After Joe Biden claimed President Donald Trump could use the Covid-19 pandemic to postpone the 2020 election, CNN alleged Nancy Pelosi could become POTUS for months in such a scenario – but faceplanted when confronted with facts.
“If the election were postponed, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence would no longer have their jobs,” CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza wrote on Friday, in a piece humoring Biden’s warning this week that the president could delay the November presidential election.
“Because of the line of succession,” Cillizza continued, “Pelosi, as likely Speaker of the House in 2021, would almost certainly be president for a few months.”
If the election were postponed, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence would no longer have their jobs.And because of the line of succession, Pelosi, as likely Speaker of the House in 2021, would almost certainly be president for a few months.https://t.co/mUe3yYmYh1
Though he acknowledges that, under the Constitution, Trump has no authority to delay or postpone the presidential election –even under martial law– Cillizza still humored the scenario and presented a case where, without an election, Pelosi would likely become president, at least for a few months.
Under current law –which can only be changed by Congress– the president and vice president have a date on which they must leave their respective offices (January 20). The next in the line of succession would technically be the Speaker of the House, Pelosi, but there’s one problem – her term expires on January 3.
The next in line after Pelosi for the presidency would be the longest-serving member in the majority party in the Senate, which would be Chuck Grassley (Iowa) if Republicans remain in control or Patrick Leahy (Vermont) if Democrats retake the Senate.
Ridiculed for their report and schooled with these facts, CNN rushed to “update” its story – though it still states Pelosi would “almost certainly be president for a few months” if Trump and Pence were forced out of office due to the cancellation of the election.
Here’s an article on something that would absolutely never happen https://t.co/SVky8Qsc6B
Do you have editors?
“But if the election were postponed (which won’t happen), then presumably Pelosi would not be re-elected either. Nor would any member of the House,” tweeted election law and voting rights professor Josh Douglas, tearing apart the entire thesis of the CNN piece.
But if the election were postponed (which won’t happen), the presumably Pelosi would not be re-elected either. Nor would any member of the HouseThat means that the President President Pro Temp of the Senate would be Acting President.
Cillizza replied Douglas made a “good point.”
Good man and good point! Updated the piece!
The about-face didn’t impress too many on social media:
“I updated the piece! Which undercuts the entire thesis of my piece. I journalismed!” reporter Stephen Miller joked about Cillizza.
Its probably unreasonable to expect people to think their own silly hypotheticals through before actually publishing them in national media outlets.
I particularly love the “good man and good point” congratulations for simply knowing how the US government works as well as a school kid.
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