Carl Albert was Speaker of the House when Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency, but he did not “automatically” replace Gerald Ford as Vice President (Nelson Rockefeller was appointed VP by Ford and confirmed by Congress in accordance with the first application of the 25th Amendment to the succession of the President by the Vice President).
The Speaker assumes the Presidency only if the offices of President and Vice President are simultaneously vacant. Therefore if Biden were to be elected to and subsequently removed from the Presidency, and Harris were to succeed him, the Speaker (whomever that might be) would only become Vice President if nominated by the President and subsequently confirmed by both houses of Congress.
Before the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the Secretary of State was next in line to succeed to the Presidency should both the offices of President and Vice President become simultaneously vacant. When FDR died in office, HST could not fill the office of Vice President, so he chose his old mentor James Byrnes for Secretary of State to replace to replace Edward Stettinius Jr.
The passage of the 1947 Act put the Speaker back in line to succeed to the Presidency, followed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate (reversing the order prescribed in the 1792 succession act that was revised in 1886 to vest Presidential Succession only in members of the Cabinet).
You will note that when JFK was assassinated, Speaker John McCormack did not “automatically” become Vice President to replace LBJ, as this replacement was not authorized by the 1947 Act.
About the only way that Pelosi could become Acting President (assuming she remains Speaker after the 2020 Election) would be in the event of an Electoral College deadlock on 3 January 2021, followed by the failure both the House to elect a President and the Senate to elect a Vice President (who would serve as “Acting President” until the House fulfilled its obligation to elect a President) in accordance with the 12th Amendment before DJT’s term expires at 1200 EST on 20 January 2021.
Now, for a real nightmare scenario:
1) Biden/Harris are elected, and the Donkeys win a majority in both houses.
2) Shortly after Biden is sworn in, Harris and the Biden Cabinet assert that Biden is incapacitated.
3) Biden is removed from office (willingly or unwillingly), and Harris automatically succeeds him as President.
4) Harris nominates The Hildebeest for Vice President.
5) The Hildebeest is confirmed by a bloc vote of the Donkeys, obtaining a majority vote in both houses of Congress.
6) Harris resigns from office, and The Hildebeest automatically succeeds her as President.
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