He's taking an unproven medication but not wearing a mask. What would happen if President Donald Trump falls ill with coronavirus?
The 25th Amendment, which was ratified in 1967—just years after the assassination of then-President John F. Kennedy—allows the vice president to temporarily take an acting role, either with the president's approval or, if incapacitated, with the support of a majority of the Cabinet or a chamber of Congress, and then relinquish it back.
"That's what should happen constitutionally," said Shannon Bow O'Brien, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "My hunch would be the president would probably 'go take an extended vacation at Mar-a-Lago' or decide to 'self-isolate'—they would probably say someone close to him got it," O'Brien, who studies the presidency and political communication, told Newsweek."I don't see him willingly surrendering power to anybody."
"If he were just to fall ill, he can still do his job even if it's not to the standard he usually does," she said.
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