This comes in the wake of Donald Trump’s vulgar, unhinged text message yesterday, following months of increasingly erratic speech and behavior. He’s caused doubt and ridicule from our friends. He has said he might pull out of NATO. He is threatening enemies at the same time he claims to be negotiating with them. He’s endangering our military and has already cost lives. He is threatening to destroy civilian infrastructure — a war crime — in Iran. He said he expected Iranian civilians to rise up and take over, even though they have no weapons and virtually no internet. All this while he continues to denigrate other religions, wreck our economy and our social and health care systems, assume powers assigned to Congress by the Constitution, and on and on. To mental health experts he is and for many months has been demonstrating all the symptoms of worsening dementia. He has become dangerously erratic, unpredictable, and impulsive.
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
Call or write Vice President Vance, members of the president’s Cabinet, and your representatives in Congress. Tell them all
it’s time.
yes, way beyond it, let’s go!
Trouble is, it has to start with the VP, and Vance is a supportive toadie, just like most of the Cabinet. I don’t know what it will take to get them to act. If the Greenland thing, the Cuba thing, the East Wing thing, the Pulitzer thing, the ballroom thing, the Ukraine thing, the ICE thing, the NATO thing, and now the Iran ravings haven’t convinced them, I don’t know what will.
Of course, there’s always impeachment, which is instituted by Congress.
How is he even still in office… !?!
It’s a long, complicated story, starting — IMHO — with the Citizens United decision, which enabled the influence of the very wealthy in our government. Because of or in addition to that came extreme partisan politics. And although there are constitutional methods for removing Trump from office, he has many wealthy supporters in government and elsewhere who apparently are loathe to endanger their own positions.
After further reading, I think impeachment and conviction by Congress for “high crimes and misdemeanors” sounds like the more likely way to go. He was impeached twice during his first term but not convicted. The House impeaches and the Senate must then vote to convict in order to remove a president from office. Partisanship stopped the convictions. Either way, getting the House and Senate to agree or getting the VP and Cabinet to agree, it would be difficult.
His first impeachment was for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The second was for incitement of insurrection.
Currently he might be charged with abuse of powers, violation of the emoluments clause, acts of retribution, violation of court orders, and possibly after tonight, the ordering of war crimes. I imagine the list would be lengthy if I were a lawyer.
Maybe, with elections coming in November, members of Congress will decide that getting re-elected means more to them than continued obeisance to Trump.
And remember, you can write one letter that goes to both of your senators and your representative in Washington at democracy.io.
I think you’re correct that high crimes and misdemeanors is the right course. The 25th amendment, crafted to provide a way to remove a mentally or physically incompetent president, assumes that the officers designated as replacement(s) are themselves upstanding persons who will adhere to the letter and spirit of the law and constitution. No one ever envisioned a case where they would all be political hacks and sycophants.
It’s hard to imagine what would prompt existing (Republican) members of Congress to abandon their blind allegiance to Trump. Can they really imagine that the voters will re-elect them? Even voters who can’t care less about the niceties of the Constitution can see the rising prices, needless wars, and severe erosion of basic government services. Or so we may hope.
“High crimes and misdemeanors” is a charge coming from impeachment proceedings, which requires a majority of the House members to impeach, and then a majority of the Senate to convict and remove from office. That’s a lot of people to get in line.
Amendment 25, on the other hand, requires “only” the agreement of the vice president and a majority of the 23 members of the president’s Cabinet. That’s a lot fewer votes than needed for impeachment/conviction. I’ve no idea what the Cabinet members might be thinking. But notably, they are appointed, not elected.
That said, I’ve seen Amendment 25 mentioned a lot in the last few days, from sources more knowledgeable than I, and nary a peep about impeachment.
Regardless of what happens, our country will never be the same as it has all our lives. The change is fundamental. No longer the defender of democracy, the moral standard for the world, no longer the bastion of resistance against communism and autocracy. We have even embraced torture. Our reputation is gone.
It hurts to see those words, and yet I know it’s true. Too heartbreaking for words, really, realizing things will never again be what we’ve known almost all our lives. Knowing my grandchildren are experiencing this as America, rather than the America I’ve known. Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and five minutes to ruin it.” It took more than 200 years to build America’s reputation, and Donald Trump has ruined it in less than five.