# Trump's designated survivor **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034 "2017-02-28T15:02:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/1 "2017-02-28T15:02:56Z")
So the tradition is that during the president’s State of the Union address to Congress, he selects one member of his cabinet to sit safely and securely in a bunker or Starbucks or something. It’s been done since 1981. Here are some of the past winners (losers?): 1984: Sec HUD Samuel Pierce 1990: Sec Vet Affairs Edward Derwinski 1996: Sec Health & Human Services Donna Shalala 2007: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales 2012: Sec Agriculture Tom Vilsack Now, here are the (likely) choices for tonight’s designated survivor, the fully confirmed cast of characters: Sec State Rex Tillerson Sec Treasury Steven Mnuchin Sec Defense James “Bulldog” Mattis Attorney General Jeff Sessions Sec Commerce Wilbur Ross Sec Health & Human Services Tom Price Sec Transportation Elaine Chao Sec Education Betsy DeVos Sec Veterans Affairs David Shulkin Sec Homeland Security John F. Kelly 1. Which of these would YOU like to see as the leader of the free world should the unthinkable happen at our nation’s capitol tonight? 2. Which of these do YOU think would be the absolute WORST person to slip in as POTUS? ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/2 "2017-02-28T15:07:19Z")
1. If it all goes tits up, then I want someone with the nickname “Bulldog” there. 2. It really doesn’t matter the circumstance, if the question is "who is the worst…, then the answer is DeVos. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/3 "2017-02-28T15:11:26Z")
I think we need a president named Wilbur. Alternatively, Chao, just because it’ll annoy my wife even more than she is now that someone else became the first female US president. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/4 "2017-02-28T15:16:05Z")
Chao is ineligible because she wasn’t born in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/5 "2017-02-28T15:18:15Z")
1 Sec Defense James “Bulldog” Mattis 2 Sec Education Betsy DeVos ---
**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:** [February 28, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/6 "2017-02-28T15:18:58Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Chao is ineligible because she wasn’t born in the USA. Her husband is The Rulebender. The rest of the GOP isn’t much better. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/7 "2017-02-28T15:21:43Z")
Can we just all agree it should Keifer Southerland. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/8 "2017-02-28T15:38:11Z")
Kelly, Mattis, or Shulkin seem to me to be the only non-disastrous choices. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/9 "2017-02-28T15:43:25Z")
I wanted to have Rick Perry as an option! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/10 "2017-02-28T15:45:46Z")
My thought is that, under normal circumstances (ones where a terrorist didn’t just level the US Capitol), I’d take Shulkin. But I agree with leftfield, when the bombs start flying, President Bulldog is my man. And DeVos shouldn’t be allowed to run a PTA, let alone the federal government. She gets my vote for absolute worst choice. I suspect Trump will choose Tillerson or Mattis. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/11 "2017-02-28T15:48:45Z")
1. Mattis or Shulkin (the latter hasn’t attracted much attention, but he seems to be an entirely normal and sensible person, and he has more government experience than Mattis). 2. Sessions. I was tempted to pick Betsy DeVos like everyone else, but Sessions would actually be _competent_ at implementing his far-right agenda. (I know this is slightly inconsistent with the fact that I’d take Pence over Trump, but DeVos seems to be aware of her non-expertise in ways that Trump is not, and would probably appoint a more or less mainstream VP and Cabinet and take advice from them.) ---
**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:** [February 28, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/12 "2017-02-28T15:49:27Z")
Alec Baldwin ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/13 "2017-02-28T22:34:25Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Can we just all agree it should Keifer Southerland. Also not born in the US. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/14 "2017-02-28T23:03:54Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Can we just all agree it should Keifer Southerland. So, Sean Spicer, then? I mean, he’s the Jack Bauer of the Trump Administration; he’s demanding, frequently angry about insignificant things, and most of what he says doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Spicer even looks a bit like a bloated Kiefer Sutherland. Sure, the White House Press Secretary and Communications Director is not in the line of succession, but that’s just a minor Constitutional flicker in the midst of a giant conflagration of violation of norms, laws, and conflicts of interest. Stranger ---
**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:** [February 28, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/15 "2017-02-28T23:17:52Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Chao is ineligible because she wasn’t born in the USA. She’s ineligible because she is a naturalized citizen, rather than natural born. Where she was born is not directly relevant since many natural born US citizens were born outside the US. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/16 "2017-02-28T23:21:32Z")
First, it’s Mad Dog Mattis. Despite the nickname, Mattis deserves some credit for convincing Trump tat torture is unproductive as well as immoral (“I can get more information with a cigarette”). ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/17 "2017-02-28T23:28:27Z")
Well, heck if we are going to get all pedantic and all, it’s actually not even really a “State of the Union” address. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/18 "2017-02-28T23:47:23Z")
Melissa McCarthy. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/19 "2017-03-01T01:38:31Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > First, it’s Mad Dog Mattis. > > Despite the nickname, Mattis deserves some credit for convincing Trump tat torture is unproductive as well as immoral (“I can get more information with a cigarette”). I was wondering if I had missed something with the bulldog thing. Anyway, Mad Dog would be my pick since it sounds like he would be the guy who would know what to do if there was some kind of big terror attack or something. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034/20 "2017-03-01T02:00:06Z")
who had money on Shulkin? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-designated-survivor/781034.md?page=2)