Well, it’s finally happening. Tons of security. No crowds. No balls. But a lot of ceremonies, nonetheless.
I’m looking forward to Lady Gaga singing the national anthem.
Most of the living past presidents are planning to attend.
I do hope that Nancy Pelosi will be hiding in an undisclosed location. But it sounds like a lot of Congress will be there.
By my count there’s only 4 (not counting Trump who won’t be a past President until the ceremony is well underway). Which one isn’t attending?
(Guessing Carter, due to his age?)
I would be shocked if this were not the case. Might as well hide Grassley in another undisclosed location while you’re at it with basically no one knowing where they BOTH are (they can know one or the other but not both). Who knows what the crazies might be planning.
I think Grassley voted against the objections in all cases (he certainly did in Arizona) so I assume he’s also an enemy to Trumpkins at this point, even though he’s a Republican (and 3rd in the order of succession after Pence and Pelosi… for a few more hours anyway).
Dumb question on succession rules.
Do cabinet members keep their posts until they are replaced?
Like who is Secretary of State at 12:01 PM? Biden’s pick, Blinken, won’t have been confirmed yet. Does Pompeo keep his job until he is replaced or is he no longer SOS at the stroke of noon and we just don’t have one?
If the latter, that’s an awfully short succession list on Inauguration Day… a list which many have pointed out is already pretty dang short even in normal times.
(Issue being that a nuke to DC could easily take out every last person on it. And if that actually happened it would be a horrible time to also be dealing with a succession crisis.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2021/politics/biden-cabinet-timeline/
According to how I read that article, the positions are vacated until the new members are confirmed.
Interesting. This seems like a massive vulnerability.
So at 12:01 PM our succession list will have precisely 3 names on it. And one (Grassley) will be quite controversial in that he will presumably be voted out of that spot very quickly (same day perhaps?)
I really think we need an amendment to lengthen the succession list. There seems to be a principle that every state has a say in everyone on the list (so NOT Governors, or party leaders).
So why not add on the Chief Justice, followed by the Associate Justices in order of their confirmation, followed by federal judges with some sort of method for ordering them.
The addition of federal judges outside of DC ensures that a single nuke won’t take out the entire list. And putting someone on there after the cabinet members means that there are people that will be in those positions at 12:01 PM on Inauguration Day.
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Well I hope Lucy and I are correct and both Pelosi and Grassley are being kept VERY safe today and until a few cabinet picks are confirmed. Assuming Grassley will be voted out in short order, but then Leahy once they vote on him (assuming he’s the next President pro Tempore).
Less critical once they confirm a few cabinet picks. But if ever there was a time when some crazy plot would hatch… it’s now.
Pelosi just went to a church service with the Bidens. I would be surprised if she doesn’t attend the inauguration.
They are both Roman Catholic, so I suppose that makes sense. But that’s cutting it close. Trump’s term (and apparently that of the entire cabinet) ends at noon regardless of whether Biden is sworn in or not. So we are already in something of a danger zone with respect to the line of succession. Hopefully there was a crap ton of security.
Nope; but I believe that they could be appointed as an interim to help provide continuity if installing a successor isn’t likely to happen.
But given that cabinet positions are still predominately political and serve primarily in an advisory capacity, is there a need to actually have the position filled?
And I believe the “succession” list is longer than what is provided by the Constitution. That succession list, IIRC, is also dependent upon the reason for the need of a longer succession. If it is due to acts of war, it makes sense to have succession follow along the military lines (I acknowledge that this requires a huge amount of trust in our military leaders). If it is due to a pandemic, a more civilian route of succession makes more sense.
I’ll see if I can find some references to this on the webz. The above are things I think I’m recalling from my government class in high school. Or it might’ve been a civics class in my undergrad years.
Yes, in the event of a succession crisis. Such as (God forbid) today’s inauguration is bombed and Biden, Harris and Pelosi and Grassley are all killed. 4 people is not a lot of targets for a well-organized movement.
The bigger problem with the succession list is that there are only 18 names on it total, and all 18 reside in Washington DC and could easily all be killed or incapacitated by a nuclear bomb strike on DC. There need to be hundreds of people on the list, including many who do not live in DC. If DC were nuked, the very last thing we need is to not have clear guidance on who is actually in charge. This would be the most major national crisis the country had ever faced, and we’d need to quickly mobilize SOMEONE to be at a minimum our Acting President.
Usually the Senate starts confirming the new cabinet before the inauguration. E.g., both Obama and Trump’s DHS picks were confirmed prior to the inauguration, and secretaries of defense and state are often pre-confirmed
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If the republicans kept the majority, who knows if they would have ever been confirmed at all
Go Amy! Wish it was you they were swearing in.
I’m having a good time imagining what FOX will find to complain about.
They will surely complain about This Land Is Your Land.
Oh and for sure J.Lo speaking Spanish.
ROFL. J Lo spanish and Lady Gaga’s dress are certain to cause a fuss.