A TV Show Goes to Washington

According to a report in The New York Times, Donald Trump plans to abdicate his role as president just as soon as he redecorates the Oval Office to pimp it out.

Trump envisions a new presidency, one in which the duties typically performed by a president are delegated to his vice president. This includes formulating policy, domestic and foreign. While Mike Pence assumes the responsibilities of governing, Trump will focus on "making America great again" whatever that means.

It sounds eerily like Trump's TV show. He figures out what he wants to make America great again and leaves everything else, including the day to day running of the country, to Pence. Perhaps Mike Pence will just be the first in a lengthy line of Trump vice presidents, each dreading the morning they'll be called into Trump's office to be told, "you're fired."

Only a president can't simply fire a vice president. It turns out the veep can only be ditched with a vote in the House and a 2/3rds vote in the Senate. That said, however, a character like Trump might be able to force a veep to "voluntarily" resign. In that event the 25th Amendment comes into play. The Pres gets to pick a new veep but the nomination has to be approved by a simple majority in both the House and the Senate. If ever there was a political football, that's it. It could get messy.

There has been no shortage of pundits in recent months who speculated that Trump didn't want the job. Seems they were half right. He doesn't want the job. It's the office he wants, not the job that goes with it. Oh dear.