Certain individuals are remaining in official positions to assure that this country continues to function without too much disaster.

an in-between on "The Button".

It came out later that this was done to keep Nixon under control.

I should have mentioned him, as well. There is a buffer in place to prevent an unstable President from doing something disastrous, but it's not an absolute buffer, unfortunately.

One of the problems is that the 25th Amendment is a weak measure for removing a President who is incapable of governing because of a mental defect. Very weak.

Still, there is a buffer between Trump and the Red Button. How strong it is depends on how strong the people who stand in as the buffers are.

Any kind of positive influence

Tillerson still has deep ties to Russia

... but saying that Mattis hasn't been the adult (at least in the public eye) is just not true.

An adult would resign before supporting the moron
Especially when it comes to
Denying climate change
Stealing our health care
Dismantling our schools
Destroying the Iran deal
Encouraging Nazi behavior
And on and on and on...

Tillerson is not a very good SoS, and it's easy to see that he hates his job and everything about it, but by all accounts he was a competent CEO. I think he's trying to do what he can to prevent a war with NK; he just doesn't know how because he's completely inexperienced as a diplomat, and anyhow Trump keeps undercutting him. It must really suck to be him. Kelly has a solid reputation as a military officer, a by-the-book sort of guy. Trying to deal with the goat rodeo that is Trump's WH must be a nightmare for someone like that.

I think it's fair to say that both Tillerson and Kelly are at least Serious People, like them or not.

Trump, however, is not a serious person, to put it mildly. I'm sure Tillerson and Kelly, plus McMaster and Mattis (who are also serious people) know things about Trump that would curl our hair and probably make us all hide in our basements with as much liquor as we could stockpile. They probably believe that if they quit, Trump would appoint someone as bad, stupid, incompetent and beholden to Trump as most of the rest of his cabinet (Perry, DeVos and Carson come to mind), and WWIII would commence shortly thereafter. I don't like any of those guys very much, but if they can keep Trump from completely going off the rails (he's damn close as it is), I hope they stay put until he's out of office.

There is, though, the so-called "suicide pact," where Tillerson, Mattis and Mnuchin all supposedly agreed to resign if any one of them were fired. If true, that erases Tillerson and Mattis from the "I've gotta stay to save the country from a madman" equation, although it would still hold true for Kelly.

Maybe Tillerson out of necessity...

Any pact would likely be between himself, Kelley and McMaster...

and who are they to decide?

i say if they think they are saving me and my family, do us a real favor.

resign....hold a press conference and put the insanity out there.

lay it all out.

all the rants.

all the crazy shit he's done behind the scenes.

that would make them heroes in my book.

... less competent people.

Shit like that appeals to folks who don't understand that this is a fucking marathon and not a sprint.

appointed by Trump. We aren't going to get folks we think are great in the Cabinet, you know. We'll have to settle for less, I'm afraid, as long as Trump is President.

i feel congress would have to move to do something.

i doubt that would happen, but if these cabinet folks think they are saving us, i'd rather go that route.

in their positions. Once they step down, they lose all capability of doing anything at all.

Go read the 25th Amendment. It is the Cabinet that declares the President to be unable to serve. If someone is not in the Cabinet, they have no authority to do anything at all.

Congress can act anytime it wishes on an Impeachment and Removal process. It requires nothing to do so. It will not, however, do that simply because some Cabinet members quite. Not a chance.

and might be the first one to leave. The generals: Mattis, Kelly, McMaster, probably have some sense of responsibility and duty about this.

He's been undercut constantly by Jared the Wonderboy and generally been treated like shit. My theory is he'd have quit by now if he didn't feel like he had a mission to keep Trump from doing something insane of foreign policy. Jmho ymmv.

to lift sanctions on Russia. He gets richer and pleases Putin too. I don't know about Kelly, he's as bad as Trump