What Is The 25th Amendment? Who Is Supporting Its Use Against Trump?

After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and several serious illnesses for Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 25^th amendment was conceived to clarify presidential succession in the case of incapacitation. Some Democrats believe this is a way to remove President Donald Trump who they say isn’t mentally fit to serve as president any longer.

Section IV of the 25^th Amendment allows the president to be removed from office if he or she “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” The amendment allows the Vice President and a majority of the principal officers of the executive departments or a body such as Congress to declare to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives that the President can no longer act in that role.

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Freshman Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., is urging his colleagues to get behind a bill he proposed that could possibly declare Trump mentally unsound and remove him from office. Raskin’s bill and the provisions of the 25^th Amendment gained widespread attention after Trump went on a Twitter rant on Thursday attacking anchor co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough of the talk show “Morning Joe” on MSNBC.

“Crazy Joe Scarborough and dumb as a rock Mika are not bad people, but their low rated show is dominated by their NBC bosses. Too bad!” Trump tweeted Saturday.

He also went after CNN, mainstream media and states that would not comply with his voter fraud panel investigation.

“Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?” said the president Saturday.

Raskin’s bill would create an 11-member commission of mental health professionals and high-ranking former officials such as presidents and vice presidents to determine the mental acuity of Trump. The bill had 20 Democrat co-sponsors prior to the freshest Twitter outburst, and on Thursday gained three more.

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Rep. Earl Blumenhauer, D-Ore., proposed a similar bill that would allow former presidents and vice presidents to coordinate with the sitting vice president to determine the mental stability of the president fearing that the 25^th amendment wasn’t forceful enough.

“For a mentally unstable, paranoid or delusional president, the 25th Amendment has no guarantee of its application. In fact, it’s likely that it would fail," Blumenauer said at the time.