Reply #14: Say someone sets off a small "device" in Washington?

[bemildred]

The question is then: "Who among the still warm and breathing members of the federal government assumes executive power?" What is the line of legitimate succession? That is what this is about.

Of course, the question is why is someone worrying about twiddling the order of succession now? It does suggest a distrust of the professional military, and one might at least entertain the idea that that distrust is warranted, since the professional military establishment has been ruthlessly exploited by the present administration, and the military leadership provided by the present administration has been sadly lacking in skill. In the old Roman days we would have had a new Emperor by now. If that is so, that also implies some disaffection between the professional military and the political class. This is not hard to understand given the debacle in Iraq, military establishments have a long history of taking peremptory action against truly incompetent leadership, and that is surely what we have now. So whether the fears of the Bushites are warranted, I submit they are well founded in history and the situation.