If you were elected President or Vice-President, what would you swear in on?

[falling apart like the ashes of American flags]

I'd swear in on a copy of The Message, like this one:

[Ferguson97]

A copy of the US Constitution

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

A KJV Bible and a copy of the Dao De Jing.

[Anni di ghiaccio]

Runescape: The Official Handbook by Tracey West.

[KaiserDave]

A Copy of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

Possibly the Talmud but probably not

[Santander]

The Art of the Deal, open to Chapter 11.

[Everything I've had but couldn't keep]

Probably a copy of the the Principia Discordia

[25 Abril/Aprile Sempre!]

Pretending I were American, I would probably solemnly affirm on a copy of the United States Constitution, because I can't think of an appropriate meme answer at the moment.

[Mexican Wolf]

A copy of the US Constitution and maybe the Tao Te Ching.

[Santander]

The ultimate troll would've been if Obama got sworn in on an Arabic or Farsi version of the Bible.

[Zohran "The Sword of Islam" Mamdani]

Garfield Sits Around the House

[Zohranism is OUR future]

The Bible but written in Chinese.

[Torrain]

When clearing out my grandparents house, we found that we still had their old family Bibles - so that's definitely a good option. I might also go for the Bible in Gaelic - and add whatever version of the Constitution allowed a British citizen to be sworn in.

Hot take: if I was being sworn-in during an emergency, I wouldn't be averse to being sworn in on an iPhone with the Bible app open - it's still the Word after all, and I kinda dig the symbolism of the Bible surviving in a digital age.

[falling apart like the ashes of American flags]

Garfield Sits Around the House

Would you rather be sworn in on the Bible, or a printed compilation of Krassenstein tweets?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Garfield Sits Around the House

Sure, but then you get shot and then your crappy doctors basically kill you.

[Dabeav]

The Jefferson Bible

[🥥🌴]

das kapital by Karl Marx

[KoopaDaQuick]

A KJV or Lincoln Bible alongside a law book, and I would swear and say "So Help Me God." However, if swearing in upon the death of my predecessor as a soon-to-be-former VP, I'd swear in on the first thing I can find. A Bible, a law book, the Constitution, a Quran, or even non-jokingly Garfield Sits Around the House.

[Del Tachi]

Probably the Lincoln Bible, my mother's study bible, and my great-grandfather's bible (which he was sworn into the MS Legislature upon)


FYI....for everyone saying they'd use a copy of the U.S. Constitution:  swearing to uphold the Constitution upon the Constitution doesn't make any logical sense.  Swearing upon something only works because violating your oath then becomes a defilement of the thing you swore upon.  If you want a non-religious inauguration, just let your "I do" suffice without the need for extra texts.        

[andjey]

The Bible

[Alcibiades]

Probably the Lincoln Bible, my mother's study bible, and my great-grandfather's bible (which he was sworn into the MS Legislature upon)


FYI....for everyone saying they'd use a copy of the U.S. Constitution:  swearing to uphold the Constitution upon the Constitution doesn't make any logical sense.  Swearing upon something only works because violating your oath then becomes a defilement of the thing you swore upon.  If you want a non-religious inauguration, just let your "I do" suffice without the need for extra texts.         

I agree with you. In court, nonbelievers giving evidence under oath do not swear on anything, instead affirming that they will uphold their oath. If a nonreligious President were being sworn in, it would make sense to do the same.

[hyouzel the predictor]

Probably my grandfather's pocket bible he used in school. He inspired my love of politics and sadly passed away earlier this year and it would be a good way to remember him at my special day.

[Big Abraham]

Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health

[Sir Mohamed]

Only on the constitution.

I'm for strict separation of church and state. Without wanting to disrespect anyone's religious feelings, I already find the "In God we trust" problematic. It's federal statute, but if it wasn't and I was prez, I would use executive action to remove this motto and only use E Pluribus unum.

[Former President tack50]

Like the other secular people in here, I'd probably just swear in on a copy of the US constiution.

Also, as a counterpoint to the "it makes no sense to swear the constitution on a copy of the constitution"; I will note that at least here in Spain, that is exactly what happens with secular/left wing PMs.

Here is a picture of when PM Pedro Sánchez was sworn in for the 2nd time exactly one year ago. Note how he swears on a copy of the Spanish constiution and nothing else



Meanwhile and as a comparison, here is when PM Rajoy swore in for the first time, back in 2011. He swore in with 3 things. The Spanish constitution of course; but he also swore in with a copy of the Bible and a cross



Then again I guess it's worth mentioning that PM Sánchez was the first PM in history to not swear in with a cross and a Bible; even the very progressive PM Zapatero swore in with those. Quickly reading it seems it was mandatory to swear in with a cross and a Bible all the way until 2014, even if you weren't Catholic/Christian!

Before the option was available, it seems the main distinguishing factor is that left wing PMs "affirmed" (prometo) while doing the swearing in; while the right wing/centrist PMs "sweared" (juro). That's a distinction that still applies even on the swearing in of individual MPs.