# The Next POTUS **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 7, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001 "2020-11-07T19:28:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/1 "2020-11-07T19:28:23Z")
Mike Pence. Take it to the bank. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/2 "2020-11-07T19:41:00Z")
Sure…Mike really inspires the masses. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/3 "2020-11-07T20:01:32Z")
If Trump can’t pardon himself, Mikey will. > **[Opinion | No, Trump can’t pardon himself. The Constitution tells us so.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/no-trump-cant-pardon-himself-the-constitution-tells-us-so/2017/07/21/f3445d74-6e49-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html)** > > And so does hundreds of years of legal tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/4 "2020-11-07T20:03:56Z")
Isn’t Joe Biden the next POTUS? ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/5 "2020-11-07T20:07:42Z")
I find it inconceivable that Trump would quit early, allowing Pence to take office to pardon him. One, because Trump will go to his last day in office claiming that he won and he’s the rightful president. Resigning runs counter to that. But more importantly, I can’t see Trump trusting Pence to follow through with a pardon. He’ll assume that Pence would just acknowledge Trump’s resignation then tell him to get the fuck out of his office. Because it’s precisely what Trump would do if the situation were reversed. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/6 "2020-11-07T20:14:14Z")
> [@NetTrekker](#): > > If Trump can’t pardon himself, Mikey will. Oh I see. I think it’s possible in a ‘take my ball and go home’ tantrum but unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/7 "2020-11-07T20:15:26Z")
Accepting a pardon is admitting to being guilty of something, which he is incapable of doing. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/8 "2020-11-07T20:17:55Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Accepting a pardon is admitting to being guilty of something, which he is incapable of doing. - I’m only accepting the pardon so I won’t be UNFAIRLY and ILLEGALLY PROSECUTED for doing my job!!!" ---
**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 7, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/9 "2020-11-07T20:32:47Z")
> [@NetTrekker](#): > > Mike Pence. Take it to the bank The Left Bank Of The Mississippi? ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/10 "2020-11-07T20:42:12Z")
Exactly right and his rubes will buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/11 "2020-11-07T20:53:02Z")
Too many states would go after him with charges, it wouldn’t protect him anyways. No point in doing it. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/12 "2020-11-07T22:25:58Z")
Thanks for the reply. I think Pence will agree to pardon Trump just to become President for a few weeks or days. Although it wouldn’t immunize him from state prosecution, Trump would use it for PR value and sympathy points with his base. Plus it would spare him the humiliation of handing control directly to the “doddering, senile, weak candidate” that beat him on January 20. And it’s not like he has any regard for decorum, tradition, or respect for the office. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/13 "2020-11-08T02:04:54Z")
> [@NetTrekker](#): > > Plus it would spare him the humiliation of handing control directly to the “doddering, senile, weak candidate” that beat him on January 20. To be replaced by the humiliation of resigning before the end of his term in order to get a pardon. Which one seems worse to you? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2020, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-potus/925001/14 "2020-11-08T06:04:04Z")
I think that won’t happen. As other posters have mentioned, Tan the Conman (TCM) does not trust anyone because he lies like a rug himself. There’s no way he’ll agree to exit the Whie House and then leave his fate in the hands of Pence. For one thing, even if they made a deal in private, TCM is incapable of not blabbing it to all and sundry. The next issue is that he’d insult the man while at the same time begging him to issue the pardon. Another option, of course, is for the cabinet to remove TCM via Article 25 of the constitution. That’s really, AFAICT, the reason behind his loyalty oaths early on. To protect himself from that happening now, he’d fire all the cabinet officers he can and replace them with “acting secretaries” and he’d publicly have them admit they would not activate the A25 option. And this returns us to why he would not leave his fate in Pence’s hands: he cannot fire the VP.