If the President Tests Positive for the Virus, What Happens? [View all]
(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- The news last week that President Trump’s valet and Vice President Pence’s press secretary had both contracted the coronavirus sent a scare through the White House. While officials said both leaders subsequently tested negative, the episode raised a worrisome possibility: What happens if Trump or Pence is stricken—or, worse, if both became ill at the same time?
The result could be anything from a temporary disruption to a full-blown constitutional crisis with competing claims on the presidency. What’s critical, experts say, is that the identity of the commander-in-chief be clear in any situation. At least one scenario could arise where it wouldn’t be.
The degree of economic and geopolitical fallout would depend heavily on the severity of the illness, and especially on whether Trump himself became incapacitated, say current and former White House officials and outside experts. “There’s a protocol for everything,” says David Axelrod, former senior White House adviser to Barack Obama. “We routinely went through drills for what to do in case of terrorist or nuclear attacks, but I honestly never anticipated a pandemic situation like the one the White House is facing now.”
Markets would almost certainly drop on news of a presidential diagnosis, says Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, a geopolitical risk consulting firm. But he expects traders would take comfort from U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recovery from his recent bout of Covid-19. Although Johnson deputized Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to handle some duties when he entered intensive care on April 7, he never formally transferred power; Johnson has now returned to work and resumed his full slate of duties.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/if-the-president-tests-positive-for-the-virus-what-happens/ar-BB142ka2?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=DELLDHP
On the other hand there will be a lot of people celebrating.
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