morpeth

Good question, I haven't thought about it sufficiently.to have an opinion either way. in particular since there appears such a wide variety of opinions on different aspects of the corona situation.

andyrebell

What would happen if Trump "rejects the result" and attempts to remain in office as has been mention in a recent fox interview. Would it be a case of the army storming the white house. Secret service pointing guns at one another like a hollywood movie?

zzrmark

January 20th, 2021, noon. Whoever was elected takes up the reigns as executive branch. If that wasn't Trump elected and hasn't got his fat arse out of the White House then he'll likely be bounced into the brig for trespassing...

EDIT: Secret service work for the current president, not the outgoing president.

Edit to the Edit: I believe this exact topic has been covered on more than one occasion on this very thread.

civilservant

This. And I for one, endorse the idea of his purp walk out of the WH to the local Federal Pokey in handcuffs being shown on the news.

Former Lancastrian

Gerard Butler will sort out Trump if he refuses to leave the White House.

Olly_

Everything in Trump world is coming in 'two weeks' - I doubt anything will happen.

TexanScot

Not that I want to split hairs, but I don't think it's quite correct to say that they work "for" the President.

The President is certainly the most prominent protectee that the Secret Service have, but as as Federal LEO would it not be more correct to say that they work "for" Congress, especially given their dual (and original) mandate to protect the integrity of the financial system?

andyrebell

Can Mike Banning stop him before he launches America's nukes against China and Iran and North Korea!

And I am actually not even joking. I can imagine him being if I am not president no one is and launching the nukes from peoc room I really can. With the nuclear football he has the launch codes.

andyrebell

Would the secret service resist the removal/arrest of Trump from the white house though? Given that until Biden takes the oath Trump is still the president?

civilservant

Since his launch codes expire when his Presidency does, and we are talking about what happens on inauguration day for President Biden, I don't think we have to worry about that.

He literally turns into a pumpkin at noon.

He has no authority to issue any orders to the military when his term has expired. An Officer that took that order would be count martialed.

andyrebell

So Trump cannot launch from the peoc room like in the movies? There is no computer terminal to do that? In the movies you see the president with his suitcase and his handprint on the computer.

civilservant

The President can launch a nuclear strike from anywhere. That is the purpose of the football.

My point was that he can't do anything after he is President, even if he remains in the WH.

andyrebell

He won't grab the desk at the oval and say no I am not leaving trying to drag his feet. But he would probably will do if he does anything is a court challenge like in 2000. So what if that court battle goes to beyond Jan 21st? An interesting question for legal discussion.

SpoogleDrummer

He can't physically do it himself, he gives an order and some other saps have to activate the the launch, I think Andy is thinking he has a button that he can just press with no-one else being involved.

civilservant

Indeed. Yes if I implied that he himself pushes the 'big red button' then that was not my intent.

He also cannot order a strike alone, I believe the '2 man rule' is still in effect in the US.

EDIT: It is still in effect, but is only for the purpose of validating that the order came from POTUS or his successor, and not from an imposter. The second man (usually SecDef) has no authority to override, countermand, or even object to, the launch.