President Trump’s COVID diagnosis earlier this month has sparked a series of questions: What happens when a president gets sick? What could it mean for the election?

For today’s show, we get to the bottom of these questions. Our first guest, professor Allison Prasch, outlines the history of presidential illness and what gets communicated to the American public when a president has health problems.

Then, law professor Brian Kalt walks us through all the what-ifs about presidential candidates withdrawing, becoming incapacitated, or dying at various stages of the election process, and why we should be paying closer attention to VP candidates.

Allison Prasch is assistant professor of rhetoric, politics, and culture in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research focuses on U.S. presidential rhetoric, public address, foreign policy, space/place, and rhetorical history, theory, and criticism.

Brian Kalt is professor of law at Michigan State University. His research focuses on structural constitutional law and juries.

Cover photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash