Preserve, Protect, & Defend

[Left Wing]

This is an amazing and chilling TL.

Keep it up!

[Roll Roons]

Were there any members of Congress who weren't at SOTU?

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Were there any members of Congress who weren't at SOTU?

Possibly whoever was chosen to give the response

[brucejoel99]

Were there any members of Congress who weren't at SOTU?

This will be the subject of a future post!

[Roll Roons]

Bump

[brucejoel99]

Bump

Coming back, I promise! 3 weeks 'til I take the LSAT, though, so it's crunch time for me right now

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

Bump

Coming back, I promise! 3 weeks 'til I take the LSAT, though, so it's crunch time for me right now

Hope you knock that out of the park! I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment as well!

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

The end of the post where the tragedy happens, followed up by your signature… it's like a gut punch

[Joseph Cao]

Best of luck with your endeavors! Eagerly await the return of this amazing timeline.

That final scene with Haaland and Thomas…

[Utah Neolib]

Bump

[brucejoel99]

Bump, with 1 week now:

Bump

Coming back, I promise! 3 weeks 'til I take the LSAT, though, so it's crunch time for me right now

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Bump, with 1 week now:

Bump

Coming back, I promise! 3 weeks 'til I take the LSAT, though, so it's crunch time for me right now

Good luck. Still have a few years until I have to take it, unless standardized testing is canceled or I move to Canada when Kamala wins.

[Ferguson97]

Loving this so far!

I’m actually more interested in seeing the implications for the replacements in Congress and the House, since that’s a bit less straightforward.

[brucejoel99]

Took the (remote) LSAT today, & now cooling down from the stress & anxiety. Update will be coming in the next few days!

[Ferguson97]

Took the (remote) LSAT today, & now cooling down from the stress & anxiety. Update will be coming in the next few days!

My best friend took the LSAT today too. How do you think you did?

[brucejoel99]

Took the (remote) LSAT today, & now cooling down from the stress & anxiety. Update will be coming in the next few days!

My best friend took the LSAT today too. How do you think you did?

Nice, sending retroactive positive vibes for them to do well! I felt very good about the Logical Reasoning & the Reading Comprehension sections, & about the 1st half of the Logic Games section as well, but I took so long to do that 1st half that I had literally no time left for the 2nd half & had to resort to just filling in a bunch of random bubbles for the last 9 questions. An August re-take is likely in the cards unless I miraculously managed to hit my target score of 163 somehow.

[Roll Roons]

Hope you're not abandoning this! It's scary but a hell of a read.

[brucejoel99]

Hope you're not abandoning this! It's scary but a hell of a read.

Don't worry, the newest installment is coming either later today/tonight or early tomorrow!!

[brucejoel99]

Acting President Haaland

Tuesday, January 24th, 2023:

9:44pm, Presidential Emergency Operations Center

Deb Haaland visits Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico (2019-02-05) 02 - U.S. Air Force-Jessie Perkins [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

With the oath-of-office now taken care of, the Secret Service detail protecting Haaland - now officially the Acting President - didn't even waste a second in evacuating her to the underground PEOC bunker, to the extent that they'd practically swept her off her own two feet before she'd even had the opportunity to thank Justice Thomas for administering the oath to her. Surely, she'd nevertheless find the time to do so soon enough: due to his being one of the few remaining high-ranking officials in the federal government who was thankfully still alive, Haaland authorized midway through being dragged to the PEOC by her detail that both he & Justice Alito - just as soon as the latter could be located - as well as their families be entitled to remain at the White House & receive temporary Secret Service protection until further notice. Not to mention, in spite of their ideological differences, it wouldn't necessarily hurt to have a judge or two in the building tonight, just in case.

A few seconds later, Haaland & her detail arrived at the underground bunker & the Acting President was escorted into the PEOC. At first a bit internally perplexed by the gathered Deputy - now Acting - Secretaries & remaining members of the Joint Chiefs standing to attention upon her entrance, she saw to it to regain her personal composure near-instantaneously. "Please, please, keep your seats," she coolly requested, "God only knows how long we're gonna need to be in them for tonight." As much as she didn't wanna be her, let alone having never even envisioned herself being here, the Acting President felt a responsibility - nay, a duty, not least to those who'd just been lost - to accept this fate which was being foisted upon her with fortitude, & so she was determined to let the room know who was now in charge. Sure, she may have started out as a party bigwig back in NM before she rose through the ranks to Congress & then Interior, where she hadn't even been formally involved in anything but solely-domestic affairs up until 5 or so minutes ago, but she still knew well-enough how these strong-willed brass-types operated: any sign of potential weakness on her part, & they'd try their best to jam her whenever they felt a need to do so, so she was determined to get out ahead of any rashness on their part.

To hopefully leave no doubt in the room, she sought to make her authority clear as she took her own seat & looked out across the subordinates who were seated before her: "Well? Where are we? What's the reality of what's going on right now & what needs to be done? And perhaps most importantly, how in the hell was a plane able to crash into the Capitol!? Didn't we install a missile-defense system for D.C. after 9/11 so that precisely that couldn't happen?" To the Acting President's left, General John E. Hyten, the Vice - &, now, Acting - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was the first to respond to the evidently-focused inquiries of his now-Commander-in-Chief. "Madam President," he began, just as determined to get to work as the Acting President, "the missile-defense system that was locally installed following 9/11 is only meant to protect the White House. Unfortunately, with this plane's target having been the Capitol, it - frankly, unconscionably - had as clear a shot as it could've hoped for. And in any event, what appears to be clear from the little on-the-ground intel that we've been able to receive from up the road thus far is that we were just under a state of attack &, for all we know, we may still very well be, or else we wouldn't be sitting here in this bunker right now. We're recommending that you federalize the D.C., VA, & MD National Guards so that they can assist both local & federal law enforcement in keeping the peace up here for the time being, & that you take us to DEFCON 2 with immediate effect, so that our overall force readiness is increased to the extent that our Armed Forces are ready, if need be, to deploy & engage in less than 6 hours from now." At that, she turned to her right toward Dr. Kathleen Hicks, now the Acting Secretary of Defense. "Do you concur with those recommendations, Madam Secretary?" Acting Secretary Hicks minced no words. "100%, Madam President. We need to be prepared for anything & everything that may come our way not just tonight, but in the coming days. If - God forbid - this was a state actor, then war was quite literally just declared against us, & we need to have the strongest possible response set & ready to go." To be clear, the Acting President was no hawk: she'd co-sponsored the AUMF repeals when she was in Congress & condemned the hostilities which former President Trump had sought with Iran in the strongest possible terms. But here, in this room & in her chair, now was no time for a dove. 'Then you're a go for both DEFCON 2 & Guard federalization, General Hyten. And General, through whatever intermediaries are necessary, & I don't care if they're an ally, an adversary, or an enemy, get a message to Raisi to get his destroyers out of the Gulf right now before anything dares to escalate further. If the world knows anything tonight, then they need to know this & they need to know it now: "don't mess with us tonight."'

"Yes, Ma'am," General Hyten responded, nodding. If Deb didn't command the room's confidence before, she sure did now.

[Person Man]

If this happens in life, regardless who is in there, there’s a 50/50 chance that the opposition is made illegal and we become some sort of autocratic state.

[BigVic]

Can’t wait to see Haaland’s committee on the 1/24 SOTU attacks and her Presidency. How will Congress fill its vacancies?

[Captain Chaos]

There will be a special election nationwide to fill the empty seats in the US House of Representatives.

Most states authorize its Governors to appoint US Senators to fill vacant seats. And special elections for those not appointed.

[brucejoel99]

If this happens in life, regardless who is in there, there’s a 50/50 chance that the opposition is made illegal and we become some sort of autocratic state.

I can assure you that the 50% chance of democracy prevailing is what'll be winning out here in this TL.

Can’t wait to see Haaland’s committee on the 1/24 SOTU attacks and her Presidency. How will Congress fill its vacancies?

Those will be touched upon in one of the next few installments!

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Another Designated Survivor fan I see

[brucejoel99]

Another Designated Survivor fan I see

I wish! As much as I love both Kiefer & political dramas, I couldn't force myself to make it past the 1st-half of Season 1