At what point does it stop being important.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

So, what if the President dies? Hum? Who becomes President?
The Vice President.

But what if the entire Cabinet, both Speakers, and the Prez and VP die, then who?
The new Speaker of the House, but oh this is getting interesting.

Well, what if EVERYBODY dies? Like everyone in the world. THEN who becomes President??
Uh... dude, that wouldn't matter, everyone would be dead; it wouldn't be important who is President.

And thus my question: at which point does it stop being important? If Washington is nuked, there is still a country, but what if 75% of all americans die in some epidemic? or 95%? etc etc. How far must you go before the idea of who is President stops being important?

[Politico]

There's always at least one eligible Cabinet member outside of Washington at any given time in order to ensure the nightmare scenario does not happen. With regards to the military, the chain-of-command is pretty straightforward and virtually impossible to become completely decimated.

[Antonio the Sixth]

If such an Armageddon were to happen it couldn't matter less who becomes the President at the time, considering any civilization would most likely be gone.

[Pingvin]

Something says me that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would take power.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Yesbut, how bad does it have to be. What is the cut off?

My personal guess is close to 80%-85% casualties. I think the Federal Government could continue to operate even if 3/4th of the US was destroyed.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yesbut, how bad does it have to be. What is the cut off?

My personal guess is close to 80%-85% casualties. I think the Federal Government could continue to operate even if 3/4th of the US was destroyed.

If 1/3 of the people suddenly dies, who is in charge will definitely not matter (unless this 1/3 is concentrated in the same geographic location, and that such location doesn't include the Northeastern megalopolis or California).