The 25th Amendment

Amendment XXV (Amendment 25 - Presidential Vacancy, Disability, and Inability)

1: In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

2: Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

3: Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

4: 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, withintwenty-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.

I was listening to fresh air yesterday, and Terry Gross was interviewing Evan Osnos of The New Yorker.  The subject was his recent article entitled How [t]rump Could Get Fired.  One path that Osnos put forward is the 25th Amendment to our Constitution, which I have provided, above.  I studied the Amendment and I  want to be clear about this, immediately.  The probability of this Amendment being used in our current predicament is very small.  Almost to the point of having no chance of being used at all.

It is not a difficult read, but not as simple as some other Amendments.  I needed to read it twice.  Sections 3 and 4 are the salient points.

To summarize and simplify it a notch, Section 3 basically reads, if the current president were to tell the 2nd in command of the Senate (the President pro tempore, temporary president of the senate in the Vice President's absence) and the Speaker of the House that she or he is unfit to carry out her or his duties, then the Vice President would immediately assume the Presidency.   This is not going to happen.  No way.  trump has no clue that he is mentally and emotionally impaired.

Section 4 is a little tricky, but here's my shot at understanding it:

   - if the Vice President AND a majority of the "principal officers of the executive departments"  (let's pause right here.......what exactly does this phrase mean, does it mean the heads of the current presidential cabinet, e.g jeff sessions, head of the DOJ?)  OR another body defined by Congress by way of legislation, together, inform the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House that the current president is unable to discharge her or his duties, then the Vice President assumes the Presidency immediately

BUT upon such action.......

   - if the current president informs these heads of the two Houses of Congress that she or he IS able to carry out her or his duties, then the Vice President along with a majority of the principal officers of the executive departments OR another body defined by Congress by way of legislation, must again submit to these heads of the two house of Congress the same declaration of unfitness for duty of the current president within four (4) days of the current president's declaration of fitness.  If these steps are taken properly and within the specified time frame then both houses of Congress must decide the issue within 21 days by a two thirds majority in both Houses in order to remove the current President

So, let's pick Section 4 apart:

   - Pence is not going to do this, and right there the whole possibility falls apart.  The Vice President must be a part of this whole process.

   - Okay.........let's say that Pence gets on board, well the majority of the cabinet sure is hell isn't, so then we would need to wait until 2018 with the hope that both Houses of Congress turn to Democratic Party control, and then "such other body as Congress may by law provide" could be set up, but certainly not with the current composition of Congress. 

So, as I read the 25th Amendment,I am sad to learn that it is not a viable option for removing trump from office.  Sorry for this piece of sad news