Pro Tempore.
The House of Representatives would elect a replacement Speaker of the House, and the Senate would elect a replacement President Pro Tempore. Whichever one of those offices gets elected first would automatically be elevated to the Presidency. Then they would serve out the remainder of the incumbent's term until the President-elect's term began.
There are no provisions allowing a President-elect to assume office early. The only scenario under which such a thing could happen would be if the President-elect was a sitting Member of Congress who was elected as the new Speaker or President Pro Tempore; it would be legal for him to do so without affecting his eligibility for a second normal term only if he served less than two years of the incumbent's term. Which, if he's elevated to the Presidency during the two-month period between the election and 20 January, wouldn't be a problem at all. Though he'd have to go ahead and take the oath of office again on 20 January, just like any other President who serves more than one term.
The political parties of the relevant political actors would only come into play if the President-elect's party captured Congress in that same election and Congress were electing a new Speaker or PPT after 3 January, when the new Congress after an election always takes office.
So, let's say it's the 110th Congress, and it's a Republican-controlled Congress led by President Bob. And let's say that in the November elections for the new President and the 111th Congress, Senator Johnny, a Democrat, becomes the President-elect and the Democrats win the Congress.
Let's say that on 3 December, President Bob, his entire Cabinet, his VP, and the Republican Speaker and President Pro Tempore all decide that Miley Cyrus's music is just too bad and life is not worth living anymore. The Republican 110th Congress, if it wants, can quickly act to elect a new Speaker of the House or President Pro Tempore. Whichever gets elected first will automatically become U.S. President and serve the remainder of President Bob's term (since the other office would still be empty at the time of their election). They would then serve out until 20 January, at which point President-elect Johnny and the Democratic 11th Congress would take over.
Alternately, if the 110th Congress had had a Republican House and a Democratic Senate (or vice versa), then there might be a real race to see which chamber could elect their presiding officer first. Though that would only give either side an extra month or so in the White House, so I'm not sure why they'd bother rushing. But it's politics, so who knows?
But, either way, these are constitutional issues that aren't decided on the basis of party politics.
No.
There are only 18 people in the line of succession, and there is no statute or constitutional amendment allowing for anybody else to ascend to the Presidency. Nor is there any statute allowing for anybody who has not been nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to become a Cabinet member. If the entire line were wiped out, the only ones who could be replaced would be the Speaker and Senate President Pro Tempore. Assuming, of course, that there is still a Congress to replace them.
You meant David Palmer, correct? After the end of Day 6, I don't recall ever hearing details on whether or not Wayne lived following the final surgery related to his brain hemorrhage, the surgery that put Daniels in charge permanently. The 24 Wiki cites an interview with Howard Gordon in which Gordon stated that the writers "don’t know where he is. I certainly don't recall any mention of Wayne being assassinated. I like to think he’s alive. 24 is such a weird world, unless you see them go down, they’re not out." Also from the 24 Wiki entry on Wayne Palmer, there was apparently a newspaper prop in Redemption that cited his death.