Still don’t believe it and still want something better as a cite.
Of course, there’s the legal realist perspective, which says that if things get hairy enough, whoever steps into command and can get the majority of the remainder of the government behind them is effectively in charge, at least until the system is organized enough to formally reconstitute itself.
It’s what you might call difficulty snap-back: Things can only get more difficult for so long. If things get too difficult to resolve, some other method is found which side-steps the impossible difficulties and resolves the situation in a fashion humans can cope with.
That’s exactly what I was going to point out: In any real crisis where the majority of the cabinet ws all killed at once, the person in power would be whoever stepped up first and said “I’m in power”, in a believable way.
Just ask Alexander Haig.
I’m voting for the highest ranking military officer … maybe not as President … but the person leading the retaliation against them filthy [insert enemy’s name here] … we do have General Elections every two years … I think a military government would be fine in this case for such a short period of time …
ETA: Alexander Haig … haw haw haw … I had him pinned as Deep Throat for the longest time …
Gotta also blow up 50 states’ lines of succession completely to handle this scenario…
Under the OP’s scenario, wouldn’t Al Haig be in charge?
I just read that Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security chief, was the designated survivor and spent the inauguration in an undisclosed location in case something happens.
So I guess they actually do think ahead.