• BodilessGaze@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Harris will be able to serve two terms. The 22nd amendment says:

    No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once

    The second clause applies to vice presidents taking over, but since there’s less than two years left in Biden’s term, it won’t come into effect.

      • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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        3 months ago

        … no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected…

        So having previously served two years exactly is allowed.

        • bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          3 months ago

          If we’re being pedantic, Harris already served as acting president for 1h25m on November 19, 2021 while Biden underwent a colonoscopy. If hypothetically Biden had died or resigned exactly 2 years into his term (January 20, 2023 12pm ET), and Harris assumed the presidency for the remaining two years, her total time would be over 2 years and she would be ineligible for a second term.

          • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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            3 months ago

            Yeah I actually brought that up in my top-level reply. But does the two years count the time spent as Acting President?

            I don’t know. It does count, it’s part of my top-level comment but I have the shittiest memory in the universe.

            If we’re being pedantic

            I’m always pedantic, except when I’m not 😂

            • illi@lemm.ee
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              3 months ago

              I’m always pedantic, except when I’m not 😂

              So you are not always pedantic. So you are not really pedantic if you said you are always but are not… unless you were pedantic about saying you are not always pedantic?

            • kn33@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              In that case, could she have her new VP take over for a few hours to negate that time she accumulated previously?

        • otp@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          New conspiracy theory: The reason the US has only incredibly old presidential candidates is because the VPs are pulling all the strings.

        • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          I am not sure. From the wording above, it sounds to me that you can get elected as VP and then kill your boss 25 months into the term indefinitely. Loophole!

          • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            If you are just going to go that route, you don’t need to wait the 25 months. Just keep getting picked for vp, ice them immediately and take over. Don’t run for reelection, just get the vp nod on the next ticket, rinse and repeat. If you think that sounds preposterous, remember we are on the cusp of re-electing a racist rapist with a spray tan.

          • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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            3 months ago

            Boss doesn’t need to die, just resign. You could literally just have a sham person be elected as the “president” and then resign on Day 1 each time to keep someone as president indefinitely.

            Assuming voters played along with that of course.

            • azimir@lemmy.ml
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              3 months ago

              You don’t need the voters. You need the states.

              We’re about to find out what happens when states refuse to recognize the winner of the Electoral College. Georgia, Arizona, and likely other states are going to fuck the state votes and refuse to certify.

              If you can get enough state reps and congressional reps to vote for you each cycle (as VP), then take over from the sham president, you could effectively be president forever.

              • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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                3 months ago

                Technically the state reps and congressional reps need to be voted in too, so the voters have some power, even if gerrymandering makes it less than it should be.

    • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Wait, so you can’t elect someone a third time even if it’s not consecutive? For a example in Brazil it’s illegal to elect someone third times in a row, but two times, someone else gets elected, then re-elect that person again is okay. In fact the current president has already been president twice in the past.