If Trump Drops Out... OR, a Pence/Trump switcheroo!

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Some Republicans are now calling for Trump to drop out.

Well.....
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let’s say that Trump agrees to drop out. Then what? As it turns out, the answer to that is quite complicated, and it hinges upon what 50 different state laws have to say about when Trump makes the decision to leave the race.

Although the presidency is a national job, each state has broad leeway to set procedures governing the presidential election in that state. Many of them enacted laws governing candidates who wish to withdraw from a race which can be quite unforgiving — especially as the election draws nigh. West Virginia, for example, provides that a candidate who wishes to withdraw from an election must file a statement “not later than eighty-four days before the general election,”

So even if Trump wants to remove his name from many states’ ballots, it is unlikely that he will be able to do so.
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Recall that, under the Constitution, voters do not vote directly for presidential candidates. They elect members of the Electoral College who themselves choose the next president. Most states have laws that attempt to bind electors to actually vote for the presidential candidate preferred by the state’s voters, but these bans on so-called “faithless” electors vary in subtle but important ways that could have significant implications if Trump does withdraw from the race.
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even if Trump’s name is removed from the ballot in states like South Carolina or Alabama, the electors may still be bound to vote for Trump if they previously declared their intention to do so. Meanwhile, electors from states with Wyoming-style laws appear to be bound to Trump if Trump’s name appears on the ballot and he wins the most votes, even if Trump has otherwise withdrawn from the race.

But that is, of course, assuming that these faithless elector laws are constitutional. The Twelfth Amendment provides that “the Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President.” That provision can quite plausibly be read to delegate the power to elect a president solely to the discretion of the electors themselves. Though the courts have never needed to resolve this question, it is far from clear that state lawmakers have the power to take this discretion away from members of the Electoral College.

Were Trump to withdraw, in other words, such a withdraw would trigger a morass of state statutes, many of which would yield different results in different states. High stakes litigation would also ensue — with little, if any precedents to guide the litigants and judges — in order to determine how members of the Electoral College should behave. Similar litigation would almost certainly result in state courts, as various state-level officials struggled to determine which name should appear on their ballots.

It would, in other words, be an enormous stimulus package for election lawyers, but a confusing morass for actual voters.

https://thinkprogress.org/if-trump-drops-out-the-result-will-be-a-horrible-legal-quagmire-40c9e4affb66#.t7x5w9mk6

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There is a real path for RNC to dump Trump by "Ticket Flip" to Pence using 25th Ammendment


The RNC could have the Trump/Pence on the ballot, but with a public agreement that Trump abdicates immediately after inauguration. The 25th amendment has provisions for a POTUS being "disabled, incapacitated, etc", and that the VP immediately succeeds him.

A modest proposal to replace Trump with Pence — with or without Trump’s consent
Trump could win the race, but Pence could run the country.

http://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2016/10/6/13184492/flip-ticket-trump-pence-constitution

excerpt from article:

"...but even now, at this very late date in the election season, there is one last chance for the Republican establishment to dump Trump: by flipping the ticket and putting the plodding, but at least plausible, Mike Pence in charge...True, early voting has already begun in some places, and almost everywhere it is too late to revise ballots. But a flipped ticket does not require any formal ballot change..."

"...The first step of The Flip must begin very soon — ideally, this week or next. At a joint press conference, Pence and Trump should with fanfare announce that, if they win in November, Pence will be in charge, thanks to the rules laid down by the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which was ratified in 1967 after the assassination of John F. Kennedy..."

"...At the press conference, Trump would solemnly pledge that on Inauguration Day, January 20, he will, only minutes after taking his oath of office, step aside by invoking the presidential disability provisions of Section Three of the Amendment — much as he might step aside if he were undergoing a scheduled coronary bypass that day. He will give notice on Inauguration Day to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the house that he is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office...once Trump does step aside on Inauguration Day, Pence would automatically become acting president of the United States under Section Three, entitled to all the powers of the office until Trump seeks to reassert his rights — which Trump at the press conference must promise he will never do. Trump, however, would technically retain the title of president."

He gets to be a reality tv star, play POTUS without being POTUS, and most importantly for HIM, he WINS. He hates losing and losers, so he might just take this shot.

I suspect he would have a much greater chance if this were to be done.

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GOP Sen. Mike Lee Urges Trump To Step Aside As Republican Nominee


n a video message on Facebook Friday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said Donald Trump should step aside and allow the Republican Party to rally around another candidate.

"I respectfully ask you with all due respect, to step aside. Step down. Allow someone else to carry the banner of these principle," Lee said.

In his video address, Lee – who was involved in the fight to deny Trump the nomination at the convention– said that a video that had surfaced showing Trump making predatory comments about women had him deeply worried.

"I have a wife. I have a daughter. I have a mother, and I have five sister all of whom I love dearly," Lee said. "It's occurred to me on countless occasions today that if anyone spoke to my wife, my daughter, my mother or any of my five sisters the way Mr. Trump has spoken to women, I wouldn't hire that person. I wouldn't hire that person, wouldn't want to be associated with that person," Lee said. "And, I certainly don't think I would feel comfortable hiring that person to be the the leader of the free world."

Lee said he was frustrated that Trump had tried to dismiss the video in an apology as "a distraction."

"With all due respect sir, you sir are the distraction. Your conduct sir is the distraction," Lee said. "It's a distraction from the very principles that will help us win in November."

Lee was not the only Utah politician to distance himself from Trump after news broke Friday of Trump explicit 2005 comments on seducing women. In an interview with a local Fox affiliate, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), unendorsed Trump.

"I'm out. I can no longer in good conscience endorse this person for president. It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine," Chaffetz said according to Fox 13.

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This is what would happen if Donald Trump quit the presidential race

After a 2005 video of Donald Trump making salacious comments about women surfaced on Friday, some prominent Republicans are calling on their nominee to drop out of the race.

That would launch a series of events unprecedented in a presidential race.

And it wasn't the first time conservatives have suggested Trump's resignation.

In August, the right-leaning Wall Street Journal editorial board published a scathing op-ed calling on Trump to mature his campaign style or hand the nomination to his running mate, Mike Pence.

But the scandals have continued. In the new, vulgar video, published by The Washington Post on Friday, Trump discussed trying to "f---" a married woman and wanting to kiss an actress he was about to appear with on "Days of Our Lives."

"And when you're a star they let you do it," Trump continued. "You can do anything. ... Grab them by the p---y. You can do anything."

Republicans all the way up to the chairman of the National Committee, Reince Priebus, condemned Trump for his comments. And then some started asking him to step aside. Top GOP Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois said Trump "should drop out," and the RNC "should engage rules for emergency replacement."

"In a campaign cycle that has been nothing but a race to the bottom — at such a critical moment for our nation — and with so many who have tried to be respectful of a record primary vote, the time has come for Governor Pence to lead the ticket," former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman told the Salt Lake Tribune a week after finally endorsing Trump.

Three-term Republican Governor of New York George Pataki tweeted: "[Trump's] campaign is a poisonous mix of bigotry and ignorance. Enough! He needs to step down."

A.J. Spiker, a former Iowa GOP chair and adviser to Sen. Rand Paul's PAC, said Trump was "unfit for public office." "Donald Trump should resign as the Republican nominee for president," he tweeted.

So what would happen in the extremely unlikely scenario that Trump quit the race? We took a look.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/happen-donald-trump-quit-presidential-021522559.html

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Amid growing calls to drop out, Trump vows to ‘never withdraw’

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said in an interview Saturday that he would not drop out of the race under any circumstances, following calls from several in his party to do so.

“I’d never withdraw. I’ve never withdrawn in my life,” Trump told the Washington Post in a phone call from his home in Trump Tower in New York. “No, I’m not quitting this race. I have tremendous support.”

“People are calling and saying, ‘Don’t even think about doing anything else but running,” Trump said when asked about GOP defections. “You have to see what’s going on. The real story is that people have no idea the support. I don’t know how that’s going to boil down but people have no idea the support.

“Running against her,” Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, makes keeping the party behind him easier, Trump added.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/amid-growing-calls-to-drop-out-trump-vows-to-never-withdraw/2016/10/08/8c0b5b7a-8d68-11e6-bff0-d53f592f176e_story.html



Report: Pressure Is Mounting on RNC Officials to Kick Trump to the Curb and Focus on Congress

CNN’s Manu Raju took to the airwaves minutes ago to report that sources within the Republican National Committee are now urging party leaders to quite literally “Dump Trump” after the latest controversy to hit his campaign.

With 31 days to go until the election, the move looks to put daylight between the party’s standard-bearer and down-ballot candidates, hoping to protect the current 247 seats occupied by the GOP in the House of Representatives, as well as its Senate majority of 54 seats.

“There’s growing anxiety right now within the Republican ranks that these comments will be damaging that will actually derail Donald Trump’s campaign,” Raju told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield. “And what they’re saying right now Fred is that they want these resources spent to save the Congressional majority — both in the House and the Senate.”

Raju cited a senior GOP official as his source, noting that the time has finally come to salvage winnable races outside of Trump’s orbit after leaked audio from 2005 shows the nominee speaking lewdly on a hot mic about advancing on women as a direct result of his power, stature, and success. Trump apologized for the commentary in a video released in the early morning hours by the campaign, but only after he was disinvited from a Wisconsin event featuring House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump’s Veep choice Mike Pence will be attending the event in Trump’s place.