So, if the president dies, the procedure is that the vice president would then become president for the remainder of the term.

But what would happen if some extremist group somehow kidnapped the president (any sitting president, so this isn’t targeted towards trump specifically, although I guess for the next 4 years it would be).

Like, lets say every Monday at noon, this extremist group did a live stream somehow, showing that the president is still alive, still coherent, but ballgagged so they can’t just blurt out where they are.

And lets say that nobody is able to figure out where they’re broadcasting from. For years.

Would that president remain president? Or would they treat them as dead, even though they’re shown to be alive, and vice president becomes president for the remainder of the term?

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    The same thing as if he were sick or otherwise “incapacitated.” Being locked up by kidnappers incapacitates you. The VP would step up. However impractical terms the VP would absolutely downplay this, always trying to give the impression that the president will be rescued any minute now and everything will go back to normal.

  • Deconceptualist@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    It’s the same situation as if the president became ill or incapacitated in some way.

    This has already happened 3 4 times; once for Reagan, twice for GW Bush, and once for Biden (see comment below). In these cases it was quite brief.

    • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Since that is a slightly older article, it also happened under Joe Biden.

      It also should have happened under Trump’s first term, but he’s a whiny bitch so it didn’t.

      For fun the most common cause of “incapacitated” in these cases is for a colonoscopy.

      It’s also worth clarifying that the 25th Amendment in these cases isn’t automatic. The President essentially drafts a letter and then power is returned to them after.

      However in the case of the President being kidnapped, the Cabinet & Vice President could also declare incapacity and the VP would take over.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    put him in a gimp suit and cuff him to a lamp pole outside a Log Cabin Republican meeting. Just to see what happens.

    Seriously, though, I suspect our would-be-kidnappers would be dead before they ever reached the prez. but the VP becomes the acting president whenever the president is incapacitated or otherwise unable to fulfill his duties, so it really doesn’t matter. The VP steps up, and takes over until the president comes back. this includes for things like surgeries and such, too.

  • wiccan2@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I believe that if the president is incapacitated in any way the Vice President becomes Acting President. I guess they could stay in that role until the end of the term but if expect they’d use their new power in some fashion to make it more permanent.

  • SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    You get a sick Metal Gear game

    They would have an “acting” president to make decisions but if the hostage pres was freed they would be put back in charge

    And welcome to the watchlist btw

  • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    If it happens now, you would see many people out on the streets celebrating.

    If it happened at another president’s time, I don’t know.

    • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 day ago

      you would see many people out on the streets celebrating.

      They wouldn’t be celebrating when JD Vance blames Democrats (without any evidence) and invokes the Insurrection Act and declares martial law, declaring Democrats to be enemies of the state, with far-right militias start murdering democrats.

  • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    We don’t negotiate with terrorists/kidnappers. VP stays. VP motivated to organize this, maybe.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldOP
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      24 hours ago

      I had no idea Andre the Giant played the violin! Wow! Princess Brides actor, pro-wrestler, astronaut, man who drank 96 beers a night. Slept with 20 women a night, and now violin player! What an interesting guy.