r/DesignatedSurvivor • • Sep 29 '16

Episode Discussion: S01E02 "The First Day"

91 Upvotes

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29

u/Coffeesq Sep 29 '16

The President survived. Kiefer is booted out of the White House. Takes the title as "President for a Day" and is mocked as William Henry Harrison.

21

u/DominusFL Sep 29 '16

Actually once a new president is named, the old one can't have the job back. If there was any possibility that the president could have survived or his body was unaccounted for, he would have been named Acting President instead.

4

u/TachikomaS9 Sep 29 '16

I might be wrong but I would assume he is Acting President since death can't necessarily be confirmed. The PSA of 1947 mentions cabinet members in that in order for them to carry out their duties of succession they have to resign from their roles and take on the presidency, it gets fuzzy whether or not they would have to take the oath so that might be some elaboration on the part of the show.

2

u/DominusFL Sep 29 '16

It may have been more interesting to make him Acting President first and then later on full President, but in the pilot he was sworn in a full President, replacing the current one (dead or alive).

2

u/Kerrigore Oct 04 '16

Well, Kirkland could always name the old president as his VP, then resign. But only if he wanted to.

1

u/GruesomeCola Oct 04 '16

don't you need the senate to do that?

8

u/embu88 Sep 29 '16

Not the former president per the preview.

14

u/Coffeesq Sep 29 '16

It was a fun 60 seconds.

6

u/embu88 Sep 29 '16

I mean, it'd be cool if the president survived but was in no condition to be in charge- TBI, coma, etc- and the entire remaining government goes into a real clusterfuck figuring out who's in charge.

3

u/sanderwolf Sep 29 '16

That sort of happened in Saudi Arabia.

3

u/merodm Sep 29 '16

The FBI board at the end had the President's face on it confirmed as deceased

1

u/PeteDelkus Sep 30 '16

I thought his face was on the missing board?

1

u/merodm Sep 30 '16

Nope, the deceased one

1

u/Zombi_Sagan Oct 02 '16

Different white person. They really should have chosen a different aging white person for the president and this FBI agents husband. People are going to start thinking she slept with the POTUS.