Off the Editor’s Desk 12-13-2023

It could happen, OMG!

The other day I was thinking (and it hurt) that if the current Republican leadership in the house starts an impeachment investigation against President Joe Biden and they impeach him and the senate goes along with it, what would happen?

First, there is no way that the Democratic senate will vote to impeach the president, so maybe I should find another item to write about.

But, if they did and Vice President Kamala Harris is elevated to be president, she could possibly serve as president for more than two terms. I certainly cannot see her as the leader of this country or of the free world. She was appointed by Biden to be the border Czar, but she never even went to take a look at the southern border, let alone seek any action to stop the millions of people that have crossed illegally.

Some history about our vice presidents that became president, according to Wikipedia, “The vice president is the first person in the presidential line of succession, that is, they assume the presidency if the president dies, resigns, or is impeached and removed from office. Nine vice presidents have ascended to the presidency in this way: eight (John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson) through the president’s death and one (Gerald Ford) through resignation.”

The last person and only person to serve more than two terms was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Who was elected four times and died in office on April 12, 1945. The Constitution was amended in 1951, putting a term limit of two terms for any person serving as president. They should have placed term limits on people serving in Congress.

Harry S. Truman became president with Roosevelt’s death and finished his term and was elected to a term of his own.

The next VP to become president was Lyndon B. Johnson who took the oath of office on November 22, 1963 after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on that Friday. Johnson finished Kennedy’s term and was elected to a full term of his own. He could have sought another term, but as the war in Vietnam continued on and there were many protests against America’s involvement, Johnson, in a nationwide TV speech said he would not run for another term and would not accept the nomination of his party if they offered it.

The next president was Richard Nixon who is the only president to resign. He was involved in the Watergate scandal and resigned before he would have been impeached. His vice president at the time was Gerald Ford, who was appointed as vice president after the elected vice president; Spiro Agnew had resigned over a tax dispute.

Gerald Ford (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.) was the only person to serve as president who had not won an election to become vice president or president, but that’s another story.

So, I would tell the Republicans in the House that they are wasting their time seeking to impeach Biden. But then, maybe an impeachment inquiry would give all of us some information about the president’s finances with foreign countries, if there were any.

Thanks for reading!     ~Carlton