Donald Trump

President Donald Trump (PennLive file)

By Tony May

Most Americans weren't alive on Jan. 30, 1974, when G. Gordon Liddy became the first of President Richard M. Nixon's "dirty tricks" team to be found guilty of crimes associated with the Watergate burglary.

Tony May (PennLive file)

The verdict was the first domino to fall in a chain leading directly to the resignation of the "leader of the free world" on August 9 of the same year. For those who did witness the events of 1974, today's headlines may generate a sense of deja vu.

A president had never resigned before - or since.

But it feels like the metronome of inevitability has started to tick again.

If Donald Trump was a reflective person, he might look back at 1974 and learn from Nixon's self-inflicted nightmare.

It would be preferable for him, personally, to leave office voluntarily along with Vice President Mike Pence as an alternative to the looming prospect of the Congressional and independent hearings into the so-called "Russia connection," having his tax returns scrutinized by the general public and the Congress, the specter of more court fights along the lines of the challenge to his travel ban on citizens from certain predominantly Muslim countries.

And then there is the continuing backlash against his cabinet choices and other appointments and his seeming inability to maintain a civil conversation with a wide variety of foreign leaders.

Most of all, it would end the need to confront the reality that most Americans did not vote for him and that fewer really like him.

Why would he resign so soon?

Perhaps after only 200 days. Nixon was in his sixth year and had built a legacy and was facing impeachment. The answer lies in Trump's DNA.

Trump has always been a real estate developer. Real estate speculators figure out quickly when a project is doomed and cut their losses. They bail.

It's not inconceivable that Trump would deal with the presidency as he has with the Trump casinos, the Trump Shuttle, Trump vodka, Trump steaks, two marriages and the list goes on. He never admits failure; he just walks away.

There are two additional reasons why Trump might resign before the year is out.

First, he is and will continue to be worried about Trump Enterprises.

He may have believed that he could keep the business side going and growing with his left hand while guiding the nation and the world with his right.

Working two jobs is a lot harder than he thought and there is also the problem of criminal conflicts of interest popping up at every turn.

Second, Trump is not a young man.

He doesn't eat wisely and it's hard to tell what his real exercise regimen is, outside of playing golf on the weekends. Being president is a grind - even if you are an inattentive president. The job will wear him out.

The challenge for the rest of us is how to break free of Trump in the most constructive way.

One reason America was able to turn the page in a peaceful manner in 1974 is that it involved changing the President but also the Vice President in the same year.

The Watergate affair cast a pall over the entire 1972 election and it's doubtful that a Spiro Agnew presidency would have been accepted.

That is a challenge for the entire ticket - Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

It's simply not acceptable to have Trump resign and replace him with his running mate. Mike Pence has to go, too.

The Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 provide a blue print that would make the Speaker of the House next in line if Pence resigns.

Then the President Pro Tem of the Senate and then members of the Cabinet in the order that they were originally established - Secretary of State, Treasurer, Secretary of Defense and so on.

Things worked out differently in 1974 and, in retrospect, they appear to have worked out for the better.

We lost the Vice President first in October of 1973 when Spiro Agnew resigned because of a scandal involving his time as governor of Maryland.

When Nixon resigned, it was Vice President Gerald Ford who filled the void. Ford had a positive reputation with lawmakers of both parties. He was accepted and the Republic survived.

He, in turn, appointed former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, a middle of the road Republican, as Vice President who was then confirmed by the House and Senate as provided for by the 25th Amendment.

For the appointment process to work under the 25th Amendment, the vice president would have to resign first and be replaced by a nominee of the president who is confirmed by Congress.

He or she would then become president and nominate a new vice president.

It sounds arbitrary - because it is. Congress acting in a bipartisan manner is fairly unusual but we know from 1974 that it can work and that it is preferable to the rancor and destructiveness of impeachment or an unprecedented court-declared redo of the 2016 election.

The appointive route would also be less divisive than the next two prospects under the Presidential Succession Act, Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate President Pro Tem Orrin Hatch of Utah.

It all sounds extreme and unlikely - but no more extreme and unlikely as the political events of recent months.

And it's not too soon to be weighing alternatives.