Trump’s Loony Tweets Fuel Push To Dump Him From Office (TWEETS)


It was clear long before Donald Trump’s latest unhinged outbursts on Twitter–his slagging of Mika Brzezinski and his simulated bodyslamming of CNN–that he did not have the temperament to be president. However, these ugly outbursts may give legs to a push among House Democrats to have Trump declared mentally unfit for office, in accordance with the 25th Amendment.


For those who don’t know, the 25th Amendment provides a mechanism for having the vice president assume the duties of the presidency in the event that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Most political junkies know of two main ways this can happen–either if the president himself states he is unable to fulfill his duties, or if the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet determine that the president is unable to do so.

But in May, Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland discovered a largely overlooked provision in Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. It turns out that the vice president and Cabinet aren’t the only ones who can declare the president incapacitated. Raskin, who is a constitutional law professor at American University, noticed that Section 4 also empowers “such other body as Congress may by law provide” to declare the president is unable to fulfill his duties.

With this in mind, Raskin introduced the “Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity Act.” Read it here. The bill would set up a permanent commission comprising four physicians and four psychiatrists appointed by the Speaker of the House and floor leaders of each chamber and one retired statesperson from each party. The appointed members would then select an 11th member to act as commission chairman.

Congress would have the power to order the Commission to conduct a “medical examination” of the president. If the commission finds that the president is “temporarily or permanently impaired” from carrying out his duties, the vice president would automatically become acting president.


The bill attracted 19 cosponsors at the outset–including such heavy hitters as John Conyers of Michigan, Jerry Nadler of New York, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. However, it largely passed unnoticed until Trump’s Thursday morning trashing of Brzezinski. That afternoon, Raskin fired off an email to his colleagues urging them to sign on to his bill, claiming it carried “enduring importance to the safety of the nation.” He also began pushing the bill hard on Twitter.

The message was quickly received. By the close of business on Friday, four more Democrats agreed to cosponsor Raskin’s bill.

Raskin told Yahoo! News that Trump’s presidency has seen “a bizarre litany of events and outbursts.” As he sees it, we really have to wonder if Trump is displaying “a sustained pattern of behavior that indicates something is seriously wrong.” His bill would provide an opportunity for an independent body to ask and answer that question.

In the aftermath of Trump’s attack on CNN, at least one other Democrat, Joaquin Castro of Texas, announced that he wants to sign on as a cosponsor.

Hopefully more will follow after the July 4th holiday–including some Republicans. Before Congress went home this weekend, a number of Republicans had privately approached Raskin about this bill. According to Steve Cohen of Tennessee, one of the bill’s original cosponsors, while many Republicans have been “shaking their heads” at Trump’s behavior, they feel that “they can’t say anything publicly” for fear of angering Trump’s base.

Indeed, even if the bill were to actually become law, Trump could still challenge the commission’s findings. It would take a two-thirds majority of both houses to turn back any effort by Trump to do so. Moreover, according to Saint Louis University law professor Joel Goldstein, the vice president–in this case, Mike Pence–would have to concur in any attempt to declare the president incapacitated.

One would hope that Trump’s latest deranged tweet would knock some scales off Republican eyes. After all, do they really want to appear to condone what can charitably be described as an incitement to violence? This would be outrageous if a Democratic president tweeted himself bodyslamming Fox News or Newsmax, and it’s outrageous now.

They may be getting a not-so-gentle nudge from social media. Since Trump’s attack on CNN, the hashtag “#25thAmendmentNow” has been heavily trending on Twitter. If openly encouraging violence against the press is not evidence that Trump does not have the temperament and mental capacity to be president, nothing is.


Frankly, it is hard to believe that no one considered the need for such a body, especially during the heat of the Cold War. It shouldn’t have taken the rise of the most manifestly unfit person ever to occupy the White House to start the push for creating it.

(featured image courtesy Edward Kimmel, available under Creative Commons BY-SA license)

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.