How Batman's biggest fan could become president. (Seriously.)

As usual, so much is going on that one can barely keep track of it all. Last night, we learned that the Great Tax Bill is now in trouble. Marco Rubio has come to understand that the Mighty Fox Wurlitzer may not be enough to save a Republican senator who backs an incredibly unpopular piece of legislation.

(Added note: The bill has been rewritten to mollify Rubio. I'm betting that this trick will work and that the bill will pass.)

Meanwhile, the attacks on two FBI personnel who privately expressed a distaste for Trump continues to threaten the Mueller probe. No new facts have come out, but the right-wing propagandists keep rewording headlines to convey the impression that shocking new revelations are flying at us every day. The media barrage has worked, with more than half the population now persuaded that Mueller (a Republican) may be a Clinton-controlled Soros-bot.

The real question, which some Democrats have belatedly started to ask, is why those private emails were made public.

I'm still betting that Trump will use this ginned-up controversy as an excuse for firing Mueller. For the purposes of this post, however, let us posit that Mueller stays in place and that his probe can inflict fatal damage to Trump and Pence. What then?

In particular, what of Paul Ryan?

Ryan has signaled that he is thinking about quitting politics. At a press conference, Ryan denied -- almost under his breath -- that he has plans to go. Nevertheless, most observers think that he has formulated an exit strategy. Why? Why now?

The man is a staunch Randroid ideologue who has long sought the power to create Libertarian Utopia. Now that the Russia scandal threatens Pence as well as Trump, Paul Ryan (the third in the line of succession) actually has a shot at the presidency.

(I admit that the chances of such a thing actually happening are not great. This post is about unlikely-but-possible scenarios.)

Why would a man in his position want to head out the door now? Two possibilities:

1. Paul Ryan faces a strong challenge in his home district. The challenger is one Randy Bryce, a non-politician trade unionist laborer nicknamed "Ironstache." Although Ryan has the money and the name recognition, he simply isn't very popular, and the poll numbers aren't going his way. The Speaker of the House could experience one of the more humiliating losses in House history.

2. Ryan himself could get caught up in the Trump/Russia scandal. In June of 2016, before Russia was part of the national conversation, Ryan and others were recorded "joking" about Trump taking money from Putin. Many people think that this "joke" was not just a joke, and that Paul Ryan has always been privy to details about criminal behavior. Such foreknowledge could result in charges against Ryan. There are rumors that Russians have parked money in RNC coffers; so far, I've seen absolutely no evidence to back that notion.

(Do you know of any evidence? If so, please share!)

If the Mueller probe manages to endanger both Trump and Pence simultaneously, and if Ryan chooses that moment to declare that he is done with politics, then who becomes president of the United States?

Technically, the line of succession goes to Orrin Hatch, the president pro tempore of the Senate. Some months ago, Louise Mensch published an outlandish piece claiming that Hatch was already receiving security briefings because Trump, Pence and Ryan were doomed. That's when I stopped taking Mensch seriously.

Yet here we are, contemplating that very scenario.

Problem: Hatch, who is in his 80s, plans to retire next year. Mitt Romney intends to run for his seat, and almost certainly will win it. Does this mean that Romney has an outside chance to achieve his great dream of sleeping in the White House?

No. Romney would not inherit the title of president pro tempore of the Senate. That honor goes to the member of the majority party in the Senate who has served the longest.

We now face an issue which few thought would be an issue: Which party will be the majority after the elections of 2018? Before the Jones win in Alabama, I would have said that the Republicans had a lock on the Senate. Now, anything seems possible.

If the Republicans retain control of the Senate, the title of president pro tempore will probably fall to Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who will soon become the longest-serving Republican in the history of either house of Congress. (The current record is held by one Joseph Cannon.) If you agree with the proposition that one may fairly judge a man by his heroes, then you may be startled to learn that Cochran is a big fan of Jefferson Davis. He actually uses a desk previously owned by Davis.

If the Democrats gain control of the Senate, the president pro tempore will be Patrick Leahy of Vermont. He's the Vermont senator I like.

His hero, believe it or not, is Batman. From Wikipedia:

Leahy is a fan of comic books, and in particular the character Batman. He wrote the foreword to The Dark Knight Archives, Volume 1 (a 1992 collection of the first four Batman comic books), the preface essay for Batman: Death of Innocents (a 1996 graphic novel about the horrors of landmines), and the introduction to Green Arrow: the Archer's Quest (a single-volume collection of a six-issue story arc).

Leahy has also made several cameo appearances in Batman television episodes and films, beginning with an uncredited cameo in Batman Forever (1995).[53][54] He voiced a territorial governor in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Showdown" (1995), appeared as himself in the film Batman & Robin (1997), and appeared twice in the Dark Knight Trilogy as a Wayne Enterprises board member. In The Dark Knight (2008), he tells the Joker "We're not intimidated by thugs", to which the Joker replies, "You know, you remind me of my father. I hated my father."[55] In The Dark Knight Rises (2012), he defended the legacy of the Wayne family against attempts to usurp the company by industrialist John Daggett.[56] Leahy also appeared in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, playing Senator Purrington, in a scene set during a Senate hearing which is subsequently destroyed by an explosion.[57]

All royalties and fees from Leahy's roles are donated to charities, primarily the Kellogg-Hubbard library in Vermont where he read comic books as a child.

Awesome. I don't need to know anything further about the guy. Leahy for President!

(Of course, the Court of Owls paid me to write that.)