History Awesome / DesignatedSurvivor

** And on a meta level, the show takes a huge swing at Donald Trump when Kirkman tells a laid off factory worker the hard truth that his job is never coming back, and if any politicians had told him that, they were lying.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Season 2]]

* At long last, Kirkman and Hannah meet and start working together. The result is them getting shit done at an exponentially increased rate from the season's first half, until in just one episode Beth is forced to kill her husband and herself to keep them from taking down the whole conspiracy in one swoop.

!!Pilot

!!The First Day

!! The Enemy

!! The Mission

!! The Results

!! The Oath
* Agent Wells being a total {{Determinator}} throughout the episode, coming back from being near death in a vehicular attack to ([[CliffHanger maybe]]) avert an assassination attempt on Kirkman. Along the way, she rediscovers ex-President Richmond's presumed-dead Chief of Staff, and shortly thereafter she manages to gun down a [[{{Mooks}} henchman]] of the conspirators, who to this point had been complete {{Karma Houdini}}s in their plot to take over the government.

* Agent Wells realizes just from Atwood name-dropping an old FBI case (and then digging the details out a bit later) why he went to meet a strange woman and then later confess to killing Nassar.

* On the eve of the special Congressional elections, amid fears of bioterrorism attacks on the polling places, Kirkman gives a RousingSpeech regarding how they can't let fear triumph over democracy, before going to vote himself. Later that day, news channels are displaying voters turning out in droves, most saying that they're doing so because the President did.

** To elaborate, the [=SEALs=] [[spoiler:had Nassar and his men cornered in a basement. The terrorists had taken several children hostage, threatening to kill them unless the [=SEALs=] dropped their weapons.]] A flashbang goes off and contact with the team is lost for a minute, during which Kirkman and his staff naturally fear the worst. Just when it's looking hopeless, they finally hear from the team: [[spoiler:Nassar has been captured, the rest of the terrorists are dead, and all of the children are still alive thanks to one of the [=SEALs=] TakingTheBullet for them]].

* The covert-ops SEAL team successfully [[spoiler:captures Nassar]].

* When Cochrane finally oversteps his bounds by ordering planes into Algeria on his own authority, Kirkman finally has enough and [[YouHaveFailedMe fires the general on the spot]].

* Royce decides he will not accept Kirkman as the legitimate President after all and goes back to rounding up Muslims. Royce has Emily basically arrested whens she comes to Michigan to talk about the situation. Kirkman, via Emily, offers to have Royce fly back to Washington for a heart-to-heart talk. As soon as Royce gets off the plane, Kirkman has ''him'' arrested for treason for ignoring a Presidential order.

!! The Way Forward
* Royce decides he will not accept Kirkman as the legitimate President and goes back to rounding up Muslims. He has Emily basically arrested whens he comes to Michigan to talk about the situation. Kirkman offers to have Royce fly back to Washington for a heart-to-heart talk. As soon as Royce gets off the plane, Kirkman has ''him'' arrested for ignoring a Presidential order.
* When Cochrane finally oversteps his bounds by ordering planes into Algeria on his own authority, Kirkman finally has enough and fires the general on the spot.

-->'''Kirkman:''' ''[leaving the room]'' '''Twenty-five, damnit!'''

* When the governor of Michigan refuses to acknowledge Kirkman as a legitimate authority and starts essentially setting up a new Civil War by ordering all Muslims rounded up, Kirkman gives a total bluff that there were undercover federal agents among them, and he's not cleared to know their names so he'll have to let everyone go.

* Kirkman getting in Cochrane's face and telling him in no uncertain terms that he will ''not'' order an attack on the terrorist group suspected to be behind the attack without absolute certainty that they are in fact responsible.

* Wright tells a bitchy White House staff member to keep her mouth shut now that Kirkman is the president.

-->'''Kirkman''': Unless you remove those destroyers, the lead story tomorrow will not be the devastating attack on our country but our attack on yours.

* The entire scene with Kirkman and the Iranian UN Ambassador. You can even see a little bit of Jack Bauer creeping through at the end when he threatens to destroy the Iranian capital if he does not comply with his order to remove his naval destroyers from the Strait of Hormuz. He does it all so calm and collectively.

* When the governor of Michigan refuses to acknowledge Kirkman as a legitimate authority and starts essentially setting up a new Civil War by ordering all Muslims rounded up, Kirkman gives a total bluff that there were undercover federal agents among them, and he's not cleared to know their names so he'll have to let everyone go.

* Despite Kirkman's [[HeroWithBadPublicity questionable reputation]], he was able to tell that General Cochrane wants to engage Iran despite no concrete evidence that Tehran backed the attack on Washington D.C. He also agreed with Seth bluntly that he probably won't be a good leader. Kirkman was also able to convince the Iranian Ambassador to tell Tehran that the Iranian Navy needs to back off from the Strait of Hormuz.

* The entire scene with Kirkman and the Iranian UN Ambassador. You can even see a little bit of Jack Bauer creeping through at the end when he threatens to destroy the Iranian capital if he does not comply with his order to remove his naval destroyers from the Strait of Hormuz. He does it all so calm and collectively.

* Wells quickly determining that the FBI's initial assumptions that the attack must have been by the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, or ISIS are wrong, and also being the first to realize [[ItHasOnlyJustBegun that things are just getting started]].

* Wells quickly determining that the FBI's initial assumptions that the attack must have been by the Taliban, Al-Quaeda, or ISIS are wrong, and also being the first to realize [[ItHasOnlyJustBegun that things are just getting started]].

* Despite Kirkman's [[HeroWithBadPublicity questionable reputation]], he was able to tell that General Cochrane wants to engage Iran despite no concrete evidence that Tehran backed the attack on Washington D.C. He also agreed with Seth bluntly that he probably won't be a good leader. Kirkman was also able to convince the Iranian Ambassador to tell Tehran that the Iranian Navy needs to back off from the Strait of Hormuz.