Strange Duty of VP Presidential Candidates

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris certified the 2024 election in favor of her opponent, Donald Trump.  She is not the first vice president to have that uncomfortable duty.  Al Gore certified the 2000 election - in which he won the popular vote - for George W Bush.  Hubert Humphrey certified Richard Nixon's 1968 victory.  Nixon could sympathize with Humphrey, having been in the same position in 1960, when he certified his defeat against John F Kennedy.  One has to go back a century to find another sitting VP and failed presidential candidate announcing his opponent's victory.  John C Breckinridge was James Buchanan's VP.  He was one of 3 candidates opposing Lincoln and placed 2nd in the electoral college.  In February 1861, he announced that "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, having received a majority of the whole number of electoral votes, is elected President."  He then joined the Confederacy to oppose Lincoln in a less civilized fashion.

By contrast, only two VPs have had the joyous opportunity to preside over a victory.  VP George Bush certified his victory in the 1988 election.  Prior to him, one has to go back to Martin Van Buren who won the 1836 election as Andrew Jackson's VP.

The remaining two men who jumped directly from VP to presidency did so prior to the 12th Amendment.  As Washington's VP, John Adams was elected in 1796, but his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, won the vice-presidency.  The awkwardness of having the president and VP from rival parties brought about the 12th Amendment so that - generally - each party put up their picks for each office.  Thus, in 1800, Adams and Jefferson had a rematch but selected VP candidates; Aaron Burr for Jefferson and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for Adams.  The Jefferson-Burr ticket won, but both had identical electoral vote totals.  Now Burr argued that he had just as much right to be president as Jefferson.  This triggered a contingent election where the House had to choose, thus denying Jefferson the opportunity to announce his victory.

Presidential Rankings - The So-So Ones

The tier three presidents - rating as 'neutral' - were those who had mixed legacies.

John Tyler: He established that the VP would become the full-fledged president in the event of a president's death.  He vetoed Henry Clay's economic plan and negotiated the annexation of Texas.  However, he died during the Civil War as a member of the Confederacy.

Millard Filmore: He approved the Compromise of 1850 and opened trade with Japan.  He later sullied his reputation by running as a Know-Nothing.

Rutherford Hayes: He ended Reconstruction, peacefully addressed violent labor, fought inflation, and installed the first telephone in the White House.

Grover Cleveland: Resisted the populist impulses of the Bryan era, wanted a strong dollar, but plagued by labor riots and the Panic of 1893.

Benjamin Harrison: Improved foreign relations in the Western Hemisphere and pushed out political hacks for competent personnel.

William Howard Taft: A humdrum presidency between two egomaniacs.  The most distinguished ex-president by serving as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

John F Kennedy: He had the most inspiring rhetoric, set the US on a path to the moon, and turned the Soviets back from Cuba.

George Bush: Significant president who had successes and failures.  Did not partake in the post-presidency criticism of predecessors or successors.

George W. Bush: Also a significant president who had successes and failures.  Did not partake in the post-presidency criticism of predecessors or successors.

Tyler missed out on a higher ranking because of his post-presidency.  It wasn't until the 25th Amendment that his action of assuming the presidency was codified.  He gamed the 1844 election to assure the annexation of Texas.  Filmore may have sent Perry to Japan, but he was out of office by the time Perry returned.  By approving the Compromise of 1850, the Civil War was almost certainly averted for another 10 years that improved the North's chances of winning.  Hayes didn't exactly agree with the end of Reconstruction.  Sam Tilden - the Democrat - won the popular vote and the electoral vote was questionable.  There was a lot of fraud and disenfranchisement of blacks.  In order to assure Hayes as president, Reconstruction was put on the chopping block.  I wouldn't give Hayes credit for that.  Cleveland was a northern Democrat who wasn't so keen on civil rights.  However, he was vastly better than the next Democrat president would be.  Harrison and Taft are suited to the neutral tier.  JFK did give some of the best speeches.  Though outwardly it looked like the US won the Cuban Missile Crisis, it has since been shown to be a draw; Russia got a quid pro quo.  George Bush was trained to be a foreign policy president, to continue the Cold War, and then it ended a year into his presidency!  He was not meant to be a domestic president, somewhere he did not excel.  Despite George W Bush getting re-elected where his father didn't, I'd rate his father as the better president.  However, middle of the pack suits both father and son.

Only a Patsy?

The crazy stories about the assassination attempt on Trump are rolling now.  There is a video that shows the would-be assassin working his way across the roof.  It was filmed by someone behind Trump.  At one point, though very grainy, the figure suddenly vanished.  The commenter claims that was when Crooks was killed, before he even aimed his rifle.  Ergo, his only purpose was to distract from the real shooter while never actually firing himself.  Right.  Another post claims to show a bullet flying in the opposite direction, missing Trump shortly before the bullet that hit him.  Okay.  So, that would be our third shooter?  How many incompetent shooters were there?  I can accept that one guy was a bad shot.  I cannot accept that he was just a patsy for another shooter who was an equally bad shot.  Wait, there's more.  It is claimed that someone shorted Truth Social stock the day before Trump was shot.  Had he been killed, that person would have made a fortune when Truth Social stock price crashed.  Coincidence?  The poster thinks not.  Then there is the oddity that CNN was broadcasting this particular rally.  CNN hasn't regularly broadcast Trump's rallies, but this one in Butler merited coverage.  Coincidence?  Again, the poster thinks not.

Absolutely everything is suspicious and the web of conspiracy theories is growing bigger by the day.  What seems outlandish today will probably look tame a month from now.  Image how many iPhone videos of this event are just waiting to be reviewed.  Abraham Zapruder happened to be filming when JFK was shot and his film has been analyzed frame by frame ever since.  Now we have hundreds of Zapruders with their portable video cameras.  The madness has only just begun.