Politics
A vote for Trump is a vote for a potential Vance presidency
This is an adapted excerpt from the Oct. 5 episode of “The Katie Phang Show.”
In some ways, vice presidents are like understudies; you may never need them to step into the breach but they’re there just in case something goes wrong.
And as we inch closer to November’s election, I want you to consider this: If elected, Donald Trump — who is currently 78 years old, regularly frequents McDonald’sand loves his Diet Cokes — would end his second term as the oldest personeverto serve as president of the United States. On the final day of his presidency in January 2029, Trump would be 82 years, seven months and six days old.
Trump’s meandering speeches have led some mental health experts to go on the record, raising concerns about his potential cognitive decline.
The former president’s rambling, meandering speeches on the campaign trail have led some mental health experts to go on the record, raising concerns about his potential cognitive decline. Despite these concerns, Trump refuses to release even the most basic information about his health.
So what happens if Trump wins in November and then, days, weeks, months or years into his presidency, dies or becomes incapacitated and can no longer serve? Well, according to Section 1 of the 25th Amendment, in that event, the vice president would become the president automatically.
To state it plainly: Sen. JD Vance is a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States. The same Vance who, right now, has poll numbers labeling him the least popular vice-presidential candidate of the 21st century — unsurprising given his many extremist views on everything from child care to the truth of who won the 2020 election. I mean, not admitting your running mate lost the last election is a huge red flag that you have an issue with the truth.
During last week’s vice-presidential debate, Vance got caught in another lie. The senator claimed he never supported a national abortion ban. However, in 2022 while he was running for the Senate, Vance said on a podcast he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.”
Then there’s his extremist stances. Also during that 2022 run for the Senate, Vance delivered a 30-minute speech titled “The Universities are the Enemy” at the National Conservatism Conference.
It seems Yale-educated Vance wants to overhaul the education system in his image.
“I think if any of us want to do the things that we want to do for our country and for the people who live in it, we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country,” the then-candidate told the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, the universities do not pursue knowledge and truth, they pursue deceit and lies, and it’s time to be honest about that fact.”
Now, in my opinion, the best way to pursue a good and fulfilling life is through education, but it seems Yale-educated Vance wants to overhaul the education system in his image. Under Project 2025, a Trump-Vance administration could eliminate the Department of Education, privatize K-12and dismantle the current collegiate system.
He’s a threat to everything Americans hold dear: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And if something were to happen to Trump, the big job would go to Vance: the guy who refuses to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election, promotes anti-immigrant hate rhetoricand supports a national abortion ban.
And let’s be clear, 40-year-old Vance is fully aware that Trump is 78 years old. You’re kidding yourself if you think he didn’t consider Trump’s physical and mental health issues when contemplating his career advancement and upward mobility prospects as the Republican VP nominee.
So, before you cast your ballot in this year’s election, you should remember this: Any vote for Donald Trump is a vote for a potential automatic JD Vance presidency. Vote accordingly.
Katie S. Phang is the host of “The Katie Phang Show,” which airs Saturdays at 12 p.m. ET on BLN. She is a legal contributor for NBC News and BLN based in Miami. She leverages her significant trial attorney experience to provide analysis and commentary on the latest legal issues.
Allison Detzel
contributed
.
Politics
Trump wants the Postal Service to radically overhaul mail voting. But ballots are already going out.
President Donald Trump’s controversial demands for the Postal Service to overhaul and monitor millions of mail ballots hit another snag on Friday, when North Carolina became the first state in the nation to start sending out ballots for the November election.
In March, Trump signed the initial executive order, which aimed to crack down on mail-in voting — which he regularly alleges without evidence is a vector for widespread voter fraud — and assert an unprecedented amount of federal control over the upcoming elections.
Under this order and the subsequent rule drafted by the U.S. Postal Service, the USPS would refuse to deliver ballots to states that failed to provide lists of eligible mail voters or did not adhere to an approved envelope design style.
Since then, the order has faced legal challenges, and it remains paused by a federal judge’s orders. But the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the new rule to proceed — something current and former election officials from both parties say would be both a legal nightmare that oversteps the federal government’s traditional role in elections and a logistical one that is happening far too close to the November election to implement even if they agreed with it.
“Why the hell are you rocking the boat this late in the game?” said Stephen Richer, a former Republican recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, who has clashed with Trump allies for defending the security of the 2020 election.
Still, election officials are trying to project a sense of normalcy for voters, particularly in North Carolina, which serves as a test of whether established local election systems can operate normally amid intensifying federal scrutiny.
“I want to emphasize this point because there has been a lot of outside noise: Our county workers are ready,” Sam Hayes, a longtime Republican lawyer in the state and now executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in a Thursday afternoon press conference.
He added, “All we can do is what we’re doing. … It is business as usual as far as I’m concerned.”
Despite the legal challenges, the Trump administration has continued to press the courts to let it proceed. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift an order from a Massachusetts judge which temporarily prevents the USPS from enforcing their rule. It is the second time the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to step in, after winning an earlier victory in which the high court dismissed an earlier hold on the rule as premature.
“The uncertainty is coming from a single activist judge who continues to try and obstruct President Trump from implementing commonsense measures to protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans vote in American elections,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement. “These safeguards for mail ballots were proposed months ago giving election officials ample time to prepare for the 2026 election.”
The USPS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Election officials said that if the rule goes into effect this close to November, it would cause chaos and place added strain on the USPS and election officials. And an anonymous federal whistleblower said in a report circulated earlier this week by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that the USPS was moving forward in a “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process” to try to implement the new system ahead of the midterms.
In the coming weeks, states across the country will follow North Carolina’s lead. Nine other states will begin mailing ballots in the next two weeks, according to a tracker from the National Conference of State Legislatures — with the biggest day for mailing coming 45 days before the election in mid-September.
“It would be so outrageous to try to let this go into effect. It’s hard to even imagine,” said Ben Hovland, a senior fellow for democracy at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress and former Democratic commissioner with the Election Assistance Commission who was fired by Trump in July.
He added, “It would be a break-glass moment for our democracy.”
The rule would require meticulous changes to ballot handling and tracking practices that Hovland said are impossible to implement before Election Day in about two months, effectively disenfranchising millions of voters.
“Ballots are printed. Envelopes are printed. You can go on and on with all the practical reasons that show that implementing something like this at this time is not feasible,” he said.
Richer said he doubted the new rules would bring about more security. Even if the USPS received lists from the states, according to the postal service’s final rule, it would not do any additional vetting of the list, Richer said.
“It’s just that the mail ballots have to be on that list, and I don’t see what added value for election integrity that does,” he said.
He added, “It creates a lot of administrative burden, and I think it creates a lot more opportunity for error.”
While a decision looms in the courts, election officials and experts cast doubt on the likelihood of the rules going into effect before November. A more pressing issue, they said, is the confusion and uncertainty surrounding mail-in ballots, which could subvert and change the behaviors of voters.
“It makes things seem messy or difficult, and it can dissuade people from participating or coming out to vote,” Hovland said. “It certainly also helps establish a pretext to make bad faith claims about election results.”
Hovland said that while none of these claims of voter fraud are backed up with facts, they could cause Americans to lose faith in the voting process.
Still, some current officials contended they were well-prepared for whatever happens — and that they’d be able to communicate effectively with voters who have become increasingly buffeted by dramatic rhetoric about the once-unmentioned nuts and bolts of actually running an election.
“There’s always a lot of noise around elections, that’s not going to change, and it can be hard to differentiate that from what’s actually going on on the ground,” said Jason Tyson, director of external affairs for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
As Election Day approaches, Tyson and election officials said they urge voters to check their registration status and make a plan to vote.
He added, “I think we’ve got a really well-trained, solid staff who are ready, and who have gone through all of the checks and balances and points of contact that we need to do to get to where we are.”
Missouri’s Supreme Court suspended a congressional map that state Republicans drew last year that would have netted the GOP an additional House seat, likely keeping the seat in Democratic hands this November.
The court ruled unanimously on Thursday that a referendum petition organized by Democrats to put the new congressional maps to a vote was incorrectly deemed insufficient by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, and ordered that the gerrymandered map be put to a vote in the fall.
Voters will ultimately decide the fate of the new lines in November. But in the meantime, it cannot be in place for the midterms, meaning Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s original Kansas City-based district will likely stay in Democrats’ hands this fall.
Construction crews could begin the excavation process for what will be President Donald Trump’s massive 250-foot-tall arch in as soon as the next two weeks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced on Thursday.
The monument — which will be erected in a traffic circle at the head of the Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River, coming between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery — has generated controversy as concerns emerged about the design and traffic congestion during construction.
The arch would take two to three years to construct on the proposed schedule, according to documents released in June.
“We are pleased to announce that after a very long wait (over 125 years!), we are preparing to start, over the next two-week period, the excavation work necessary for the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck,” Burgum said in a social media post.
The 250-foot-tall arch will be among Trump’s most visible projects, as the administration continues its attempts to remake Washington. Critics, however, have voiced fears that the structure may be too large, and overshadow other monuments, like the Lincoln Memorial on the other side of the Potomac River.
The proposed arch will dwarf the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in size. It is unclear at this time how much construction will cost; the National Endowment for the Humanities earmarked $15 million for the monument.
“This will be one the the Great Pieces of American Architecture, honoring the history and significance of Arlington National Cemetery and befitting the most powerful Capital in the World,” Burgum said.
The monument will be constructed on land overseen by the National Park Service, and critics have argued Trump’s latest project requires explicit congressional approval. However, the Interior secretary continues to rebut these claims.
Instead, Burgum echoed previous statements and said historically “Congress and various congressionally chartered commissions decreed that a monumental work should adorn Columbia Island,” the traffic circle where the monument is planned to be constructed.
“Despite Congress’s intent, the site became and remains today a barren traffic circle lacking any monumental treatment and significant historic value,” he said.
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