Posted on 07/19/2024 8:01:59 AM PDT by Reno89519
Pressure to step aside as nominee continues to mount against President Joe Biden from members of his own party following a disastrous debate performance that put Biden’s cognitive decline on full display. But if Democrats want to get rid of Biden as nominee, they need to use the 25th Amendment. Anything else is an attempted coup.
More than a dozen congressional Democrats have called on Biden to step down as the nominee alongside left-wing talking heads and Hollywood elites. Reports indicate former President Barack Obama is also nudging his former No. 2 to pass the torch.
Democrats want to have their cake and eat it too, by getting rid of Biden the nominee but keeping Biden the current president. But that’s not how it works.
Had Biden not shot himself in the foot by demanding an earlier debate, the White House and left-wing corporate media might have continued to get away with hiding the president’s visible struggles from voters. Back in February, after Special Counsel Robert Hur described Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory” who wasn’t fit to be charged with a “serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness,” Democrats didn’t call for Biden to step down. They could cast doubt on the report and shield Biden from the public with few to no questions asked.
At the debate, however, it couldn’t be hidden: Biden was unable to put together coherent sentences, let alone walk off the stage unassisted. Now that Biden’s mental and physical limitations have become a political liability for Democrats and their electoral prospects, high-ranking Democrats are running a public pressure campaign to prevent Biden from being the nominee. As The Federalist’s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway explained, efforts by “coup-plotters” to coerce Biden’s exit by leaking their concerns to corporate media don’t indicate that a Biden withdrawal would be a “dignified exit.”
But if Biden is so incapacitated he can’t be the nominee, he certainly cannot remain president for the next six months.
Luckily for Democrats, there is a process, created in 1967, to remove a president who is “unable” to carry out his role. The 25th Amendment says the president himself may submit a written declaration to the president pro tempore of the Senate and speaker of the House that “he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” and would therefore transfer such powers and duties to the vice president.
But in the event the sitting president will not submit such a declaration, there is another option:
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.
In layman’s terms, Vice President Kamala Harris could convene members of the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Biden from office. And while the definition of “unable” is ambiguous, Jay Berman, who was an aide to the senator who sponsored the amendment, told The New York Times that there is a “clear distinction between unfit, which is basically a political judgment, and unable.”
Biden is not simply “unfit,” he is “unable” to do basic presidential duties — like staying awake and cognizant past 4:00 p.m. (Biden is “more likely to have verbal miscues and become fatigued” outside the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., White House aides admitted to Axios.) Common and major verbal misses like referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Vladimir Putin, or telling reporters Trump was his vice president, point to a lack of a basic ability to grasp subject matter.
Biden, speaking to Democratic governors shortly after the debate, said he tires out easily and needs more sleep and less work, The Times reported. Meanwhile, current and former officials who met with Biden behind closed doors over recent months said Biden would become confused and “listless,” as described by the NYT. The Wall Street Journal, citing two unnamed sources, reported that Biden skipped a meeting with German officials to go to sleep early and instead sent Secretary Of State Antony Blinken. The State Department disputed the report.
Biden also physically struggles to do basic things like walk up stairs or off a stage. Video footage, which the White House wrongly labeled a “cheap fake,” showed former President Barack Obama leading Biden off stage after the president froze while staring at the crowd. First Lady Jill Biden was also caught on camera having to help Biden off the stage after the presidential debate.
Whether Biden is Democrats’ best bet or not, primary voters already chose him. The only acceptable excuse for rejecting those voters’ decision is if Biden is constitutionally unable to serve as president. And if that is the case, Democrats had better be prepared to invoke the 25th Amendment. Conversely, if Biden is able to continue his presidential duties, an attempt to undermine him by party leadership and other Democrats amounts to nothing less than a coup attempt.
Precisely
25th cant be used in reality when the president can fight back.
He can simply fire anyone he suspects might vote for it, it is really for when a president is brain dead or comma type situation.
If they keep him off the ticket but still in office, Biden could be hidden away but still supposedly issuing tweets, WH Statements, and even signing executive orders…
Both parties ,, even in modern political history, have kept brain dead ( literal and figurative) but still voting legislators hidden away ….McCain comes to mind. Ted Kennedy. Also some South Dakota Senator that had a stroke. Mitch McConnell literally disappeared for weeks and even now is decrepit at best.
The democrat party just needs to embed handlers into Kamala’s inner circle to control her, and groom an intelligent charismatic popular VP to be the real presidential decisionmaker and carry the ticket
I was surprised at the news the other day that the DNC was pushing back the virtual nominating meeting. I think the Democrat party insiders would want to nominate Biden sooner because they can then force Biden out and take advantage of DNC rules to replace the duly nominated candidate with a candidate of the DNC leadership's choice. This candidate would then appear at the DNC Convention as the party's duly chosen candidate.
If they cancel the virtual nomination and wait for the DNC Convention, chaos will result from a brokered convention. If the DNC elite avoid a brokered convention, they lock out the delegates from the decision entirely and the party elites can choose the candidate directly by nominating Biden and then removing him.
The only fly in the ointment is Harris. She would be nominated as the Vice President candidate and she's not stepping down. The only vacancy to fill by the party elite is at the top of the ticket. The Party can either elevate Harris to the top spot and then choose her running mate, or they can keep her as Vice President and choose someone else to lead the ticket.
-PJ
She ought to be impeached for failure to exercise her Constitutionally designated authority to protect and defend the American people from a grave national security threat…a non compos mentis president.
Then once a nominee is selected by the Democrats, the 25th Amendment will be initiated in order to place Kamala Harris in office, as the “First Black Female President” in history.
This being said, I would not put it beyond them to nominate Kamala Harris as the Democrat candidate for President. They then can run her as a sitting President for office.
-PJ
you can drop the “I think” thing now.
they tried to kill Trump
I don't think so. I think they would like to maintain the legacy of the only President removed from office was a Republican (Nixon)...
I did not know that. Still, I think Dems would consider a Republican "removed" this way would be permanent - at least to them! But for a Dem, it would be (D)ifferent. Maybe that's the hook they will use to force Biden out...
25th DOES NOT REMOVE the POTUS. It stands him aside and the VP acts in his stead. The length of time is affected by the conditions. If POTUS is undergoing surgery it lasts from the removal to OR till recovery depending of the procedure. In Biden’s case it could last till end of his term or until he resigns, but Harris is not POTUS. She is Nixon when Ike had his coronary.
“The democrat party just needs to embed handlers into Kamala’s inner circle to control her, and groom an intelligent charismatic popular VP to be the real presidential decisionmaker and carry the ticket”
Color me very skeptical that Harris is “handleable”. She is just too arrogant. She may be smart enough to know that she has to conceal her arrogance, but she’s not smart enough to execute it. I don’t think she is teachable.
The Amendment allows the president to state that there is no problem and he is fit to be president. After that, it requires 2/3 votes of BOTH houses to remove him.
No they don’t. They set the rules for their party and how it gets nominees. And their convention hasn’t happened yet. They can literally do whatever they want and don’t have to worry about rules of the presidency at all.
He’s not on the ballot yet. The convention hasn’t happened, so they do not have officially have a nominee to remove.
They don’t have to refund anything. People drop out of races all the time without refunding campaign donations. They just “give it” to the DNC who then “gives it” to the nominee. Once you’ve donated to a campaign it’s their money. Heck they don’t even have to give it to the DNC. They could just go on an epic vacation with it. It’s their money now.
This is correct. We've been through all this before: there is no route provided for in the 25th Amendment in the face of presidential resistance that does not require the approval of 2/3 of both houses of Congress. Whether they've gotten to that point through impeachment (option 1), a majority vote of the Vice President and the Cabinet (option 2), or the majority vote of a Congressional body assembled for that purpose (option 3, does not exist), the process ends up in Congress and that majority requires Republican cooperation which looks incredibly unlikely.
Dementia Joe has to resign. Then the order of succession takes effect. If Joe says No, then it's No Go.
The deep state wants him gone and they are the ruthless, amoral dregs of humanity. Them and their fellow travelers in the Democrat party are quite capable of JFKing BiteMe if need be or out right invoking the 25th Amendment, but that route is slipping away fast.
Every time one of their senators, congressman or media windbags question BiteMe’s ability to serve it’s another ad for Trump or reason to not vote for BiteMe or to vote for RFK for leftist voters.
I’d match her vs Valerie Jarrett ( obama handler) anyday
I would suspect Joe may get fatal lead poisoning first.
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