Democrats are pushing to remove Donald Trump from office under the 25th Amendment after he threatened that “an entire civilization will die” if Iran does not back down, a statement many have seen as probable. was a crime.
The US President’s handling of the Epstein files and social media posts and statements made against Pope Leo XIV in the past week have further intensified the discussion.
What is the 25th Amendment?
The 25th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1967 to clarify the procedures when a President or Vice President is unable to continue in office due to death, resignation, or ill health.
Although dealing with presidential inefficiencies has long been an issue, the creation of the amendment was accelerated only after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.
The amendment has four sections. The first allows the Vice President to become President if the President resigns or dies. Section two addresses who will replace the Vice President, and section three allows for the temporary and voluntary transfer of powers if the President is incapacitated for a period of time. This section has been invoked before, most recently by President George W. Bush (in 2002 and 2007) and by President Biden in 2021, during a colonoscopy under anesthesia.
Latest demands for Trump’s removal have come down Section four of the amendmentWhich provides for the removal of the President from office if he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”.
In this scenario, the vice president and most of the principal officers of the executive departments or any other entity created by Congress could declare the president ineligible to serve. After this the Vice President becomes the acting President. This section was never implemented.
Who is demanding Trump’s removal from office?
Congressman Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, has proposed creating a commission to remove Trump if they decide he is no longer fit to serve. Fifty other Democratic House lawmakers have co-sponsored the bill.
“We are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people,” Raskin wrote in a statement on April 14.
It is not just the Democrats, but also some on the political right who are demanding the removal of the President.
Former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, once a staunch Trump supporter who resigned in January amid public disagreements with the president, wrote in support of the 25th Amendment on
He said, “We cannot kill an entire civilization. That is evil and madness.”
Right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, once a prominent figure in the MAGA movement, wrote on X that ““Congress and the military need to intervene,” he said, calling Trump a “genocidal maniac.”
The public is also worried about Trump’s ability to govern. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in late February found that only 45% of Americans think Trump is “mentally sharp and able to handle challenges.”
Why use the 25th Amendment and not impeachment?
Trump has already faced calls for impeachment in his second term. However, in the Republican-controlled House, they haven’t gone far enough. Trump is the only president in US history to be impeached twice – both during his first term. Both times, he was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate.
in an interview with Time magazine on 10 april, Raskin said lawmakers do not have the “means to engage in the impeachment process.” […] There is not a single Republican who has called for impeachment or indicated to us an interest in impeachment at this point.”
Currently, Democrats are in the minority in both the House and Senate, although this could soon change with the US midterm elections in November.
“A lot of the talk about the 25th Amendment is just plain politics,” Mark Graber, a law professor at the University of Maryland, told DW. “It’s designed to make the Republican Party identify with Donald Trump in such a way that it won’t be easy for them to step back.”
Will the 25th Amendment be invoked?
Regardless of whether the amendment is invoked, Trump can claim that no disability exists by submitting “a written declaration to the contrary.” In this scenario, if the Vice President and the Cabinet insist on their position, Congress would vote on the matter, with a two-thirds majority required to remove the President.
Although technically the amendment can be implemented, politically it is still a long way off.
“Trump’s cabinet and Congress seem satisfied with what he’s doing,” Graber said. Former high-ranking officials who spoke to DW’s Washington bureau chief Ines Pohl also expressed their doubts.
“Well, I don’t think it will be enforced, whether it should be enforced or not,” said John Bolton, one of Trump’s former national security advisers during his first term. “I’m a lawyer, not a shrink, so I can’t really speak to that. But his problem isn’t necessarily mental – it’s that he doesn’t understand or care much about the broader world. He focuses on what benefits Donald Trump, and that shapes everything – from Iran to how he treats NATO and US allies.”
Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges made a similar point. “Frankly, I don’t think there are enough Republicans in Congress who have the courage to do that for a number of reasons,” he told DW. “So it certainly seems unlikely, but it’s not good for America that we’re in a situation where many people think this is a necessary solution.”
Graber also feels that the 25th Amendment is unlikely to be enforced. “Until Republicans stop rallying around Donald Trump, impeachment, the 25th Amendment are just principles,” he said.
Edited by: M. Sass, M. Kuebler