There is growing support for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from office, but what is the 25th Amendment, and how would the removal process work?
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When the 25th Amendment is referred to, what people mean is Article 4, which states:
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.
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In plain English, Congress can’t trigger the 25th Amendment. Only the vice president and a majority of the cabinet can start the 25th Amendment process. Even if the VP and a cabinet majority send the notification to Congress that the 25th Amendment has been invoked, it requires a 2/3 majority in the House and the Senate to remove Trump.
There is not a 2/3 majority in either body of Congress, much less both, that would support removing Trump.
The 25th Amendment was written and implemented for situations like the current one in the United States, where a declining president is unable to fulfill his oath of office and has become a danger to the nation.
It is 25th Amendment time for Trump, but it is certain that his cabinet will never have the courage to invoke it.
Do you agree that it is 25th Amendment time for Trump? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
