Charlie StrossMar 15

Mad idea: given that the US Supreme Court ruled that the President essentially has immunity from criminal prosecutions for acts during his term in office, could J. D. Vance plausibly shoot Donald Trump dead, thereby becoming President, and claim immunity?

(I know this is very silly and Won't Happen for several reasons, but is there a legal fig-leaf he could hide behind here?)

Show threadAngus McIntyreMar 15

@cstross As others have pointed out, killing the incumbent while VP would not be an ‘official act as president’, ergo immunity would not apply.

Vance could bludgeon Trump unconscious, assume office based on Trump's incapacity, and THEN kill him, reducing his potential culpability to assault rather than murder.

If the US were Nepal, it might be more clearcut. As the events of 1 June 2001 established, regicide is no barrier to assuming the kingship (although a self-administered 9mm bullet is).

Show threadGraydonMar 15

@angusm The trick would be to get sworn in and then turn off the life support machine irrespective of medical advice.

Arranging matters so that it will certainly end in a life support machine rather than an immediate corpse would take a conspiracy which is not especially plausible.

@cstross

Show threadCharlie StrossMar 15
@graydon @angusm A syringe full of insulin will do the trick.
Show threadAngus McIntyre
@cstross @graydon Novichok in the bronzer has less deniability but more style.
Mar 15 at 2:53pmIvory for iOS
Show threadCharlie StrossMar 15
@angusm @graydon The message it sends is distinctly "so, agent Krasnov, you have disappointed me for the final time." (Steeples fingers, leans back to watch flailing body fall into the underfloor Kremlin piranha tank.)
Show threadAngus McIntyreMar 15

@cstross

“’tis a consummation/devoutly to be wished.”

Show threadGraydonMar 15

@angusm @cstross There's been a bunch of "displeased Chinese muttering about lack of planning for Trump's state visit" going on.

We know, and the CPC knows, that this is incompetence; the flailing mass can't plan.

If they could plan, in the same way the utterly predictable blocking of Hormuz could be a dark-lord-of-the-Sith deniable attack on China's economy, sending Trump to China to die would be a great unifying move for the base. People will write their own narrative no matter what you did.