What I heard from Legal Eagle is that there'll still be a president, following the line of succession. It gets kinda tricky because a lot of the line of succession will also be sitting open, though. No vice president, no one in the house of representatives (so no speaker of the house).
Apparently it ends up going to the "president pro tempore" of the senate - the senator of the majority party who's been serving longest. Lovely, huh.
That probably ends up being a Democrat though, based on state Governors having to appoint replacement senators for their 1/3 who faced reelection. People have done the math and that leads to a Democratic majority, which is kinda interesting. Apparently that leads to Senator Pat Leahy becoming president.
But... that's weird, because the governors would take time to appoint the senators. So I looked up
another source about this. This article's take doesn't include governors appointing senators, just the 65 who'll remain. The answer remains the same: A Democratic majority, still making the President Pro Tempore (and thus the President) Leahy.
BUT apparently that title isn't legally defined (hilarious for a position that's third in line to the Presidency) so the article suggests the senate Democrats can choose anyone, even a non-senator. (one sec, weeping for this country)
I do take some solace that Trump definitely doesn't remain president without the Electoral College saying so. I'd love to see him get removed by secret service on national TV. I'm sure the fallout in the streets would be horrible, but it's nice to imagine him resisting arrest.
Whereas my dad relayed some theory that the electoral college will convene and vote by delegation, such that California gets the same voting power as Oklahoma, and thus Trump gets elected. I am too exhausted to even puzzle that out. I *think* the process he meant was for a tie situation, whereas he thought it applied to any election still contested at the inauguration.