What if a genie told you in 2013 that…

[TDAS04]

-The 45th President will be a septuagenarian when taking office.
-The 46th will be even older (born before the 45th).

What would have been your thoughts?  Who would you think would be the next two presidents?

[Yu748Girl83]

My thoughts would be "Okay, so what?" because I don't really care about how old they are.

[Sir Mohamed]

Ugh, that's tricky because HRC was 69 at inauguration date 2017 and if it was Biden, I hardly could have imagined someone older than him as successor.

My estimation would certainly have been that POTUS #45 didn't complete the 2017-21 term and was either forced to resign or died in office while #46 was VP prior to that and just served as a placeholder, not running for a full term in 2020.

[Agonized-Statism]

There's some kind of ominous movement down the line of succession where Biden and then Pelosi (after a 2014 midterm where Democrats do well) succeed Obama. Kid me in 2013 probably thinks terrorism and/or a big war. Adult me would definitely think terrorism, but domestic and in response to a big Democrat win in 2014.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

A terrorist attack instantly kills Obama and Ryan and gravely wounds Biden, who dies after a day as President, leaving the Presidency to Leahy.

Or another possibility some day in the middle of January 2017, lets say January 6th because that's an interesting day has a terrorist attack that kills Obama and gravely wounds Biden and so both Biden and Pelosi take office before the President elect does.

[TDAS04]

Perhaps Obama dies in office, with Biden ascending to the presidency, only to lose his own party’s nomination to Bernie Sanders, who goes on to win the White House in 2016.

[Agonized-Statism]

Perhaps Obama dies in office, with Biden ascending to the presidency, only to lose his own party’s nomination to Bernie Sanders, who goes on to win the White House in 2016.

Was Sanders on anyone's radar in 2013?

[TDAS04]

Perhaps Obama dies in office, with Biden ascending to the presidency, only to lose his own party’s nomination to Bernie Sanders, who goes on to win the White House in 2016.

Was Sanders on anyone's radar in 2013?

The idea of him primarying Obama in 2012 had been floated.

[Mr. Smith]

Clinton wins 2016 then...

A) Trump defeats her re-election bid in 2020

or

B) Clinton and her VP are assassinated, so Pelosi assumes the role from Speakership.

[TDAS04]

Clinton wins 2016 then...

She was a year short of being a 70-something.

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

I wouldn't care, as I was too young to care about politics

[Alben Barkley]

Perhaps Obama dies in office, with Biden ascending to the presidency, only to lose his own party’s nomination to Bernie Sanders, who goes on to win the White House in 2016.

Was Sanders on anyone's radar in 2013?

The idea of him primarying Obama in 2012 had been floated.

*Attempting to primary

There was a 0% chance of him actually succeeding, and if he had tried it he probably would have been reduced to a laughing stock no one would take seriously in 2016, a Ron Paul-esque cult figure at best.

[Joe Republic]

A genie?  I'd say, "ok that's great, now for my first wish, I want to have the biggest..." etc. etc. and so on.

[TDAS04]

Perhaps Obama dies in office, with Biden ascending to the presidency, only to lose his own party’s nomination to Bernie Sanders, who goes on to win the White House in 2016.

Was Sanders on anyone's radar in 2013?

The idea of him primarying Obama in 2012 had been floated.

*Attempting to primary

There was a 0% chance of him actually succeeding, and if he had tried it he probably would have been reduced to a laughing stock no one would take seriously in 2016, a Ron Paul-esque cult figure at best.

I don’t disagree.  Suppose he still stays out of 2012, but he decides to take on President Biden (who only ascends, is not elected, to the office in this hypothetical) in 2016.  He somehow succeeds.

Yes, that also would have been very unlikely, but what happened IRL also would have sounded far-fetched in 2013.

This thread is just asking what you would have predicted with the information provided by the genie in 2013.  It would have been difficult to figure out, but it ultimately happened.

[Schiff for Senate]

Clinton wins 2016 then...

A) Trump defeats her re-election bid in 2020

or

B) Clinton and her VP are assassinated, so Pelosi assumes the role from Speakership.

You'd have foreseen a Trump candidacy in 2013?

[SWE]

Perhaps Obama dies in office, with Biden ascending to the presidency, only to lose his own party’s nomination to Bernie Sanders, who goes on to win the White House in 2016.

Was Sanders on anyone's radar in 2013?

The possibility of a Bernie candidacy didn't really get floated until around 2014. I remember before him for a while Brian Schweitzer (lmao) looked like the most likely option to challenge Hillary from the left, who at that point looked like she could expect a 50 state coronation. Weird time.

[Del Tachi]

CNN's 2015 list of potential 2016 candidates to watch only included two would-be septuagenarians:  Biden and Sanders.

So, given this information the smart money would be on a Biden-Bernie succession.