CNN reports that the Pentagon has readied a second “nuclear football” to be on hand in Washington, DC for newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden as the original one travels with outgoing office holder Donald Trump as he retreats to Florida.

The that Trump will flee Washington, DC prior to the Biden-Harris inauguration has led to some unique logistical challenges for the new administration and existing institutions, one of which is the Pentagon, which will see the role of Commander-in-Chief switch in an instant between two people who will be a thousand miles apart.

The nuclear football, a suitcase that has specific codes and communications equipment relating to the authorization of the launch of nuclear weapons, is never more than a few yards from the President as a matter of national security. 

For Inauguration Day, one football will travel with Trump to his desired site of exile, Mar-a-Lago in Florida.  A second football will be in Washington, DC.  At noon exactly, the codes in Trump’s football will be rendered inactive and the ones for Biden will be activated.

At that moment, the military detachment escorting Trump will be removed and all designations and authorities will be stripped from Trump.  At 12:00.01, Trump will simply be a citizen, unable to issue a command to any uniformed person around him.

The plane Trump will use to fly to Florida will have the designation of Air Force One on the southern route, but at noon, it will just be another federal aircraft as it prepares to return to Washington, where it will be in a hangar next to its exact duplicate, which will have been prepared in case President Joe Biden needs it.