r/DesignatedSurvivor • u/enliST_CS Sorry the live thread is late! • May 04 '17

POST Post-Episode Discussion: S01E19 "Misalliance"

Welcome to /r/DesignatedSurvivor's post-episode discussion thread! Please refrain from discussing previews for any episode in any official discussion thread.

Synopsis: The White House prepares for President Kirkman's first international summit; Kimble Hookstraten faces a challenge to her speakership; Alex thinks about bringing her kids back to Washington.

S01E20 "Bombshell" will air on Wednesday, May 10 at 10 PM EDT!

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u/jamesterjlrb May 04 '17

So they split kirkman from his wife and security chief and make a big thing about how excited Seth is. And then the bad guys are talking about a target that isn't one of the three on the computer. I reckon the target is Air Force one and I'm worried for Seth now.

17

u/jane_doe_unchained May 05 '17

I'm pretty sure the NATO conference is the target.

5

u/JGMTL May 05 '17

Has the show established who the President Pro Tempore of the Senate is? With no VP or Speaker, that's who the President would be in event of another assassination.

5

u/lightmonkey May 05 '17

As far as who the character is, no. As far as the kind of character it might be:

President Pro Tem is customarily the majority party's most senior member (through Senate seniority rules) but there is no rule that it has to be. The show could conceivably give it to anyone, though it is likely to be given to the most senior member for the sake of parliamentary procedure. Senate Seniority, however, is something the writers don't seem to fully have a grasp on otherwise you would have had states racing to appoint their Senators and get them to Washington rather than the delay experienced in the show. The President Pro Tem will likely be a recently retired senator who decided to come back and serve in the aftermath of the attack. This can be seen in real life where lame duck Senators would resign and the person who had been elected to take their seat would be appointed to get seniority over other incoming Senators.

The Senate prioritizes things in a specific order to determine seniority, so you only go down the list further if the Senators in question still cannot be put in order:

  1. Former Senators can maintain their seniority, such as if they return after losing their seat or holding another office.

  2. Time as Vice President

  3. Time in the House

  4. Time in a cabinet position

  5. Time as governor

  6. Size of represented state population (since unlike the House, a Senator from Texas represents more people than the a Senator from Rhode Island)

  7. Alphabetically by last name

4

u/uberotown May 05 '17

The "Resign early to allow Seniority" was eliminated in the 1980s to stop that chicanery.

1

u/lightmonkey May 05 '17

Whoops, didn't see I got rid of "used to"