Posted on 07/03/2017 3:54:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
WASHINGTON — A small but growing movement by Democrats to use a little-known constitutional amendment to remove President Trump from office has as many practical and political roadblocks before it as efforts by those steadily beating the drum of impeachment.
The president’s recent verbal and Twitter attacks on members of the media — including yesterday’s tweeted video of Trump body-slamming a wrestling figure with CNN’s logo superimposed over its face — are boosting support for a bill that would allow the president to be removed based mental or physical incapacity.
The 25th Amendment allows the vice president along with either the majority of Cabinet members “or of such other body as Congress may by law provide” to call for the president’s removal on the basis of being “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
The House bill, introduced in the spring by U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and co-sponsored by a number of Democrats including U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester), would create an oversight commission tasked with determining the president’s fitness.
First, as a practical matter, it is extraordinarily difficult to remove a president from office, and that more than anything else weighs heavily in Trump’s favor. In the case of impeachment, it’s nearly impossible — only Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton have been impeached by the House, and neither was convicted in the Senate.
No one has tried to remove a president under the 25th Amendment, in part because it was only added in 1967. But that provision would also require a two-thirds vote by Congress as well as the blessing of the vice president. In Trump’s case, even if Democrats win a slim Senate majority in 2018, they would not have nearly the 67-senator support either impeachment or removal for mental of physical incapacity would require. Chances that Vice President Mike Pence would join the effort are equally remote.
But more importantly, the attempt by Democrats to have Trump declared too mentally infirm to serve would be as politically damaging as an impeachment bid.
Trump’s actions as president are entirely consistent with his actions as a candidate, and he was still duly elected. Absent a clear finding that Trump committed some crime warranting impeachment, efforts by Democrats to remove him will be, at best, denounced by Trump and his supporters as a hysterical, sour-grapes effort by Democrats bitter after Hillary Clinton’s loss. At worst, it would create more chaos than Russian election meddling efforts, fueling claims of a rigged system and potential inflicting long-term damage on voters’ confidence in a fair election system.
I see this as the Dems moving through the stages of grief.
We have already seen denial and anger. Now they are into trying bargaining. This will run about 6 months or so and then we will hit the depression stage.
Not sure that we will ever get to acceptance.
Behold the RAT and media traitors Twilight Zone of Insanity. They’re certifiably insane, in my opinion.
The depression stage won't kick in until after they lose more seats in the 2018 mid-terms.
I can't wait to see that.
The final stage -- acceptance -- won't kick in until after Trump wins his second term in 2020.
of course the removal talk is BS
not only has Presdient Trump not done anything to warrant even discussing removal, but he hasn’t even had time to...
this is just babies crying that all their IslamoNazi and SorozNazi money couldn’t pull old HIlLIARy across the finish line
is all. BS.
Trump is proposing a trillion-dollar infrastructure project. You would think that Dems of all people would jump on board so they can preserve or even increase their margins in Congress and in state houses. This is billions of dollars to their districts and will employ thousands of people.
If I was a Dem, I would be whole-heartedly supporting Trump's agenda and then blasting my Republican opponent for delaying it. Who do you think the voters will support?
This talk of removal is not merely fantasy, it is a full-featured psychotic erotic wet dream, together with sweats and elevated bodily response, including vocalizations.
Ending is a state indistinguishable from an epileptic seizure. Electroshock may not be enough.
The democrats are still so busy dividing Americans that they haven’t the foggiest idea how to appeal to any of the groups they’ve divided out.
The know they’re all in for any sexual perversion. And they’re corrupt to the core. But beyond that, they have zero message.
If the Democrats think that a President should be removed from office just because they don’t like him then they want a war.
And I’m betting that the Democrats will go two-for-two on losing civil wars.
Because it’s not going to be civil this time.
The 25th Amendment, as relevant in this case, deals with the Vice President becoming Acting President. The President would not be removed from office. He would only temporarily lose his powers.
Of course, this proposal will go nowhere fast. It will work for the Democrats as well as their plan to have Republican Electors go rouge.
The biggest loser in this will be their voters.....and they are going to hog tie their party leaders for letting them down.
Remember - it was the feckless GOP that promised their voters that they would stop Obama, indict Killary, punish the IRS, expose Benghazi.....and it was only kabuki theater. Leaving many voters irate and blaming the GOP - rightfully so.
The Democrats have promised the moon with no evidence but their voters don’t know that. And they will be blamed.
One roadblock they might want to consider is the 62 million people that voted for him.
yes, electroshock might not be enough to cure them
but it would certainly be worth trying
And another 50+ million that would side with them when the rubber hits the road.
These people are insane. They always project what they hypocritically are accusing. They are the ones unfit for the positions that they are entrusted.
We need to find a way to get them to spend money on this.
I like to think of the 25th as the nightmare amendment for our modern days when there is like a 15 minute window to respond to nuclear attack. What if, when Ike was recovering from a heart attack the Russians decided to attack? What if Kennedy were left alive, but a vegetable after Dallas? The 25th provides for these scenarios as well as replacing a VP. It really isn’t a mechanism for removing a President unless he just isn’t ‘there’ anymore.
I remember that one president temporarily handed power to his VP while undergoing anesthesia. So the 25th has been invoked.
Reagan once, in 1985, making George H.W. Bush the Acting President for about 8 hours. Twice by Bush 43, once in 2002 and once in 2007, making Dick Cheney the Acting President for over 2 hours each time.
The Demonuts are having a nervous breakdown just because Trump was elected and he’s done more in 5 months than Obama did in his 8 years
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.