Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is drawing applause in the wake of his call to use the 25th Amendment to remove US President Donald Trump from office.
Priztker on Tuesday blasted Trump for his speech in front of US military leaders in Quantico, Virginia, in which he said that he’d like to see cities such as Chicago used as “training grounds for our military,” while at the same time threatening to use US troops to wage a war against “the enemy within.”
“It appears that Donald Trump not only has dementia set in, but he’s copying tactics of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” Pritzker remarked. “Sending troops into cities, thinking that that’s some sort of proving ground for war, or that indeed there’s some sort of internal war going on in the United States is just, frankly, inane and I’m concerned for his health.”
The Illinois governor then added, “There is something genuinely wrong with this man, and the 25th Amendment ought to be invoked.”
Pritzker wasn’t the only Trump critic to call for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, as Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) posted an all-caps message on social media that simply read, “25TH AMENDMENT!” in the wake of Trump’s Quantico speech.
An anonymous US defense official mentioned the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment in an interview with The Intercept in which he expressed alarm at Trump’s stated desire to use the military against his domestic military opponents.
“This is truly disturbing,” the defense official said. “He is clearly unwell even for Trump.”
Former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote a Tuesday editorial, published before the president delivered his address at Quantico, in which he pointed to evidence of Trump’s growing mental instability.
Among other things, Reich pointed to Trump’s now-deleted social media post promoting an artificial intelligence-generated video about fictitious magical beds capable of healing any illness, as well as his decision to send the US military into Portland, Oregon after being apparently confused by old footage shown on Fox News into falsely believing that the city was being burned to the ground by rioters.
“Trump is showing growing signs of dementia,” Reich wrote. “He’s increasingly unhinged. He’s 79 years old with a family history of dementia. He could well be going nuts.”
The 25th Amendment states that the vice president, with the support of the majority of the president’s Cabinet, can remove the sitting president from office by asserting he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
Congressional Democrats publicly urged former Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump after he incited a deadly riot at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. Pence refused, and the House of Representatives proceeded to impeach Trump on charges of inciting an insurrection.
Republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).