Who becomes president if Donald Trump resigns or is impeached?

 

Mike Pence. Vice President Mike Pence would become president if Donald Trump were to resign or be impeached.
But it’s not like we can rest easy if that happens. You have to remember he’s Trump’s VP for a reason.

I won’t go into detail about why Pence is the worst, but to give you a flavor, in March last year he signed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. It banned abortions motivated solely by the mother’s objection to the fetus’s disability (among other things) — including Down syndrome.
In 2015, he signed a bill that made it just fine for Indiana businesses to discriminate against LGBT customers, because apparently we’re living in 1601.
So long story short: You do not want Mike Pence running the country any more than you do Trump.

Pence has signed one of the most strict abortion laws in the country (Picture: REUTERS)

But how would we even get there, and what is impeachment for that matter?

Impeachment, defined very crudely, is when a high-up US government official is removed from their role and kicked out of the White House.
The term is usually thrown around when talking about a president, but the vice president and other civil officers can be impeached as well.
Boy, 7, missing after deadly Barcelona terror attack that killed 13 people It is referred to in the US constitution as: ‘The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.’
Put simply, if congress doesn’t like what the president is doing, it has the power to remove him from office.
But for them to do so, there has to be evidence of misconduct.

He’s currently serving as vice president (Picture: Getty Images)

Bill Clinton was summoned to an impeachment trial but not convicted (Picture: REUTERS)

Where did impeachment come from?

The practice of impeachment originated in England and was adopted by many of the American colonial governments and state constitutions.
According to the United States Senate website, framers considered several possibilities before deciding that the Senate should try impeachments at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

Someone in the US House of Representatives must then present a resolution calling for impeachment.
A committee will investigate the accusations of misconduct. Whether or not there are actual grounds for impeachment is voted on.
If all agree, the Senate will hold an impeachment trial. Two-thirds of the Senate must vote in favor of conviction for the president to be removed.