‘Donald Trump is losing his marbles,’ former Congressman and Republican Adam Kinzinger said
‘Donald Trump is losing his marbles,’ former Congressman and Republican Adam Kinzinger said
Republicans are concerned that party leader Donald Trump is having a “public nervous breakdown” after he made a series of offensive outbursts about Vice President Kamala Harris as he slips behind her in the polls.
The former president has made a number of insulting personal attacks against his Democratic rival since she moved to the top of the ticket. Last week, Trump questioned Harris’s racial identity at the National Association of Black Journalists conference. Over the weekend, he accused Harris of having a “low IQ.”
New polls indicate Trump is slipping behind the vice president in the popular vote and races are tightening in battleground states.
“This is what you would call a public nervous breakdown,” Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump state department appointee, told Politico.
Is being alive a qualification to be elected? I have no doubt Trump's people will try to pull an Air Bud "there's no rule that says a dog can't play basketball" move.
Once the individual state filing deadlines have passed, it's likely that Trump/Vance would have to remain on the ballot. But this is one instance where the Electoral College helps, because the election is not for the candidates themselves, it is for electors who support the ticket. And the final certification of electors is up to each State Legislature.
So, if God exercises His Ultimate Veto on Trump's Presidency, it will be commonly understood that Vance would take over the ticket. He will pick a new VP, and any former Trump/Vance electors would likely cast electoral votes for Vance/Chesterfield instead. While it is possible that State Democrats might challenge this, it's also absurd to force electors to vote for someone who can no longer take office, so it's likely that States would give their blessing to the substitution. Particularly if Harris is the overall winner regardless, and the Republican EC votes are simply for the historical record, and have no effect on the outcome.
Based on what I've seen Republicans claiming online, prompted by recent changes in the Democratic ticket, such a change would be very dangerous to our democracy and therefore we should go forward with Trump being President despite the minor setback of being dead.