Twentieth Amendment

[Lincoln Republican]

We can all be thankful for the Twentieth Amendment, which changed the beginning and the ending of the Presidential and the Vice  Presidential terms from March 4 to January 20.

If not for the Twentieth Amendment, Trump would be President until March 4 instead of January 20.

The Twentieth Amendment was ratified in 1933.

Thoughts?

[Joe Republic]

73-79 days between election to inauguration is still an insanely long time.  With the advent of the internet and the ability to travel thousands of miles in only a few hours, and of course the redundancy of the electoral college, there is a rapidly dwindling number of reasons for such a long transition period.

[brucejoel99]

73-79 days between election to inauguration is still an insanely long time.  With the advent of the internet and the ability to travel thousands of miles in only a few hours, and of course the redundancy of the electoral college, there is a rapidly dwindling number of reasons for such a long transition period.

The historic inability to quickly count, recount (if necessary), & certify all of our states' complex election results, let alone actually give the incoming President a chance to build a senior staff, have their transition team get to work, vet nominees for the Cabinet & upwards of 4,000 other political appointees (many of whom - once selected - then have to meet with Senators, undergo confirmation hearings, actually be confirmed, etc.), etc.?

At the very least, the shortest the transition period could probably be is somewhere between a month & a month-&-a-half (so, ~30-46 days), & even timetables of that scale would - even beyond what would already be the extreme burden of a constitutional amendment - require significant reforms at all levels of government.

[emailking]

We can all be thankful for the Twentieth Amendment, which changed the beginning and the ending of the Presidential and the Vice  Presidential terms from March 4 to January 20.

If not for the Twentieth Amendment, Trump would be President until March 4 instead of January 20.

The Twentieth Amendment was ratified in 1933.

Thoughts?

My immediate thought was that Donald Trump would not have been born if the Twentieth Amendment was not proposed or ratified, because of the butterfly effect. So it's a moot point. There may be other reasons that it's a good idea though.

[Hammy]

It was a good move of course, but Trump showed us the the term should end no later than mid-December.

[Pericles]

It could have saved tens of thousands of lives due to a better Covid response and vaccination rollout.

[Ferguson97]

If not for the Twentieth Amendment, Trump would be President until March 4 instead of January 20.

Sure, but it also would've started on March 4 of 2017 instead so comparatively it wouldn't feel much different to us in the timeline where it wasn't ratified.

[President Johnson]

What I find so interesting about it that the date for congress was moved to January 3, while before the 20th Amendment, new members were sworn in on March 4 as well. However, March 3 is listed as expiration date for outgoing members, so I assume the new congress was already in for half day before the president and vice president officially took over their roles.

I assume January 3 was chosen that the new congress could elect a president and vice president in case the Electoral College didn't produce a winner.

Also interesting is that the lame duck sessions before the 20th Amendment produced a ton of legislation, especially in the second half of the 19th century. In some instances, an outgoing president signed hundreds of bills into law the closing days of the term. Sometimes even hundreds on March 3 and morning of March 4.

[Sirius_]

If not for the Twentieth Amendment, Trump would be President until March 4 instead of January 20.

Sure, but it also would've started on March 4 of 2017 instead so comparatively it wouldn't feel much different to us in the timeline where it wasn't ratified.

But coronavirus didn't exist then, so it would be worse.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

As I said, Trump would be removed from office by invoking the 20th.