r/politics • u/IWantPizza555 • Jul 08 '26

No Paywall Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear requests update on Sen. Mitch McConnell's health

https://www.whas11.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/kentucky-governor-andy-beshear-requests-update-senator-mitch-mcconnell-health/417-b9252baa-29ab-489e-94f1-147aa41e78ed
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184

u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia Jul 08 '26

Depends on if they tell Vance (or whoever is in his shoes if he gets fired by this point) or not. Because I think we can all agree J.D. wouldn't be able to keep his excited yells of "YIPPEE, I'M THE PRESIDENT" in for more than 20 seconds.

And frankly, they don't have the internal security to keep a secret like that for more than a day from the public, let alone an ambitious vice-president.

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u/tendeuchen Florida Jul 08 '26

JD Vance sits in the Oval Office and begins addressing the nation.

"It is my sad news to report that President Trump has passed away, guys."

*shocked gasping from the reporters in the room*

"I guess that makes me Vice President now. I mean President."

A reporter interjects, "JD, what are you going to do now that you're President?"

JD thinks for a second and replies, "Just everything. Whatever makes sense."

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u/Plinnion Jul 08 '26

"Whatever Thiel says."

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u/Huge_Excitement4465 Jul 08 '26

And Leonard Leo — allegedly Vance was the Trojan horse put forward by Leo and Thiel to ride into the WH on Trump’s coattails. Vance lacks the MAGA-tism of Trump but Leo is ruthless, highly influential and well-funded with a track record of swaying courts/judges and politicians.

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u/Expensive-Sundae-831 Jul 08 '26

"Blood boys for everyone!" (that can afford it)

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u/crackersucker2 Jul 08 '26

lol… donuts for everyone… whatever makes sense.

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u/ShittyExchangeAdmin Jul 08 '26

"how long have you been a reporter?"

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u/PhiCloud Jul 08 '26

He has the musings of an idea for a plan.

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u/tomdarch Jul 08 '26

Cool. Very cool.

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u/Party_Cold_4159 Jul 09 '26

“I guess that makes me Vice President now. I mean President!”

Vance inwardly panics as hundreds of journalists watch, and laugh endlessly. The whole room lights up in a roar, all pointing at him. His face flushes red immediately, and his childhood memories come rushing back.

JD feels a breeze across his skin that breaks his racing thoughts. He slowly brings his eyes down and realizes something mortifying.

He isn’t wearing pants.

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u/UncleBenParking Jul 08 '26

Just to add, there's no legal way for them to "fire" Vance for falling out of favor, unless they could convince the entire party to vote to impeach him and then convince about 15 dem senators to help vote to remove him (knowing that the replacement would be even more hardline and therefore against dems' political interest). They're stuck with each other until the end, unless they figure out some illegal workaround, which to be fair, would be par for the course lol

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u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia Jul 08 '26

Right, I forgot Spiro Agnew was just pressured to resign and not actually fired.

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u/Rexkat Jul 08 '26

Well... "pressured", ya. Resigning was part of his plea deal to avoid prison time. That's a bit more than your typical political pressure lol

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u/notashroom Jul 08 '26

They might try the JFK route, but if we assume that they would perform "respect for the constitution" by following the rules of succession, there's no advantage to getting rid of Vance until and unless they can get someone likeable in the Speaker's seat.

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u/limeybastard Jul 08 '26

Yeah but remember it'd be Vance's VP that took over, so Vance would be the one ultimately nominating, and both the House and Senate must approve by majority vote. So if it happens after midterms and Dems retake the House in a big wave, getting a more hard-line VP - and one who was a member of the anti-Vance faction - would be difficult.

If the VP position was vacant at the time it'd go to the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson currently, but potentially a Democrat after January. So that would guarantee that Republicans wouldn't even dream of having him removed, although Dems would cheerfully do it.

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u/UncleBenParking Jul 08 '26

The comment I replied to suggested that Trump could fire Vance, which is why I stepped in to note to our Aussie buddy that he cannot simply fire Vance. Your comment is discussing an entirely different point

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u/tomdarch Jul 08 '26

If Trump ordered Vance to be impeached and removed the Party of Trump (formerly “Republican”) would do it.

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u/UncleBenParking Jul 08 '26

You'd need 15-20 Dem Senators to go along with it (depending on how many outgoing Republicans refuse to kiss the ring anymore, Massie types) to actually remove Vance in this hypothetical, even though the replacement would be simple majority vote, meaning they'd have no leverage to avoid an even trumpier successor. It'd be funny seeing Dems vote not to remove Vance, but it'd be in their political interest not to remove a deeply unpopular VP who's being impeached by his own party for purely political reasons

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u/Vaperius America Jul 08 '26

ere's no legal way for them to "fire" Vance for falling out of favor

Oh there absolutely is, its not like the cabinet gets fired and its full of Trump loyalists, he could be 25th'd and then the Speaker would become president. If I understand the legal mechanics here.

Its always been possible the 25th could be used maliciously by a party to get rid of an unpopular president by circumventing the normal impeachment process; but it requires that every single cabinet member be on board; which is why Trump installed exclusively loyalist sycophants into his cabinet this go around, to remove even the remote chance it could have happened. Those sycophants likewise, likely have absolutely no love for JD Vance.

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u/cdglasser Jul 08 '26

It requires more than just every member of the cabinet to be on board. If Trump sends a written declaration that he is fit for duty, it takes a 2/3 majority in *both* chambers of Congress to prevent him from resuming his duties after 21 days (with some small caveats). It may actually be *harder* to remove a President via the 25th than it is to remove by impeachment.

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u/UncleBenParking Jul 08 '26

Well, no. Catch with your idea is that the 25th A) never once specifies that it can be used to remove a VP, only the President, and that B) even if it did specify that the VP could be 25th'd, the 25th specifically has a section for how the President can declare that they are of sound mind, at which point the VP and majority of the cabinet must send a written appeal to Congress insisting that no, the President should not be allowed to resume duties. Congress then needs a 2/3rds vote across both houses, not just one, that the 25th's use was valid and that the President is not fit to perform his duties.

In other words, it's a higher bar than even impeachment and removal...and the method you suggest does not legally exist, since the 25th only goes one way on the topic of fitness for office. That idea would go into the "illegal workaround" I mentioned at the end!

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u/captmonkey Tennessee Jul 08 '26

Yeah, no way they keep that under wraps for more than a couple of hours at most. Vance becomes President immediately the moment it happens. He doesn't even have to be sworn in or anything, that's just a ceremonial formality. The Secret Service and everyone else in the administration would immediately need to treat Vance as the President. There's no way they would be able to keep that quiet for long.

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u/Gairloch Jul 08 '26

Given what we know about Trump and his sycophants and it still gets ignored, I don’t think it matters if they can keep it a secret as long as they all lie about it and the conservative media repeats the lie.

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u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia Jul 08 '26

True, but what would actually be the point then? Beyond servicing Vance's desire to have two and a half terms at least, they wouldn't really have much motivation to actually do this conspiracy in the first place. It's not like they'll be able to cost on Trump's apparent charisma without him actually being there forever, and it would be pretty obvious that Trump is dead by the next election (and even if they go full dictator and cancel elections, pretending Trump is alive still doesn't really help with that).

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u/Zeikos Foreign Jul 08 '26

He'd want to wait at least until the second year of the term is over.
Not that Vance has an actual chance to get elected, but he'd try to run for president.

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u/ACardAttack Kentucky Jul 08 '26

Depends on how close it is to the date needed to where Vance could run for a third term

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u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia Jul 08 '26

See, they might try to keep it a secret if it was within a week of it or so. But that just gets to my second point, that they simply don't have the internal security to keep it a secret. This White House leaks like a man dying of dysentery.

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u/TheAlmightyMojo Jul 08 '26

Especially if Peter Thiel is waiting on Vance's promotion. He'd probably be asking too.

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u/DRF19 Jul 08 '26

And frankly, they don't have the internal security to keep a secret like that for more than a day from the public

One dipshit or another from the inner circle will want to be first to post on Twitter about it

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u/GB10VE Jul 08 '26

how long before he names charlie kirks wife as his vp

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u/tomdarch Jul 08 '26

Nah. Vance would immediately call Thiel and scream “YOU are president!”

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u/DavisSqShenanigans Jul 08 '26

Lol VP is not an appointed position, it's an elected one. Vance can't be "fired" in the same way the other Trump cronies can.

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u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia Jul 08 '26

Yeah, I've been notified of that.