Since Kamala Harris‘ defeat to Donald Trump in the election, some people have either wondered about or loudly called for Joe Biden to step down in the final stages of his presidency.
This would effectively make Harris the 47th U.S. president until Trump is sworn back into office on Jan. 20, 2025. The real chance of that happening is a far cry from the fantasy some people are projecting, however.
Why it probably won’t happen
There are several reasons why Biden stepping down to allow Harris a short time in office is almost certainly not going to happen.
First of all, the optics of the first female president being handed the position instead of earning it are plain bad. It’s doubtful someone as prideful as Harris would want to be thrown a bone in that way in any case.
The act would also be cannon fodder for misogynists who think women can’t be world leaders. As such, many democrats hoping to see a woman eventually hold the position would prefer it to be done via votes, not a political loophole.
Why people want Biden to step down
Plenty of people who have been fried by this election cycle feel it would be a gentlemanly, positive thing to do due to Biden’s age. They also believe it would be the only real chance for a woman to hold the position in the near future.
Some are choosing to lean more into spite when raising the idea, which isn’t uncharacteristic of this election cycle.
Others just think it would be a good laugh. As Ben Keenan described on TikTok, it would be “objectively funny” for Biden to make way for Harris. “She could enact all of the policies that she proposed for her first four years,” he continued, “and force the Republicans across the country to sue in order to stop the proposals or roll them back.”
Keenan also said it would then force Trump to undo all her executive orders. This would make Americans “fully aware that he wasn’t actually going to do anything to work on their behalf in the first place. He just wanted to undo everything that the Dems did.”
Has it ever happened before?
There have been several instances of vice presidents being sworn in because the president resigned, but none of those occurrences were done in the same context as Biden’s would be.
Of the 15 vice presidents who went on to become president, eight succeeded to the office on the death of a president. The transfer of power has also occurred due to resignation, such as Gerald R. Ford’s rise to office following Richard Nixon’s infamous bow out.
While from the outside it might look like being VP is a path to holding the highest position in the U.S., it’s rare for VPs to later run for the presidency and win. Only six have done it to date. Biden is one of the only examples, having previously been Barack Obama‘s VP.
“Vice presidents are pretty successful at gaining their party’s nomination for president,” said American politics professor John McGlennon via History. “But they’re less successful at actually winning elections.”
“Sometimes voters are just ready to move on,” McGlennon added. And that sounds about right, as pundits and political experts cast doubts Harris will ever run for the presidency again. Even if she wanted to, her party might not be on her side following Trump clinching the popular vote.