Section 4 of the 25th Amendment empowers the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet or Congress to declare the president "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." In such a scenario, the vice president would assume the role of acting president. Since it was ratified in 1967, it has never been invoked. But, for the first time, there's some serious chatter about it being used on Joe Biden.
House Republicans are considering urging President Joe Biden's Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment after his devastating debate performance finally got many of his most ardent defenders to admit that that Biden is not well.
“There’s a lot of people asking about invoking the 25th Amendment right now,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Friday morning. “This is an alarming situation.”
Indeed, it is.
“Our adversaries see the weakness in this White House as we all do. I take no pleasure in saying that. I think this is a very dangerous situation, “ Johnson continued. “But unfortunately, it’s not the House that gets to determine that. It’s the Cabinet that makes that decision. I would ask the Cabinet members to search their hearts.”
Obviously this isn't the first time we've heard about the 25th Amendment being invoked, and Biden isn't the first president to be brought up.
"I'm old enough to remember when Donald Trump, you know, was having trouble picking up a glass of water and walking down a slippery ramp and folks wanted to invoke the 25th Amendment," CNN contributor Scott Jennings said Sunday. "Now, to me... to me what we saw Thursday night…he's not just a candidate. He's the president. Right now. And so a lot of people I talk to want to know what’s going on in there, as is he up to the task today."
Jennings also noted that the deterioration of Joe Biden over four years is painfully obvious, so it's impossible to dismiss his performance as a bad night or compared to past poor debate performances. He also pointed to an Axios report that Biden's closest aides have been shielding him from most people for the past three-and-a-half years. This raises concerns not only about the campaign but also about the current functioning of the White House and Biden's ability to continue his role effectively for another term.
CNN's @ScottJenningsKY reminds everyone that there was a lot of Trump #25A speculation over far less than what we saw Thursday night, and that talk of Joe Biden setting down from the campaign should really be about whether or not he can remain in office. pic.twitter.com/3ny6Tb4kmf
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) June 30, 2024
Jennings' comments about the 25th Amendment and Trump are on point. The radical left, with the help of the mainstream media, were constantly questioning Trump's mental health despite not having any legitimate reason to. Networks were bringing in "doctors" who never examined Trump to go on the record, claiming he was mentally ill. In October 2020, less than a month before the presidential election, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced legislation aimed at enabling Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment to remove a president. This claimed it had nothing to do with Trump, but, obviously it was meant to be a failsafe in the event Trump won reelection.
Yet, for the past three and a half years, the same Democrats who endlessly questioned Trump's mental competence have been making excuses for Joe Biden, pretending he's sharp as a tack. The chatter about Trump was never serious, but as for Joe Biden... I think it is.
