If Democrats Want A New Nominee, They Need To Use The 25th Amendment

The Federalist ^ | July 18, 2024 | Brianna Lyman

[Reno89519]

Plain and simple. If President Biden, the presumptive Democrat Party nominee is not fit for reelection and is not fit to be prosecuted by Hur, he is not fit to be president and the party, his vice-president and cabinet need to invoke the 25th Amendment.

[cableguymn]

I suspect his covid will get worse... until...

ya, that is how dirty I think the democrats are.

[Antihero101607]

I’m sure the Democrats will get right on with abiding by the Constitution.

[Dutch Boy]

That would be the rational response to Biden’s condition. They really haven’t been known for embracing rational decisions.

[silverleaf]

The quiet part is…that would make Kamala the president
And no one wants that, except Kamala, black women, and weak liberal white women

[Reno89519]

That is a risk, but is that worse—all politics aside—than letting President Biden continue where we do not know who is actually running the government and making decisions. Dr. Jill?

[cgbg]

Article:

“Vice President Kamala Harris could convene members of the cabinet”

That is totally impossible.

Kamala Harris could not “convene” a child’s birthday party.

[goodnesswins]

Yes...covid is their out.

[mware]

VP and cabinet can claim 25th, but the President has the right to disagree. At which point the cabinet and VP has a specific amount of time ( I think 2-5 days) to present their opinion to Congress.

[Ge0ffrey]

Exactly. If he’s not fit to be the nominee, he’s not fit to be president.

[jeffc]

IDK. They're Democrats, a criminal organization that thinks the FedGov belongs to them.

LBJ decided not to run but stayed President until Nixon took over. I can see Biden doing something similar.

[Political Junkie Too]

if Democrats want to get rid of Biden as nominee, they need to use the 25th Amendment. Anything else is an attempted coup.

I agree. In fact, I said so here on July 3.

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I do think that those states that have a requirement for some form of certified infirmity to be removed from the ballot would accept a 25th amendment discharge of power as acceptable proof of infirmity.

This may be an end-game tactic that they're holding on to as an "in case of emergency" maneuver. They're just not ready to break the glass on it yet.

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This has become a regular tactic of the Democrats who are losing elections -- just swap out the losing candidate in the name of "giving the voters a competitive election."

I've said repeatedly that the voters had a competitive election and they rejected the Democrat candidate. Losing in the polls is not an excuse to ignore their primary voters and choose another candidate. What happens if that candidate is losing in September, do the Democrats get another swap-out? And then another in October?

-PJ

[cableguymn]

Exactly if he’s not fit to stand trial, he’s not fit to be the nominee, he’s not fit to be president.

[Reno89519]

And at the pace Congress works when they are not impeaching President Trump, that will tie up Democrats all the way to their convention, maybe to the election.

[Nervous Tick]

ping

This additional option adds to the DemonRat quandary.

I see them avoiding this option because a) it would take time — and they’re short on time as it is, and b) it would require quite a bit of help from the Pubbies.

But if Biden refuses to go away, they just might wade into this knee-deep muddy path. (I hope they do!)

[Lisbon1940]

OTOH, if he is fit to be President, then he must be the nominee, even if he prefers not to be?

[Captain Peter Blood]

Having read some on the 25th Amendment I find that to implement this could take up to three weeks. It is not as in the movies or TV where a simple vote of the Cabinet happens and a President can be replaced, it is a detailed thing.

[Political Junkie Too]

I laid out the Democrats' path forward here on July 7.

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The Democrats are stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place.

On the one hand, they enjoy being able to say that the only President who resigned from office is a Republican. They can also point to the saying that the coverup is worse than the crime.

On the other hand, they're faced with a worse coverup: hiding a sick President who is senile and unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office so they can retain their majorities in Congress and their own personal power.

Their options are limited, and each has its own pitfalls but little advantage.

1. Pursue the 25th amendment.
   • This option will take some to carry out, but it has the most pitfalls. All it takes to invoke the 25th amendment is for the Vice President to get a majority of the Cabinet to declare the President as being unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Harris will then become Acting President while still retaining her tie-breaking vote on the Senate as Vice President. If Biden protests then Congress will have to get involved, but the current state of Republicans in the House will not stand in the way and Biden will eventually be declared unfit.

   • The pitfall is that once Biden is declared unable to carry out his duties, pressure will mount for him to step down as President altogether. This isn't a case of a temporary infirmity or undergoing a surgical procedure; this is a permanent incapacity.

   • If Biden resigns from office, each party will now "own" a resigned President. At this point, it will be up to partisan historians and a biased LAAP-dog media to sort out how much people knew and when they knew it regarding Biden's health and mental state. Was an incompetent candidate knowingly foisted upon an unaware electorate by crass power-seekers who lied to the American people for their own personal gain? Or was the Democrat party itself incompetent and unaware of Biden's infirmities?

     The American people will have to settle that one.

   • If Biden refuses to resign, he will still be President, but a President with no powers and duties. He will roam the hallways of the residence, while Jill Biden still retains the duties of the First Lady.

     Donald Trump will run on a campaign that attacks the Democrats for abusing the White House and hammer the message that Democrats are untrustworthy and do not deserve to be sent back.

2. Pursue impeachment and removal.
   • This is a more difficult approach because it involves both chambers of Congress and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Democrats will have to come up with a charge on which to base impeachment without making it historically toxic for them, and then get Republicans to pass it for them.

   • The "core" constitutional crimes for impeachment are Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
     • Treason is a dangerous crime because of the possibility of capital punishment. One could argue that covering up an infirm candidate in order to "take" the White House is a de facto coup d'etat and is therefore treasonous. However, this would indict the entire Democrat party as co-conspirators and so is a non-starter.

     • Bribery is a possibility if the Democrats want to finally admit that the Bidens are a crime family that has sold access to power and provided decades of quid pro quo in return. The Democrats could contain the fallout to just the Bidens, but they may have to sacrifice some of Biden's most ardent defenders in exchange for Republican cooperation (Raskin? Goldman?).

       However, Democrats will now own the only President who was convicted and removed from office via impeachment.

     • other high Crimes and Misdemeanors is a catch-all for substantial lapses in ethics or conduct becoming the highest office in the land. Democrats could pursue this approach by declaring that Biden as Commander-in-Chief is too sick to understand the ramifications of his decisions, and is therefore behaving in a manner that damages the reputation of the United States and the readiness of our armed forces. They could literally say that they have lost confidence in the Commander-in-Chief and require his removal from office for the safety and security of the nation.

       This is probably the most "noble" of the three options, but Democrats will still own the only President who was convicted and removed from office via impeachment.

3. Let Biden run for reelection and lose.
   • This is probably the easiest option for Democrats to pursue. It will require them to likely accept losing the Presidency and perhaps a few House and Senate seats, too. However, it will probably keep the Democrats in the best overall position with the people.
     • The Democrats will have let "democracy" work. They will not be seen as discarding the primary votes of millions of people.

     • They can get rid of the "Kamala" problem at the same time as the "Biden" problem, so then can start with a fresh slate in 2028.

     • They can begin plotting for a comeback in 2026 mid-terms to try to retake the House and the Senate without the baggage of having invoked the 25th amendment or impeachment.

   • Democrats will just have to bite their tongues and accept a Trump presidency, which goes against every fiber of their bodies.

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-PJ

[libertylover]

Anything else is an attempted coup.

As if Democrats care. And the NYT will say, "Yeah, technically it wasn't legal, but it was for the 'good of the country', so OK". See Tagline.

[gibsonguy]

He was not fit to face charges for having secret documents in his garage with the trash cans but he can do the hardest and most important job on the planet. For months both parties have accepted this premise