# Presidential hypothetical **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 20, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509 "2024-11-20T14:57:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/1 "2024-11-20T14:57:26Z")
You are now the president. Not the current one or the next one. It’s you and somehow everyone wrote you in on the ballot. The inauguration is over and you are now in power. We will just assume as president you will do all great things. This is not about that. You now have access to all the secrets of the United States Government and the secrets of other countries that the U.S. has been able to find out. What is the first thing you ask about? It’s aliens right? It’s got to be aliens. Or is it the JFK assassination? Or do you think there is nothing that big that is being kept from us? Inspired by the current UFO thread in FQ. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/2 "2024-11-20T15:04:07Z")
IIRC Jimmy Carter wanted full disclosure on aliens after he became president. Supposedly (and again, IIRC), he was given information and never released any of it. Interestingly, Carter claimed to have seen a UFO in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/3 "2024-11-20T15:04:58Z")
I would ask “What are the greatest and most likely threats to the US population, whether biological, nuclear, or whatever, where would they come from, and what are we doing to ensure the public is safe and secure from those threats for at least the immediate future?” For example, if there is even a remote possibility that North Korea or Iran has or is currently developing a nuclear or biological weapon, I’d want to know about it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/4 "2024-11-20T16:40:28Z")
I would ask first ‘What are the three things that are not public knowledge that you think it’s most urgent for me to know?’ And I would listen to those, paying close attention. And then I would say, ‘Now tell me three things that you didn’t think were important enough to tell me about.’ ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/5 "2024-11-20T16:45:34Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > What are the greatest and most likely threats to the US population, whether biological, nuclear, or whatever, where would they come from, and what are we doing to ensure the public is safe and secure from those threats for at least the immediate future? The President-elect is included in national security briefings for quite some time before inauguration - I’d think this would all be included in that. I’d go with aliens as well. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/6 "2024-11-20T16:51:08Z")
I’d say, “All right now, tell me the juiciest military tech we’ve been inventing. All the Area 51 stuff.” ---
**Author:** ![RollOutTheBarrel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rolloutthebarrel/32/1649_2.png) [@RollOutTheBarrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RollOutTheBarrel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/7 "2024-11-20T16:56:44Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It’s aliens right? Yeah, it’s aliens. I often joke that the reason I joined the Air Force was because I hoped I would learn the truth about aliens. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/8 "2024-11-20T17:01:51Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I would ask first ‘What are the three things that are not public knowledge that you think it’s most urgent for me to know?’ > > And I would listen to those, paying close attention. > > And then I would say, ‘Now tell me three things that you didn’t think were important enough to tell me about.’ Sure, but who are you asking? Is there a presidential keeper of secrets? You have to get past the layers of political appointees to find someone who knows what is what. Even then there is no way of knowing if they have the need to know what you would want to know. The president as the ultimate approving authority on classification can be read in on anything but you would have to know what to ask about. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/9 "2024-11-20T17:05:57Z")
Definitely this. BTW, is your political party the majority in The House and/or The Senate? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/10 "2024-11-20T17:16:22Z")
If there are high level “secret keepers”, there has to have been more than one. There are no real secrets. That stuff never stays secret. Loose lips, and all. I’d ask who cuts my paycheck and who covers the grocery bill. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/11 "2024-11-20T17:22:11Z")
What have we got, weapon-wise, and where have we got it? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/12 "2024-11-20T17:30:02Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > And then I would say, ‘Now tell me three things that you didn’t think were important enough to tell me about.’ That’s a good follow-up, but I also want to know, regarding the first three, what the best case is that the U.S. intelligence consensus is mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/13 "2024-11-20T17:30:05Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I’d ask who cuts my paycheck and who covers the grocery bill. These aren’t secrets. The president gets paid like any other federal employee. The president has to pay for their own groceries. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/14 "2024-11-20T21:01:16Z")
I just don’t believe that any conspiracy theory known to more than one person can ever be kept secret. Sure, tell me about aliens, but I already know that’s a bunch of bull. And the CIA assassinated JFK? It would have come out long since. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/15 "2024-11-20T21:23:57Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I would ask “What are the greatest and most likely threats to the US population, whether biological, nuclear, or whatever, where would they come from, and what are we doing to ensure the public is safe and secure from those threats for at least the immediate future?” Good answer, good answer! I know there are no alien UFOs. That Oswald was the sole assassin (did he have support, maybe?) > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I just don’t believe that any conspiracy theory known to more than one person can ever be kept secret. “Two can keep a secret, if one is dead” (Mark Twain, but maybe not the first) Sure, maybe more than two. But look at the Moon landing- who would have to be “in” on it?- Most of NASA, operators in places like Australia, and yes, the USSR. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/16 "2024-11-22T00:03:58Z")
I wouldn’t bother to ask about aliens, because even if anyone on Earth did know anything about aliens, it’d be highly unlikely that it’d be anyone within the government’s classification system. Most likely, it’d be scientists of some sort or another, and we’re absolutely lousy at keeping secrets. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-hypothetical/1010509/17 "2024-11-22T00:06:39Z")
Carter’s “UFO” turned out to be a missile test at a base a state or two away. It happened in 1969.