A lot of people on the left are engaging in magical thinking. They claim that the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution can somehow be used to remove Trump from power. It can’t. It shouldn’t be hard to understand. The relevant text is Section 4 of the amendment:

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.

 
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days 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. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Action under this provision requires action by the vice president. By James David Vance. By Trump’s puppet. He isn’t going to do it. Perhaps he’d like to stage a coup, but Trump’s base would turn furiously against him if he tried. Besides, the other requirements would keep him from making it stick.

In addition to the VP, the provision requires the action of a majority of the Cabinet or of “such other body as Congress may by law provide.” Some people in Congress are trying to create such a body, but Trump would veto the bill. They’d need 2/3 of both houses to make it a law. Not going to happen. Nor is the Cabinet, which consists of Trump loyalists, going to turn against him.

But suppose alien mind control beams make Vance and the Cabinet agree to declare Trump unable to discharge his powers and duties. All Trump has to do is say, “I am able,” and he’s back in power until Congress resolves the issue. To make the removal of his powers stick, a 2/3 vote of both houses is necessary. Not going to happen.

I’m excluding hypothetical cases where Trump goes into a coma and can’t do anything. That’s what the 25th Amendment was designed for.

Impeachment is a lower bar. It requires a majority of the House and 2/3 of the Senate. That’s still extremely unlikely, but it’s not as improbable as the 25th Amendment path.

If facts matter anymore, the case for impeachment is stronger than the case for declaring him incapable of doing the job. Has Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanors”? Tons of them. Is he incapable of carrying out his duties? That rests on a claim that he’s clinically insane, which is more open to dispute.

The Democrats in Congress can read the Constitution, or at least they have staff members to explain it to them. They know all this. So why are they pursuing an impossible path? I think it’s to divert attention from Congress’s failure to impeach Trump. They can pretend they’re doing something, knowing that Vance will protect them against any action actually happening. They can say, “Hey, we tried,” knowing full well they didn’t.

What about all the people on Bluesky who don’t have public images to manipulate? That’s easy, too. They’re stupid. In the Bonhoeffer sense, that is.