Adam Bolton: As America retreats into old age, who might step in to replace the president if the worst happens? | US News

“He's not worth a bucket of warm urine.” The words of John Nance Garner are the most famous assessment of the office of Vice President of the United States.

“Cactus Jack” Garner’s words have often been rendered into “warm spit” but it cannot be denied that he was in a position to know this. He served as Vice President to Franklin Delano Roosevelt for nine years until Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Garner allegedly passed on his words of wisdom as an old man to Lyndon Baines Johnson when Lyndon Johnson was considering offering John F. Kennedy his running mate in 1960.

Johnson took office regardless, and three years later when JFK was assassinated, he lived through another cliché about the vice presidency. He was already “a heartbeat away” from becoming President of the United States (POTUS).

On the day he was shot, Kennedy telephoned Garner to wish him a happy 92nd birthday. Hours later, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president.

Many Vice Presidents of the United States have been extremely frustrated and vociferous while in office, but despite Garner's crude dismissal, the job is not worthless.

Of the 45 men who have served as President of the United States, a third, 15, had previously held the position of Vice President. Nine inherited the Oval Office when the incumbent died or resigned, including Johnson. The others, including Richard Nixon, George H.W Joe Biden, They were later elected president in their own right.

Beyond the shared duty of representing the leader at important funerals, occasional British deputy prime ministers should not be likened to US vice presidents. Deputy Prime Minister is a ceremonial title with no constitutional role.

None of the people who have officially held the position have reached number 10, although there has been a rapid turnover of prime ministers around them.

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Biden and Trump are set to be the biggest presidential candidates ever

Garner, who died just before his 99th birthday, happened to be the longest-living president or vice president of the United States until Jimmy Carter, who is scheduled to turn a century next October.

Compared to today's front-runners, Garner was a young man of 72 when he left public life. Carter was just 56 when he lost in 1980 to Ronald Reagan, who at 69 was then the oldest president ever elected.

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Biden and Biden are 77 years old, respectively Donald TrumpThe two people, who are now vying to lead the United States until January 2029, have broken records.

They are scheduled to be the oldest candidates ever to run in the presidential elections. As America descends into gerontocracy, there has become unusually high interest in who might step in to replace them, given the potential for the worst – or something close to debilitating – to happen.

Trump likes to play TV show-style games with choosing his running mate

Trump acknowledged this week on Fox News the importance of choosing a running mate who “would be a good president,” before joking with anchor Maria Bartiromo that he wouldn't make any announcements “for a little while.”

As a veteran star of The Apprentice, Trump likes to play TV show-style games of his choice.

In his first successful attempt to reach the White House, he did not make the choice Mike Pence Until July 15, 2016, before the November elections. To build excitement, he could wait, as other candidates have done, until the Republican convention in Milwaukee in mid-July.

One thing is certain: Trump will not choose Pence again, or anyone like him.

The right-wing Indiana governor and former talk show host was widely mocked as a faceless man when Trump put him on his ticket after some cozy chit-chat.

But it turns out Pence has some backbone. The insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!” They brought a fake gallows. “We will tell the truth, and we will obey the law,” Pence later testified. He failed to garner much support and withdrew his bid for the 2024 Republican nominee before the primary contests began in January.

Trump mentions two possibilities for the first time

Assuming that his various legal troubles would not prevent him from reaching the nomination threshold, Trump used his interview to name two potential names for the first time.

Crucially, both Senator Tim Scott and Governor Kristi Noem have already bowed to Trump. They don't buy his big lie, which is that the 2020 election was stolen from him, but both claim it wasn't free and fair.

To Trump's delight, Noem, from South Dakota, declined to run herself because “I could never beat him.” Scott had put his name forward, but was quick to endorse Trump after he withdrew, dampening the chances of Nikki Haley, Trump's only remaining rival, in next month's primary in their home state of South Carolina.

Trump appears interested in broadening his appeal

Of course, Trump may not end up choosing either, but he seems interested in broadening his appeal by considering running mates who are not white men like him. Other names that have been speculated include ethnic minority men such as Byron Donalds, a US congressman from Florida; former Trump Cabinet member and surgeon Ben Carson; and 2024 Republican challenger Vivek Ramaswamy.

The list of potential candidates includes Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders; Carrie Lake from Arizona and actress Elise Stefanik from New York.

Haley is still running for president and ruled herself out of the New Hampshire campaign last month, saying: “I don't want to be anyone's vice president. That's off the table.” Otherwise, she would be better qualified to be his deputy.

Trump may also return to writing with Ohio Sen. and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis high on the list of traditional options.

Biden is committed to retaining the first female vice president

The most prominent woman who is sure to appear in Trump's battle against Biden is… Kamala Harris. Biden is committed to keeping the first woman vice president and vice president of color on his ticket for reelection. She is actively campaigning on his behalf in South Carolina, encouraged by a US Supreme Court decision that struck down women's abortion rights.

Harris is unpopular with some Democratic insiders who have urged Biden to drop her. If Biden becomes available as a nominee, it is unlikely that she would be the first female candidate to run in his place.

UK farce of deputy prime ministers

The machinations in the United States are high politics compared to the farce of deputy prime ministers in the White Room.

Only seven people have achieved the title, most of them recently: Clement Attlee, Michael Heseltine, John Prescott, Nick Clegg, Dominic Raab, Therese Coffey and Oliver Dowden.

Labour's Attlee had been deputy prime minister in wartime, but Winston Churchill advised the king to appoint someone else in the event of his death. Subsequent prime ministers, most of them Conservatives, had an off-handed dealing with so-called “deputy prime ministers in all but name” such as Willie Whitelaw, Damian Green and David Lidington.

There was no doubt about it Gordon Brown He was Tony Blair The real MP, although Prescott held the title. There is still an important difference when Labor is in power. The party's deputy leader is now directly elected. The precedent is that they will be appointed deputy prime minister. Angela Rayner may be about to discover that being Deputy Prime Minister is worth more than an ice-cold bucket of her favorite “poison” cocktail.