Among potential examples of such unforeseen emergencies, legal scholars have listed kidnapping of the president and “political emergencies” such as impeachment. Traits such as unpopularity, incompetence, impeachable conduct, poor judgment, or laziness might not in themselves constitute inability, but should such traits “rise to a level where they prevented the President from carrying out his or her constitutional duties, they still might constitute an inability, even in the absence of a formal medical diagnosis.” In addition, a president who already manifested disabling traits at the time he was elected is not thereby immunized from a declaration of inability.
The cynic in me thinks Vance and the rest of the GOP are waiting until Jan 21, 2027, or shortly thereafter, to remove Trump.
That gives Vance a nearly two-year trial run, and the built-in incumbent advantage (as long as he can blame everything on Trump) in 2028. Being less than two years as replacement President also maintains his eligibility to run twice more.
If Vance takes over now, he can’t run in 2032 (assuming they do enough fuckery that he’s re-elected in 2028).
That’s actually been the plan since the beginning. A major component of the Dark Enlightenment is the mimetic theory of desire’s scapegoat mechanism.
I’ve wondered if Trump will fake a reason for stepping aside in January, gave jd take over, and then run again in 2028.