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The Supreme Court orders two political enemies to serve as President together.
Very rough concept but I foresee it being a sort of like Trump VS Bernie Sanders but they're both thrust into an impossible situation after a tie in both the electoral college and the legislature.
The premise of two Presidents has comedic bones. The method of how they get there (a Supreme Court Decision) seems implausible. I'd consider something along the lines of a constitutional amendment was passed requiring a President from each party when neither wins an election by more than 5% - or something like that.
The premise of two Presidents has comedic bones. The method of how they get there (a Supreme Court Decision) seems implausible. I'd consider something along the lines of a constitutional amendment was passed requiring a President from each party when neither wins an election by more than 5% - or something like that.
Thanks, Dave.
I thought it might be best to get the story written first, then deal with that part later.. In fact, the story might inform that part. I'm not married to the setup.
To flesh it out more - the raw setup is that the Supreme Court rules that if neither one of them will concede, then they'll just have to serve together because both the country and the legislature are tied and can't break the log jam.
I'm gonna need a constitutional lawyer to help on the setup! But there's a mountain of funny setups because the two really don't like each other but they have to work together. Who's President today? Fighting over who gets to sit where. Which path to take. Who answers the questions? Eventually they're going to face a crisis where they have to work together, and in doing so, overcome the crisis become friends and start to hate their own parties, etc.
I thought it might be best to get the story written first, then deal with that part later.. In fact, the story might inform that part. I'm not married to the setup.
To flesh it out more - the raw setup is that the Supreme Court rules that if neither one of them will concede, then they'll just have to serve together because both the country and the legislature are tied and can't break the log jam.
I'm gonna need a constitutional lawyer to help on the setup! But there's a mountain of funny setups because the two really don't like each other but they have to work together. Who's President today? Fighting over who gets to sit where. Which path to take. Who answers the questions? Eventually they're going to face a crisis where they have to work together, and in doing so, overcome the crisis become friends and start to hate their own parties, etc.
Yeah, the amount of comedic potential with this is something else.
With the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background, they both enter the oval office and end up in a physical struggle over who sits at the Resolute desk, as their staff watches. LMAO - maybe a news anchor on a TV in the background exclaiming the greatness of America. LOL
Arguments at the U.N. - Not with other world leaders, but with each other. Then the pranks start, obviously initiated by the Trump-like character. The challenge in this will be in not letting it get TOO SILLY.
Yeah, the amount of comedic potential with this is something else.
With the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background, they both enter the oval office and end up in a physical struggle over who sits at the Resolute desk, as their staff watches. LMAO - maybe a news anchor on a TV in the background exclaiming the greatness of America. LOL
Arguments at the U.N. - Not with other world leaders, but with each other. Then the pranks start, obviously initiated by the Trump-like character. The challenge in this will be in not letting it get TOO SILLY.
You also have the background characters as fertile ground (the First Lady's as an example). As I type this - my thought is to make them friendly two each other - i.e., their husbands are the idiots - they're rational
Don't know if you're still working on this, but it could definitely be a funny premise. I agree with eldave1, though, that a Supreme Court decision isn't really a plausible scenario, even for a comedy. Instead you could set it up that the unresolved tie has led to a constitutional crisis that has brought the country to the brink of civil war, and thus sticking to the constitution is no longer an option. And in order to try to prevent the shooting war from starting, the Supreme Court comes up the joint-presidency proposal, which polls well enough with the public that both candidates feel they have no choice but to agree. It would also introduce some higher stakes, since the implication would then be that if the joint-presidency fails, the country will tear itself apart.
Also, you might want to think about adding a third president. In your scenario, with only two presidents, you'd assume that nothing would get done, and it would just be endless stalemates. You could change the backstory so that your election also featured a third party candidate, based on Kanye West, who under the Supreme Court's proposal would serve as the tie-breaking vote for the new joint-presidency. There'd definitely be a lot of comedic opportunities in a situation like that.