WEBVTT 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:04.059 Welcome to the Deep Dive. It's so great to have 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:05.960 you with us today. Yeah, thanks so much for tuning 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:08.259 in. Whether you are prepping for a demanding 00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:10.500 meeting, catching up on some chores around the 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:14.220 house, or you simply have an insatiable curiosity 00:00:14.220 --> 00:00:16.820 about how things actually work behind the scenes, 00:00:17.219 --> 00:00:19.800 you are in the exact right place. Absolutely. 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:24.179 Today, we are analyzing a role that is, well, 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:26.339 it's constantly at the center of the news cycle, 00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:28.920 yet it remains structurally misunderstood by 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:31.079 almost everyone. Oh, completely misunderstood. 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:33.799 We have pulled together a really comprehensive 00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:36.539 stack of sources for you today, ranging from 00:00:36.539 --> 00:00:39.520 dense historical texts and constitutional analyses, 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:43.100 all the way to the exhaustive official Wikipedia 00:00:43.100 --> 00:00:45.320 breakdown of the vice president of the United 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:48.079 States. And it's a subject defined almost entirely 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:49.840 by its contradictions. I mean, you're looking 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.219 at an office that sits just one heartbeat away 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:54.700 from the presidency. Right. Possessing unimaginable 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:57.420 latent power. Exactly. Yet for a massive chunk 00:00:57.420 --> 00:01:00.460 of American history, it was treated as this this 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:03.259 constitutional afterthought and honestly, a political 00:01:03.259 --> 00:01:06.620 joke. Which feels like a massive paradox. And 00:01:06.620 --> 00:01:09.019 our mission today is to demystify that paradox 00:01:09.019 --> 00:01:12.180 for you. We really want to explore how this office 00:01:12.180 --> 00:01:14.879 managed to transform from a ridiculed benchwarmer 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:17.739 position into one of the most powerful and critical 00:01:17.739 --> 00:01:20.340 governing partnerships in the free world. OK, 00:01:20.379 --> 00:01:22.819 let's unpack this right now. So to really understand 00:01:22.819 --> 00:01:25.540 the modern vice presidency, you have to look 00:01:25.540 --> 00:01:29.060 at its rather chaotic origin story. This goes 00:01:29.060 --> 00:01:31.420 back to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:34.489 Right. And the most crucial thing to grasp here 00:01:34.489 --> 00:01:37.269 is that the framers did not have a vice president 00:01:37.269 --> 00:01:39.769 in their original blueprint. Wait, really? Not 00:01:39.769 --> 00:01:42.569 at all? Not at all. The position simply did not 00:01:42.569 --> 00:01:44.489 exist in the early drafts of the Constitution. 00:01:44.969 --> 00:01:47.909 It was hastily manufactured at the very end of 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:50.390 the convention. I mean, practically at the 11th 00:01:50.390 --> 00:01:53.010 hour. Wow. Yeah. And it was handed over to an 00:01:53.010 --> 00:01:55.870 11 -member group. That was literally called the 00:01:55.870 --> 00:01:57.969 Committee on Leftover Business. The Committee 00:01:57.969 --> 00:02:01.189 on Leftover Business. That is incredible. So 00:02:01.189 --> 00:02:03.129 if they didn't originally want a second in command, 00:02:03.370 --> 00:02:06.269 what specific roadblock forced this Leftover 00:02:06.269 --> 00:02:08.689 Business Committee to suddenly invent one? Well, 00:02:08.770 --> 00:02:11.030 they collided with something known as the Favorite 00:02:11.030 --> 00:02:13.849 Son Problem. This happened while they were trying 00:02:13.849 --> 00:02:15.810 to figure out how to elect the chief executive. 00:02:16.090 --> 00:02:18.289 Okay, the Favorite Son Problem. Break that down 00:02:18.289 --> 00:02:20.789 for us. You have to remember the psychology of 00:02:20.789 --> 00:02:24.189 the late 18th century. loyalty to one's individual 00:02:24.189 --> 00:02:27.789 state heavily outweighed loyalty to this brand 00:02:27.789 --> 00:02:30.949 new, totally untested federal government. Oh, 00:02:30.949 --> 00:02:33.569 sure. You were a Virginian first, an American 00:02:33.569 --> 00:02:36.490 second? Precisely. So the framers realized that 00:02:36.490 --> 00:02:38.889 if they created a system where presidential electors 00:02:38.889 --> 00:02:41.909 just voted for one person, an elector from Virginia 00:02:41.909 --> 00:02:44.449 would instinctively only vote for a Virginian. 00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:46.319 And an elector from New York would only vote 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:49.120 for a New Yorker. Exactly. So the fear was that 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:51.180 everyone would just retreat to their regional 00:02:51.180 --> 00:02:53.819 corners and the country would never actually 00:02:53.819 --> 00:02:56.680 achieve a national consensus on a single leader. 00:02:56.819 --> 00:02:59.419 That was the exact fear. So to force a broader 00:02:59.419 --> 00:03:02.060 consensus, the committee engineered a rather 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:04.800 clumsy workaround. Clumsy is probably putting 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:08.020 it lightly. Oh, definitely. They decided to require 00:03:08.020 --> 00:03:10.699 every elector to cast two votes for president. 00:03:11.300 --> 00:03:13.719 And they mandated that at least one of those 00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:15.900 choices had to be for a candidate from a different 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:18.680 state than the elector. OK, that makes sense 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:21.120 on paper. Right. But to make sure those second 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.879 votes were actually taken seriously, they established 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:26.199 that whoever received the most votes overall 00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:29.379 became president and the runner up would become 00:03:29.379 --> 00:03:31.669 the vice president. I mean, I sort of get the 00:03:31.669 --> 00:03:33.990 logic. For you listening, it's like being forced 00:03:33.990 --> 00:03:35.870 to vote for your second favorite movie just to 00:03:35.870 --> 00:03:38.370 make sure some niche indie film doesn't accidentally 00:03:38.370 --> 00:03:40.669 win Best Picture because of a weird split vote. 00:03:40.870 --> 00:03:42.629 That's a great way to think about it. But it 00:03:42.629 --> 00:03:45.310 sounds a bit like ranked choice voting in a modern 00:03:45.310 --> 00:03:47.889 corporate board election, but with a massive 00:03:47.889 --> 00:03:51.030 glaring flaw. Oh, a huge flaw. They didn't seem 00:03:51.030 --> 00:03:53.389 to account for the fact that... The runner up 00:03:53.389 --> 00:03:55.530 might be fundamentally opposed to everything 00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:59.189 the winner stands for and, you know, might actively 00:03:59.189 --> 00:04:01.990 try to sabotage them. That is exactly the flaw 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:04.009 that tore the system apart almost immediately. 00:04:04.610 --> 00:04:07.349 It was a mechanism designed solely to prevent 00:04:07.349 --> 00:04:10.229 a regional voting deadlock. It completely ignored 00:04:10.229 --> 00:04:12.550 the reality of partisan politics. Which they 00:04:12.550 --> 00:04:16.069 found out the hard way. Very hard. In 1796, John 00:04:16.069 --> 00:04:18.310 Adams, who believed in a strong central government, 00:04:18.490 --> 00:04:21.560 won the presidency. Thomas Jefferson, his fierce 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:24.420 rival, who advocated for keeping power concentrated 00:04:24.420 --> 00:04:29.410 within individual states, came in second. Two 00:04:29.410 --> 00:04:32.410 men with entirely opposing worldviews to share 00:04:32.410 --> 00:04:35.509 the executive branch. Yep. And Jefferson essentially 00:04:35.509 --> 00:04:38.069 used the vice presidency as a platform to frustrate 00:04:38.069 --> 00:04:40.449 Adams' policies from the inside. And then, four 00:04:40.449 --> 00:04:43.170 years later, that flawed math created an even 00:04:43.170 --> 00:04:46.110 bigger constitutional crisis. It did. In the 00:04:46.110 --> 00:04:48.430 election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson and his running 00:04:48.430 --> 00:04:51.089 mate, Aaron Burr, ended up at a dead tie. A dead 00:04:51.089 --> 00:04:53.449 tie. They both received exactly 73 electoral 00:04:53.449 --> 00:04:55.779 votes. Because the system did not differentiate 00:04:55.779 --> 00:04:57.699 between a vote for president and a vote for vice 00:04:57.699 --> 00:04:59.899 president, the tie completely broke the electoral 00:04:59.899 --> 00:05:02.480 process. So what happened? The decision was thrown 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:04.740 into the House of Representatives. It resulted 00:05:04.740 --> 00:05:08.379 in 36 agonizing ballots before Jefferson finally 00:05:08.379 --> 00:05:11.439 secured the presidency, leaving Burr as his vice 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:14.699 president. 36 ballots. That is pure chaos. Pure 00:05:14.699 --> 00:05:17.540 chaos. That sheer chaos proved the original design 00:05:17.540 --> 00:05:20.399 was totally untenable and it forced the country 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:22.720 to pass the 12th Amendment. Which finally required 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:26.500 electors to cast distinct separate votes for 00:05:26.500 --> 00:05:28.519 president and vice president. Exactly. It fixed 00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:31.160 the math problem. But even after the 12th Amendment 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:33.639 fixed the voting mechanics, the sources highlight 00:05:33.639 --> 00:05:36.790 that the actual day -to -day job remained. absolutely 00:05:36.790 --> 00:05:39.610 miserable. Oh, yeah. For over a century, being 00:05:39.610 --> 00:05:41.829 vice president was essentially a political dead 00:05:41.829 --> 00:05:44.490 end. I mean, it became what essayists of the 00:05:44.490 --> 00:05:46.790 time called a sinecure, right? A position with 00:05:46.790 --> 00:05:49.709 a title and a salary, but practically zero responsibilities. 00:05:49.829 --> 00:05:52.829 It was heavily utilized merely as a tool to balance 00:05:52.829 --> 00:05:55.990 a ticket geographically or ideologically. It 00:05:55.990 --> 00:05:58.069 was not meant to bring a real governing partner 00:05:58.069 --> 00:06:00.170 into the fold. The quotes from the historical 00:06:00.170 --> 00:06:03.670 texts are just brutal. John Adams, having been 00:06:03.670 --> 00:06:06.389 the first to endure it, wrote to his wife Abigail 00:06:06.389 --> 00:06:09.149 and described it as the most insignificant office 00:06:09.149 --> 00:06:11.550 that ever the invention of man conceived. And 00:06:11.550 --> 00:06:14.430 he wasn't the only one complaining. No, definitely 00:06:14.430 --> 00:06:17.089 not. Thomas R. Marshall, who served under Woodrow 00:06:17.089 --> 00:06:20.009 Wilson, frequently told a joke about it. He said, 00:06:20.089 --> 00:06:22.430 once there were two brothers, one ran away to 00:06:22.430 --> 00:06:24.689 sea, the other was alleged vice president, and 00:06:24.689 --> 00:06:26.990 nothing was heard of either of them again. The 00:06:26.990 --> 00:06:29.569 humor was really just a coping mechanism for 00:06:29.569 --> 00:06:32.050 the profound irrelevance of the role. I mean, 00:06:32.050 --> 00:06:34.910 John Nance Garner, who was Franklin D. Roosevelt's 00:06:34.910 --> 00:06:36.930 first vice president. Oh, this quote is famous. 00:06:37.230 --> 00:06:39.629 It is. He famously provided the most colorful 00:06:39.629 --> 00:06:42.009 assessment, claiming the job isn't worth a pitcher 00:06:42.009 --> 00:06:45.250 of warm piss. It is such a stark contrast to 00:06:45.250 --> 00:06:47.730 how we view the office today. It went beyond 00:06:47.730 --> 00:06:50.610 just feeling useless. They were genuinely invisible 00:06:50.610 --> 00:06:54.189 to the public. Completely invisible. Calvin Coolidge, 00:06:54.290 --> 00:06:56.829 before his presidency, was so obscure during 00:06:56.829 --> 00:06:59.829 his time as VP that when his Washington residence 00:06:59.829 --> 00:07:02.449 had to be evacuated for a fire, the fire marshal 00:07:02.449 --> 00:07:05.189 did not even recognize who he was. He was literally 00:07:05.189 --> 00:07:08.629 standing outside his burning building, unrecognized. 00:07:08.709 --> 00:07:11.509 Right. A Major League Baseball team even sent 00:07:11.509 --> 00:07:14.629 him a package of free passes with his name noticeably 00:07:14.629 --> 00:07:17.350 misspelled. While those anecdotes are definitely 00:07:17.350 --> 00:07:20.829 amusing. That profound invisibility masked a 00:07:20.829 --> 00:07:23.990 very real structural danger. How so? Well, the 00:07:23.990 --> 00:07:26.329 Constitution was terrifyingly vague regarding 00:07:26.329 --> 00:07:29.350 the actual succession process. Article 2 stated 00:07:29.350 --> 00:07:31.550 that in the event of the president's death or 00:07:31.550 --> 00:07:34.250 resignation, the powers and duties of the office 00:07:34.250 --> 00:07:36.730 would devolve upon the vice president. The powers 00:07:36.730 --> 00:07:40.009 and duties? Right. But it notably failed to clarify 00:07:40.009 --> 00:07:42.290 whether the vice president actually becomes the 00:07:42.290 --> 00:07:44.949 president or merely serves as a temporary acting 00:07:44.949 --> 00:07:48.009 president until a new election can be held. Here's 00:07:48.009 --> 00:07:50.550 where it gets really interesting, because that 00:07:50.550 --> 00:07:52.790 constitutional ambiguity wasn't just a theoretical 00:07:52.790 --> 00:07:55.069 debate for academics. It triggered a massive 00:07:55.069 --> 00:07:58.370 crisis in 1841 that forced the country to figure 00:07:58.370 --> 00:08:00.790 out what the rules actually were in real time. 00:08:00.949 --> 00:08:03.209 And that crisis was the death of William Henry 00:08:03.209 --> 00:08:05.230 Harrison. The shortest presidency in history. 00:08:05.569 --> 00:08:08.529 Yes. He caught a cold that developed into pneumonia, 00:08:08.750 --> 00:08:11.670 and he passed away after serving only 31 days 00:08:11.670 --> 00:08:15.629 in office. His vice president, John Tyler, was 00:08:15.629 --> 00:08:17.910 suddenly thrust into an unprecedented situation. 00:08:18.290 --> 00:08:20.370 So Tyler had to make a definitive choice right 00:08:20.370 --> 00:08:22.290 then and there about the nature of his own power. 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:25.629 He either steps in as a temporary caretaker or 00:08:25.629 --> 00:08:28.329 he claims the presidency in its entirety. And 00:08:28.329 --> 00:08:31.910 Tyler forcefully chose the latter. He asserted 00:08:31.910 --> 00:08:33.809 that he had succeeded to the presidency itself, 00:08:34.070 --> 00:08:36.669 not just its powers. He didn't ask permission. 00:08:36.950 --> 00:08:39.139 Nope. He promptly took the presidential oath 00:08:39.139 --> 00:08:41.299 of office, assumed the full authority of the 00:08:41.299 --> 00:08:43.980 executive branch, and flatly refused to acknowledge 00:08:43.980 --> 00:08:46.779 any correspondence addressed to him as acting 00:08:46.779 --> 00:08:50.240 president. He just returned it unopened. Returning 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:53.000 the mail unopened, that is an incredible power 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:55.899 play. He simply forced the rest of the government 00:08:55.899 --> 00:08:57.899 to accept his interpretation of the Constitution 00:08:57.899 --> 00:09:00.519 through sheer stubbornness. It was incredibly 00:09:00.519 --> 00:09:03.200 bold. Yeah. But that Tyler precedent ultimately 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:05.500 held the fragile young nation together during 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:08.059 a very vulnerable transition. Congress eventually 00:09:08.059 --> 00:09:10.320 voted to acknowledge him as the actual president. 00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:12.960 But it wasn't official law yet. No, it is vital 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:15.299 to understand that this precedent remained merely 00:09:15.299 --> 00:09:18.340 a gentleman's agreement for over a century. It 00:09:18.340 --> 00:09:20.559 was not officially codified into constitutional 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:23.519 law until the ratification of the 25th Amendment 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:27.110 in 1967. That structural evolution is fascinating, 00:09:27.350 --> 00:09:30.070 but it highlights a massive gap in how the office 00:09:30.070 --> 00:09:33.149 operated. The Tyler precedent meant a vice president 00:09:33.149 --> 00:09:35.269 would immediately become the leader of the free 00:09:35.269 --> 00:09:38.049 world if tragedy struck. Right. Yet the culture 00:09:38.049 --> 00:09:40.629 of the office still treated them like the obscure, 00:09:40.809 --> 00:09:43.309 invisible punchline we saw with Calvin Coolidge. 00:09:43.490 --> 00:09:46.149 They were kept completely out of the loop regarding 00:09:46.149 --> 00:09:48.090 how the country was actually being run. Which 00:09:48.090 --> 00:09:50.070 brings us to the most dramatic wake up call in 00:09:50.070 --> 00:09:52.340 the history of the executive branch. In 1945, 00:09:52.820 --> 00:09:55.559 the globe is entirely consumed by World War II. 00:09:55.639 --> 00:09:57.379 Right, the stakes could not be higher. Franklin 00:09:57.379 --> 00:09:59.440 D. Roosevelt has just begun his fourth term, 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:02.340 and Harry Truman is serving as his newly elected 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:04.159 vice president. And Truman had been in the role 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:07.220 for a mere 82 days. His interactions with FDR 00:10:07.220 --> 00:10:09.820 were incredibly scarce, and his duties were strictly 00:10:09.820 --> 00:10:12.399 limited to just presiding over the Senate. Then, 00:10:12.460 --> 00:10:16.279 on April 12, 1945, Roosevelt unexpectedly dies. 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:18.759 Truman is immediately sworn in as president. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:22.220 And shortly after taking the oath, military officials 00:10:22.220 --> 00:10:24.600 pull him aside to inform him that the United 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:27.799 States is in the final stages of developing the 00:10:27.799 --> 00:10:30.440 most destructive weapon in human history. The 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:32.960 Manhattan Project. Yes. And Truman had absolutely 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:35.519 no idea it existed. He was entirely blind to 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:38.730 it. Furthermore, he was completely unaware of 00:10:38.730 --> 00:10:41.269 the intricate post -war strategies Roosevelt 00:10:41.269 --> 00:10:43.649 had been negotiating with allied leaders. So 00:10:43.649 --> 00:10:45.889 he was handed the most powerful position on Earth 00:10:45.889 --> 00:10:48.549 during the climax of the most significant conflict 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:51.090 in model history without any of the necessary 00:10:51.090 --> 00:10:53.629 intelligence or context required to actually 00:10:53.629 --> 00:10:55.809 govern. Exactly. The shock of that transition 00:10:55.809 --> 00:10:58.250 is captured perfectly in his own words from the 00:10:58.250 --> 00:11:01.210 source material. Truman told reporters, I felt 00:11:01.210 --> 00:11:03.190 like the moon, the stars and all the planets 00:11:03.190 --> 00:11:05.559 fell on me. What's fascinating here is how that 00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:08.120 terrifying vulnerability permanently altered 00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:11.399 the trajectory of the office. Truman successfully 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:14.480 navigated the end of the war, but he fundamentally 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:17.019 recognized that the deliberate isolation of the 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:19.700 vice president was a catastrophic national security 00:11:19.700 --> 00:11:22.220 risk. He knew he couldn't let that happen to 00:11:22.220 --> 00:11:25.039 the next guy. Right. He made it his mission to 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:27.679 ensure no successor would ever face that same 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:31.740 blind spot. In 1949, Truman pushed to make the 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:34.120 vice president a statutory member of the National 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:37.059 Security Council. He integrated the role into 00:11:37.059 --> 00:11:39.480 cabinet meetings and ensured they received the 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:41.960 daily intelligence briefings. So what does this 00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:44.700 all mean for the modern era? If they are no longer 00:11:44.700 --> 00:11:46.919 kept in the dark just waiting in a parlor for 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:49.080 a disaster to happen, what does the actual framework 00:11:49.080 --> 00:11:51.700 of the job look like today? Well, their strictly 00:11:51.700 --> 00:11:54.679 constitutional duties remain quite narrow, though 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:56.419 they have definitely taken on greater weight 00:11:56.419 --> 00:11:59.179 in recent years. As the president of the Senate, 00:11:59.379 --> 00:12:01.700 the vice president cannot debate legislation 00:12:01.700 --> 00:12:04.500 on the floor. They only possess the power to 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:07.200 vote in the event of a tie. And that tie -breaking 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:10.039 authority has become far more than just a ceremonial 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:13.000 quirk. With modern partisan divides, it is a 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:16.539 crucial legislative tool. The records show Kamala 00:12:16.539 --> 00:12:18.600 Harris currently holds the all -time historical 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:21.460 record for tie -breaking votes at 33. That's 00:12:21.460 --> 00:12:23.960 right. She surpassed John C. Calhoun, an early 00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:26.480 19th century vice president who previously held 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:29.480 the record at 31 votes for over a century. The 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:32.679 other explicit constitutional duty is presiding 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.379 over the joint session of Congress to count the 00:12:35.379 --> 00:12:37.460 Electoral College votes following a presidential 00:12:37.460 --> 00:12:41.659 election. It is meant to be a profound ceremonial 00:12:41.659 --> 00:12:44.419 demonstration of the peaceful transfer of power. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:47.620 It is also arguably the most uncomfortable duty 00:12:47.620 --> 00:12:49.620 in American politics, depending on the outcome 00:12:49.620 --> 00:12:51.679 of the election. Oh, without a doubt. If a sitting 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:53.840 vice president runs for the top job and loses, 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:56.419 they are constitutionally obligated to stand 00:12:56.419 --> 00:12:58.919 before the nation and officially certify their 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:01.259 own defeat. Which is brutal. We have seen this 00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:03.879 happen four times in modern history. Richard 00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:06.000 Nixon announced John F. Kennedy's victory in 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:09.740 1961. Al Gore certified George W. Bush's win 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:13.159 in 2001. And recently, Kamala Harris certified 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:16.600 Donald Trump's victory over her in 2025. It requires 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.159 an immense amount of institutional respect to 00:13:19.159 --> 00:13:21.460 perform that duty under those specific circumstances. 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:24.519 But if we look beyond those specific mandated 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:27.620 tasks, we see the true evolution of the modern 00:13:27.620 --> 00:13:29.379 vice presidency. Right. The real day -to -day 00:13:29.379 --> 00:13:32.220 power. The pivotal transformation into a genuine 00:13:32.220 --> 00:13:35.799 governing partnership occurred in the late 1970s. 00:13:35.899 --> 00:13:38.679 That was with Jimmy Carter and his vice president, 00:13:38.820 --> 00:13:42.299 Walter Mondale. Mondale fundamentally redefined 00:13:42.299 --> 00:13:45.049 the expectations of the job. Following the 1976 00:13:45.049 --> 00:13:47.789 election, he drafted a comprehensive memo to 00:13:47.789 --> 00:13:50.330 Carter. He argued that the vice president should 00:13:50.330 --> 00:13:52.350 not be relegated to cutting ribbons or attending 00:13:52.350 --> 00:13:54.990 foreign funerals. Right. No more busy work. Exactly. 00:13:55.309 --> 00:13:57.929 He said the VP should instead serve as a general 00:13:57.929 --> 00:14:00.929 advisor across all executive matters. And Carter 00:14:00.929 --> 00:14:04.129 agreed, which led to a massive structural shift. 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:06.830 Mondale became the first vice president to be 00:14:06.830 --> 00:14:09.269 granted an office directly in the West Wing of 00:14:09.269 --> 00:14:11.980 the White House. Which is a huge deal. Prior 00:14:11.980 --> 00:14:14.320 to this, vice presidents maintained offices in 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.259 the executive office building across the street 00:14:16.259 --> 00:14:18.879 or all the way up on Capitol Hill. Moving into 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:21.259 the West Wing provided immediate physical proximity 00:14:21.259 --> 00:14:24.120 to the Oval Office. It meant integration of their 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.799 respective staffs, access to the exact same paper 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.220 flow, and the vital ability to be in the room 00:14:29.220 --> 00:14:31.720 when critical decisions were being debated. That 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:34.679 geographical shift clearly catalyzed an expansion 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:37.360 of power that just continued to compound over 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:39.960 the decades. Absolutely. By the dawn of the 21st 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:42.700 century, you witnessed Dick Cheney operating 00:14:42.700 --> 00:14:46.460 under George W. Bush with an unprecedented level 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:50.039 of autonomy. Cheney reshaped the paradigm entirely. 00:14:50.570 --> 00:14:53.029 He staffed his office with seasoned national 00:14:53.029 --> 00:14:56.110 security heavyweights. He actively drove major 00:14:56.110 --> 00:14:58.769 foreign policy decisions, establishing himself 00:14:58.769 --> 00:15:01.950 as an incredibly powerful force within the executive 00:15:01.950 --> 00:15:04.850 branch. And that model of delegation has really 00:15:04.850 --> 00:15:07.450 become the standard. Presidents now routinely 00:15:07.450 --> 00:15:10.850 assign massive, complex and highly independent 00:15:10.850 --> 00:15:13.450 portfolios to their vice presidents. I mean, 00:15:13.470 --> 00:15:15.129 the scope of the federal government is simply 00:15:15.129 --> 00:15:17.830 too vast for one individual to manage alone. 00:15:18.169 --> 00:15:19.809 You see this clearly in recent administration. 00:15:19.850 --> 00:15:22.269 We're talking historical facts here. Barack Obama 00:15:22.269 --> 00:15:24.509 formally delegated the oversight of the Iraq 00:15:24.509 --> 00:15:26.929 drawdown and subsequent diplomatic efforts to 00:15:26.929 --> 00:15:30.169 Joe Biden. In early 2020, Donald Trump tapped 00:15:30.169 --> 00:15:32.769 Mike Pence to spearhead the federal government's 00:15:32.769 --> 00:15:35.190 entire interagency response to the COVID -19 00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:38.289 pandemic. And Joe Biden assigned Kamala Harris 00:15:38.289 --> 00:15:41.230 the diplomatic effort to address the root causes 00:15:41.230 --> 00:15:43.210 of the migrant influx at the southern border. 00:15:43.350 --> 00:15:46.940 They operate as active. deployed copilots, managing 00:15:46.940 --> 00:15:49.960 vast sectors of federal policy and continuing 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:53.039 this modern lineage. As of January 20, 2025, 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:56.519 J .D. Vance serves as the 50th vice president 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:59.019 under Donald Trump. Exactly. Given how much power 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:01.440 the role now commands, the strategic calculus 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:04.399 behind selecting a running mate is intense. They 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:06.960 are looking for demographic advantages, geographical 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:10.539 swing state appeal or ideological balance. But 00:16:10.539 --> 00:16:12.500 the historical texts reveal that the process 00:16:12.500 --> 00:16:15.639 is still bound by some incredibly strange 18th 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:18.379 century constitutional quirks. The most prominent 00:16:18.379 --> 00:16:20.419 of those quirks is found right within the 12th 00:16:20.419 --> 00:16:22.679 Amendment. There is an inhabitant clause that 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:24.639 strongly discourages a presidential candidate 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:26.779 and their running mate from residing in the same 00:16:26.779 --> 00:16:28.720 state. Does it trick you rule? The amendment 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:31.000 stipulates that an elector cannot cast both of 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:33.039 their votes for two individuals from their own 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:35.809 home state. Which requires some careful electoral 00:16:35.809 --> 00:16:38.409 math to really understand. So for you listening, 00:16:38.529 --> 00:16:41.529 think of it this way. If a state has, say, 38 00:16:41.529 --> 00:16:43.870 electoral votes and both the presidential and 00:16:43.870 --> 00:16:46.070 vice presidential candidates live in that state, 00:16:46.190 --> 00:16:48.710 those 38 electors could vote for the president. 00:16:48.870 --> 00:16:51.429 Right. But they would be constitutionally forbidden 00:16:51.429 --> 00:16:53.669 from giving their second vote to the vice president 00:16:53.669 --> 00:16:56.730 on that exact same ticket. Correct. Now, in a 00:16:56.730 --> 00:17:00.169 landslide election, forfeiting those home state 00:17:00.169 --> 00:17:02.629 electoral votes for the vice president. might 00:17:02.629 --> 00:17:05.670 not really matter. But in a highly contested 00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:09.049 race, losing those votes could easily drop the 00:17:09.049 --> 00:17:11.390 vice presidential candidate below the required 00:17:11.390 --> 00:17:13.789 threshold. Which would be a disaster for that 00:17:13.789 --> 00:17:15.650 campaign. It could potentially allow the opposing 00:17:15.650 --> 00:17:17.990 party to claim the vice presidency. And that 00:17:17.990 --> 00:17:20.349 mathematical risk almost derailed a campaign 00:17:20.349 --> 00:17:23.130 in the year 2000. George W. Bush, the governor 00:17:23.130 --> 00:17:25.509 of Texas, selected Dick Cheney as his running 00:17:25.509 --> 00:17:28.650 mate. But Cheney was living, working, and registered 00:17:28.650 --> 00:17:30.869 to vote in Texas at the time. Right, they were 00:17:30.869 --> 00:17:33.430 both Texans. Knowing the race against Al Gore 00:17:33.430 --> 00:17:36.369 would be razor thin, they absolutely could not 00:17:36.369 --> 00:17:38.450 afford to forfeit the Texas electoral votes for 00:17:38.450 --> 00:17:41.289 vice president. Cheney had to urgently scramble 00:17:41.289 --> 00:17:43.410 to change his official residency, his driver's 00:17:43.410 --> 00:17:45.910 license and his voter registration back to his 00:17:45.910 --> 00:17:48.750 previous home state of Wyoming just to avoid 00:17:48.750 --> 00:17:51.849 triggering a constitutional crisis. It is a striking 00:17:51.849 --> 00:17:54.230 example of how deeply the logistical frameworks 00:17:54.230 --> 00:17:57.190 designed by the framers still dictate modern 00:17:57.190 --> 00:18:00.119 political maneuvering. And speaking of logistics, 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:02.980 the day -to -day realities and perks of the office 00:18:02.980 --> 00:18:05.579 have finally evolved to match the immense responsibilities 00:18:05.579 --> 00:18:08.900 we have been discussing. The lifestyle has undeniably 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:11.339 received an upgrade since the era of Calvin Coolidge 00:18:11.339 --> 00:18:13.960 being ignored by fire marshals. Definitely. The 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:16.259 compensation and accommodations reflect the modern 00:18:16.259 --> 00:18:19.119 security and operational demands. The official 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:21.460 statutory salary for the vice president is currently 00:18:21.460 --> 00:18:25.619 $284 ,600. Not bad. Though due to a federal pay 00:18:25.619 --> 00:18:28.559 freeze implemented in 2019, the actual plentiful 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:30.920 salary they take home remains capped at $235 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:34.579 ,100. And they finally resolved the housing issue. 00:18:35.019 --> 00:18:38.099 The sources note that remarkably, up until 1974, 00:18:38.740 --> 00:18:41.160 the United States government did not provide 00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:43.220 an official residence for the vice president. 00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:45.240 Which is wild to think about. They were expected 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:47.460 to live in their own private homes or in many 00:18:47.460 --> 00:18:50.039 cases rent hotel suites right in Washington. 00:18:50.339 --> 00:18:52.759 Which became an absolute untenable nightmare 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:55.940 for the Secret Service. Securing a private neighborhood 00:18:55.940 --> 00:18:58.519 or a commercial hotel against modern threats 00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:01.640 is practically impossible. So what did they do? 00:19:02.089 --> 00:19:04.710 Congress eventually designated No. 1 Observatory 00:19:04.710 --> 00:19:07.750 Circle as the official residence. It is a highly 00:19:07.750 --> 00:19:11.670 secure, three -story Queen Anne -style home situated 00:19:11.670 --> 00:19:14.710 on the sprawling protected grounds of the U .S. 00:19:14.710 --> 00:19:16.930 Naval Observatory. And the transportation protocols 00:19:16.930 --> 00:19:19.410 are equally intensive. For long -distance travel, 00:19:19.529 --> 00:19:21.569 the vice president utilizes heavily modified 00:19:21.569 --> 00:19:24.750 Boeing 757s. The moment the vice president steps 00:19:24.750 --> 00:19:27.269 on board, the aircraft's call sign officially 00:19:27.269 --> 00:19:30.569 changes to Air Force Two. But the short distance 00:19:30.569 --> 00:19:32.670 travel procedures are what really stand out to 00:19:32.670 --> 00:19:34.049 me. You're talking about the Marine helicopter 00:19:34.049 --> 00:19:37.450 fleet? Exactly. They do not just fly a single 00:19:37.450 --> 00:19:40.470 helicopter from the Naval Observatory to Andrews 00:19:40.470 --> 00:19:43.609 Air Force Base. To mitigate the risk of a targeted 00:19:43.609 --> 00:19:46.829 attack, they fly a formation of identical Marine 00:19:46.829 --> 00:19:49.109 helicopters. And times up to five at once. Yeah. 00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:52.160 Yeah. And while they are in transit. The pilots 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:55.319 execute this complex aerial shell game. They 00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:57.400 are constantly swapping positions in the air 00:19:57.400 --> 00:19:59.700 so that anyone attempting to track the flight 00:19:59.700 --> 00:20:02.240 from the ground cannot possibly identify which 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:04.980 specific helicopter is carrying the vice president. 00:20:05.180 --> 00:20:08.140 This raises an important question. When you synthesize 00:20:08.140 --> 00:20:10.279 all of this, the West Wing office integration, 00:20:10.660 --> 00:20:13.440 the massive delegated policy portfolios, the 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:16.079 intense Secret Service protection, and the decoy 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:18.460 helicopter formations. You have to step back 00:20:18.460 --> 00:20:21.160 and appreciate the grand arc of this constitutional 00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:23.579 history. It really is a massive shift. We're 00:20:23.579 --> 00:20:26.220 looking at an office that John Adams openly mocked 00:20:26.220 --> 00:20:28.779 as insignificant, a role that was originally 00:20:28.779 --> 00:20:30.960 designed merely to prevent electors from voting 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:33.839 solely for their neighbors. Yet it has evolved 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.460 into a critical, indispensable pillar of the 00:20:36.460 --> 00:20:39.119 executive branch. It really has. When you see 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:40.960 the vice president stepping off Air Force Two 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:44.359 today, you are observing an individual who is 00:20:44.359 --> 00:20:46.660 actively shaping the trajectory of the nation 00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:49.900 on a daily basis. They are no longer relegated 00:20:49.900 --> 00:20:52.480 to the shadows waiting for a tragedy to occur. 00:20:52.660 --> 00:20:55.299 It is an incredible evolution from a leftover 00:20:55.299 --> 00:20:57.859 afterthought to a primary architect of federal 00:20:57.859 --> 00:21:01.019 policy. Before we wrap up today's analysis, there 00:21:01.019 --> 00:21:05.059 is one final mind -bending constitutional brain 00:21:05.059 --> 00:21:07.900 teaser buried in the source material that we 00:21:07.900 --> 00:21:09.839 want to leave you with. It was a good one. We 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:12.119 all generally know that the 22nd Amendment limits 00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:14.859 a president to two elected terms. Once you are 00:21:14.859 --> 00:21:17.880 elected twice, you are done. However, there is 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:21.299 no explicit constitutional provision that actively 00:21:21.299 --> 00:21:23.460 disqualifies a twice -elected president from 00:21:23.460 --> 00:21:25.519 being chosen as a vice presidential running mate. 00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:28.759 It is a fascinating textual loophole. The 12th 00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:31.119 Amendment states that no person constitutionally 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:32.799 ineligible to the office of president shall be 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:34.900 eligible to be vice president. Right. But the 00:21:34.900 --> 00:21:37.640 22nd Amendment specifies only a limit on being 00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:39.619 elected to the office of president. It does not 00:21:39.619 --> 00:21:41.940 explicitly restrict someone from merely serving 00:21:41.940 --> 00:21:44.680 in the capacity. Which creates a massive legal 00:21:44.680 --> 00:21:47.359 gray area that the courts have never had to test. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.440 Could a highly popular term limited former president 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:54.180 theoretically be selected as a vice presidential 00:21:54.180 --> 00:21:56.720 running mate and potentially find themselves 00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.140 back in the Oval Office through the line of succession? 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:01.500 Legal scholars and constitutional historians 00:22:01.500 --> 00:22:04.819 fiercely debate the mechanics of this exact loophole. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:06.980 And it is definitely something compelling for 00:22:06.980 --> 00:22:08.579 you to mull over the next time you find yourself 00:22:08.579 --> 00:22:11.559 analyzing an election cycle. Thank you so much 00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:13.740 for joining us on this deep dive. We hope you 00:22:13.740 --> 00:22:16.279 walk away viewing the second highest office in 00:22:16.279 --> 00:22:18.339 the land through an entirely new lens.