AHC: President Tsongas is removed by 25th amendment

samcster94

Banned
In TTL, 1991-2 go differently and Tsongas wins against Bush in 1992. Tsongas's cancer comes into play and he ends up severely ill(and everyone knows with mass media, even if a bit archaic by OTL 2018 standards). What happens if the 25th is invoked??? This is less about the election and more what to do with a sickly President with more modern media(FDR had WWII to cover him as well). For simplicity, the VP is a generic 90's Dem not named Gore.
 
If it came down to health reasons, Tsongas would probably resign before he was forced to endure the embarrassment of being forced out of office. For Tsongas to be removed, there needs to be some sort of event that makes it obvious that he can't continue on as President. If not, the Democrats would probably be able to cover it up enough that it doesn't come to the fore. Maybe he collapses at a special function, or maybe he pulls a Bushu-suru and vomits on a foreign dignitary.

But let's say Tsongas rapidly declines to the extent that he is incapacitated and unable to resign because he's comatose or something. At that point, Congress goes through the motions, and, say, Dick Gephardt becomes President. The right wing media would probably repeatedly question Tsongas' capabilities, but once he falls ill and the 25th is invoked, everyone will probably play softball for the first year (especially of Tsongas dies) before things go back to normal.
 

samcster94

Banned
If it came down to health reasons, Tsongas would probably resign before he was forced to endure the embarrassment of being forced out of office. For Tsongas to be removed, there needs to be some sort of event that makes it obvious that he can't continue on as President. If not, the Democrats would probably be able to cover it up enough that it doesn't come to the fore. Maybe he collapses at a special function, or maybe he pulls a Bushu-suru and vomits on a foreign dignitary.

But let's say Tsongas rapidly declines to the extent that he is incapacitated and unable to resign because he's comatose or something. At that point, Congress goes through the motions, and, say, Dick Gephardt becomes President. The right wing media would probably repeatedly question Tsongas' capabilities, but once he falls ill and the 25th is invoked, everyone will probably play softball for the first year (especially of Tsongas dies) before things go back to normal.
I think having it happen in 1994 would be interesting, especially close to the election(that might make the Reps do even better than OTL). Going the Sharon way(where he lives for years, but comatose) would be quite interesting, as there is no precedent of that in U.S. history.
 
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