By ANDREW C. MCCARTHY
So, unless some reasonably sane person talks her out of it, Speaker Pelosi is planning to roll out her 25th Amendment plan tomorrow to remove President Trump from office. Less than four weeks from Election Day, when there is not an iota of indication that he is under any disability that would prevent him from discharging his duties. And with not even the remotest chance of meeting the constitutional requirements to invoke the amendment. Truly.
Pelosi thinks President Trump should tell the world when his last negative test was, prior to testing positive for the coronavirus, reportedly last Thursday night. For what it’s worth, I think he should, too. So, I imagine, do most of us. Claims continue to swirl that he attended gatherings while on notice that he might be sick and contagious. A number of administration staffers, as well as others who’ve been at the White House for events, have tested positive in recent days. It’s a totally fair question (just like whether Democrats are going to pack the Supreme Court!), and he ought to answer it without bobbing and weaving.
Furthermore, the speaker has taken her fair share of hits for parading around San Francisco’s Chinatown section in late February, unmasked, mixing with crowds, urging tourists to come, assuring everyone that fear of disease was “unwarranted in light of the precautions that are being taken here in the United States.” No one has hit “Crazy Nancy” harder than the president (surprise!), so she is taking no small amount of “what goes around, comes around” pleasure in his plight (while, of course, praying for his health). That’s the way this game is played, and she’s entitled.
But the 25th Amendment? Again? We covered this a couple of years ago.
The point of the amendment is not to substitute for impeachment or otherwise undo the result of an election over political disputes. It is to address the situation when a president is beset by a profound disability, such as a stroke, that renders him or her unable to perform the duties of the office.
As the president is an elected official, the choice to continue in office unless impeached and removed generally belongs to the president for as long as the president is capable of continuing. Thus, most of the 25th Amendment addresses situations in which the president either obviously cannot perform the duties of the office (death or impeachment and removal), or voluntarily steps aside, at least temporarily.
Section 4 of the amendment, however, contemplates the rare Woodrow Wilson situation, when it is apparent because of some severe disability that a president cannot function as president, but the president cannot or will not step aside. Section 4 does trot out the possibility that Congress could enact a law creating a committee of some kind that could pronounce a president unable to function — in lieu of having a majority of the heads of the executive departments make that determination. Nevertheless, whether we’re talking about a congressionally created body or the cabinet, Section 4 says they must have the support of the vice president in judging the president incapacitated.
@Greg:
There is MASSIVE quantities of credible, verified evidence of it. Hundreds of massive lies by Comey, Lynch, Obama, Hillary, Brennan, McCabe, Schiff, Pelosi and Nadler have been exposed. The Obama administration, bleeding over into the phony Russia collusion “investigations” was a massive steaming pile of corruption. Don’t try to pretend you aren’t totally aware of it. It’s why you refuse to answer so many questions.
That’s because she’s a criminal. We have video of her lying to Congress about her emails. She took millions in bribes from Russia to make sure the Uranium One deal went through. She created a MASSIVE security breach in the State Department. She stonewalled and obstructed every investigation, including destroying evidence. Do you actually deny she said there was no classified information on her secret, private, unsecured server?
@July 4th American: @Deplorable Me: greggie the rock either can not read or he has no ability to comprehend what he reads. greggie the rock pretends to be a patriot while acting as a Marxist. greggie the rock anarchist along with his buddies approves of the peaceful demonstrations that result in the burning of houses and businesses. greggie the rock believes that a president having sex in the white house, weaponizing the government to try to destroy a political opponent, black mailing a European government into over looking bribes paid to his son is presidential. Seems to me greggie the Marxist, anarchist, corrupt rock has no clue what presidential is. He is more likely to vote for Putin or Castro or any other comunist dictator rather than vote for someone who has showed he only wants the best for the United States.
@Deplorable Me: Pompeo is going to release more Clinton Emails before the election I guess they found them all. We can finally learn about her Yoga and wedding plans and funeral arrangements.
For the record Pompeo did not kill himself. I like to get a leg up on these things.
1 mishandled classified email is enough to jail her I lost count on how many she missed in the bleach bit accident.
Oh and Pelosi is after Plugs.
@kitt: They’ve always had them; they were on Weiner’s laptop. Hillary can thank her carpet-munching buddy Huma for this final nail in her coffin.
Hillary clearly and indisputably committed perjury before Congress when she denied having any classified data on her server. Why she isn’t already in jail is inexcusable, but demonstrates the power of the deep state to protect its criminals.