The US presidential succession system looks nice in theory but its real-world use raises questions. Like those fancy-looking charts showing distant relatives rights to the British crown its more about having a plan than using it
The idea of a lower-ranked cabinet member (such as the Secretary of Transportation) becoming commander-in-chief seems too simple on paper. This scenario would mean that something really bad happened to many high-ranked officials — which is already a big-time crisis for the country
The succession list goes deep into government ranks; however theres a disconnect between theory and reality. In case we need to look that far down the chain-of-command (past the first 10-12 spots) the nations problems would be way bigger than just picking the next person-in-charge. Such an event would create nation-wide chaos — making the neat succession plan seem like a non-important detail in comparison to other urgent issues