The 25th Amendment Isn't Coming to Save Us

Trump's deranged behavior has some Democrats selling a fantasy to voters

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Donald Trump has never seemed particularly stable. He’s always demonstrated a fleeting grasp on reality and is prone to incredibly erratic behavior. In general, you wouldn’t ask someone who acted like Trump to watch your laptop while you went to the bathroom at Starbucks, let alone run your country.

However, even by Trumpian standards, the President’s behavior in recent weeks has been incredibly alarming. It begins with the bizarre, capricious decision to wage a pointless war in the Middle East. Most people give more thought to their lunch order than Trump gave to bombing Iran. That irrational decision was followed by even more irrational behavior. One day, Trump says we are winning the war because the U.S. doesn’t need the Strait of Hormuz (we do), and the next day, Trump is threatening to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age because they won’t open the Strait. On Easter, Trump posted this unhinged rant:

And while that was bad, the post from yesterday morning was even worse.

Even if you put aside the intemperate language and the bizarre praise to Allah, here is the President of the United States promising to commit war crimes — in writing. I want to say that again: the President of the United States just threatened to kill more than 90 million Iranians. That is the textbook definition of genocide.

Trump’s unhinged behavior has caused many people to bring up the 25th Amendment, which allows for the removal of presidents who are physically or mentally incapable of performing their duties.

Dozens of members of Congress and several potential presidential candidates — like Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker — have called for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Democratic activists have latched onto the idea.

Should Trump be removed from office?

Absolutely.

Is the 25th Amendment a way to do that?

Not really. And Democrats should stop promoting the idea.

Here’s why.

How the 25th Amendment Works

Most people believe that a majority of the cabinet and the Vice President can simply get together and remove the President from office. It doesn’t exactly work that way.

The Vice President and a majority of the cabinet send a notice to Congress stating that the President is unable to perform his duties. At that point, the Vice President becomes Acting President.

The President then has the opportunity to dispute this. The Vice President and cabinet must reaffirm their declaration, and Congress must assemble and vote within 21 days. A two-thirds majority in both chambers is required to keep the Acting President in place.

Why the 25th Amendment Is Pure Fantasy

By now, everyone has come around to the idea that removing Trump via impeachment is an impossibility. If the Senate wouldn’t convict Trump on his way out of office — right after he sent a mob of his supporters to murder them — it’s hard to fathom a scenario where they’d vote to remove him now.

And the degree of difficulty on the 25th Amendment is much, much higher than traditional impeachment.

It starts with getting J.D. Vance and a majority of Trump’s cabinet to vote for his removal. Look at that roster of sycophants and incompetent lackeys and tell me which one of them would put loyalty to country over loyalty to Trump. I can’t think of a single one, let alone enough to constitute a majority.

Even if somehow that happened, you’d still need two-thirds of both houses to remove him. (For comparison, impeachment only requires a majority in the House and two-thirds of the Senate.)

And let’s say all of those impossible things somehow occur — we still end up with J.D. Vance as President and Mike Johnson as Vice President.

What a win!

Why Calling for the 25th Amendment Is a Problem

I really do get why people are calling for the 25th Amendment. We are in a dangerous situation and people desperately — and understandably — want a solution. These Democratic politicians also want to make the point that Trump is unfit for office, and there’s some value in that. Though honestly, I think most people can see it with their own eyes and don’t need Democrats to point it out.

But this public push for the 25th Amendment comes with real downsides.

First, it raises expectations for something that absolutely will not happen. I think it’s cheap — and a little disrespectful to our voters — to push an idea we know won’t lead to the desired outcome. It’s a gimmick for engagement and fundraising. We should be honest with our voters about what defeating MAGA is actually going to take, instead of chasing clicks and online donations.

Second, it puts the onus on the wrong people. J.D. Vance and Trump’s cabinet will face their judgment in the history books — and the afterlife — for the ways they’ve sold their souls to Trump. But they are not accountable to voters in November. We need voters to understand that Trump is only able to act like this because Republicans in Congress let him. They are the ones responsible, and they are the ones who should be held accountable in November. The best way to rein in Trump is not to appeal to his cabinet — it’s to elect a Democratic Congress.

I wish there were easy answers. There aren’t. Stopping Trump comes down to winning back political power. Everything else is a distraction.