Getting rid of Trump via the 25th amendment

Getting rid of Trump via the 25th amendment November 30, 2016

Constitution-Print-C10314518The latest fantasy on the left of how they can get rid of Donald Trump involves invoking the 25th amendment.

I’m glad for the new interest in the Constitution, but the procedure for dropping a president who is “unfit for office” would require the complicity of the Vice President, the Cabinet, and both houses of Congress.

That is, the 25th Amendment would need Republicans–yea, conservatives– to carry it out.  This would also be an argument for Trump to pack his cabinet with loyalists rather than mainstream Republicans.

From Tim Marcin, How To Keep Trump From Becoming President? 25th Amendment Could Declare Republican Mentally Unfit:

Amid widespread protests and worrying signs of dysfunction in the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, millions across the United States are likely wondering how, or if, it’s possible to oust the billionaire from the White House before the 2020 presidential election. While there have long been talks of impeachment hearings, a favorite theory this week for removing Trump from power involves the 25th amendment to the Constitution. . . .

The amendment opened the door for removal if a president was deemed to be unfit for office, different from an impeachment hearing that typically centers around investigating if a president acted illegally while in office.

There are two options to remove a mentally unfit president, which were helpfully laid out step-by-step by Fusion. The first option requires a majority of the president’s cabinet — positions such as secretary of state and secretary of defense — joining together with the vice president to declare the president is unfit. The second option requires the vice president to convince a majority of the House of Representatives and the Senate to decide the president is unfit. Both chambers of Congress then submit a letter stating such, which removes the president from power.

In both cases, the president can then submit a letter claiming he is fit for office, which then mandates a special session to vote on the issue. Once that special session is called, those trying to oust the president, in this case Trump, would have 21 days to convince a two-thirds majority of both Congressional chambers to vote to keep Trump out of the Oval Office.

[Keep reading. . .]

HT:  Jackie

Image attribution: The original uploader was Ludvikus at English Wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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