Trump’s Iran Threats Prompt Democrats, Former Allies To Call for Invoking the 25th Amendment

President Trump’s threats to end Iranian civilization are prompting Democrats on Capitol Hill and some of the president’s former allies to call for the invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove him from office — a plea rarely made in American history. Though neither Vice President JD Vance nor any current Cabinet member has endorsed such a plan, the calls for immediate action from lawmakers is a recognition that they themselves are powerless in this situation. Mr. Trump says he is planning to strike Iranian energy and civilian infrastructure on Tuesday night if the Islamic Republic does not make some kind of a deal with him. During a press conference on Monday, the president declined to say if reopening the Strait of Hormuz would be enough to get him to back down. On Tuesday morning, the United States launched an attack on more than 50 military targets located on Kharg Island, home to Iran’s key oil exporting infrastructure. Shortly after, Mr. Trump escalated his threats against Iran.“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. He qualified his statement, however, writing that “different, smarter, and less radicalized minds” could prevail so that “maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen.” “We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World,” Mr. Trump wrote. Shortly after that message went out, dozens of Democrats on Capitol Hill took the unusual step of calling on the vice president and the Cabinet directly to invoke the 25th Amendment. “Trump is escalating a devastating, illegal war, threatening massive war crimes and targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran. In the last 48 hours alone, the rhetoric has crossed every line. Pete Hegseth is complicit,” Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, whose parents fled Iran after the revolution, wrote on X. “I’ve called for the 25th Amendment and am introducing Articles of Impeachment against Hegseth.”Congressman Seth Moulton, a Marine who was awarded a Bronze Star for valor during the Iraq War, said the same. “This is not normal. This is not just ‘Trump being Trump,’” Mr. Moulton said in a statement. “This is an insane man who is unfit for office, and needs to be removed immediately.”Several members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Summer Lee, as well as Congressmen Mark Pocan and Ro Khanna, also called on Mr. Vance and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. A former lawmaker, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, similarly called on Mr. Trump’s own team to remove him from power. “25TH AMENDMENT!!!” Ms. Greene wrote on X Tuesday. Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness.”Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones agreed with Ms. Greene during his show on Tuesday. “How do we 25th Amendment his ass?” Mr. Jones asked his guest, who responded that it is not a feasible option and that the only way to stop him would be to “tackle” him and detain him somewhere, letting Mr. Vance take over in a coup. Tucker Carlson has not called on Mr. Vance and the Cabinet to remove Mr. Trump from office, though he says White House staffers and members of the military should defy the president’s orders. “Now is the time to say ‘no,’” Mr. Carlson said on his show. “Those people who are in direct contact with the president need to say: ‘No. I’ll resign. I’ll do whatever I can do legally to stop this because this is insane and if given the order, I’m not carrying it out. Figure out the codes on the [nuclear] football yourself,’” Mr. Carlson declared. The demands are not realistic, given the vice president’s and Cabinet members’ support for their boss. Democrats’ genuine concern comes more from a place of acknowledgment that they have little power in this situation, given that they would not be able to pass articles of impeachment in the House, nor would the Republican-controlled Senate convict him. Under the 25th Amendment, Mr. Vance and the Cabinet would be able to remove Mr. Trump for only a number of days, in the incredibly unlikely situation that they ever did decide to go that route. If the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet send a communication to Congress that Mr. Trump is incapable of doing the job, then Mr. Vance would take power as acting president, though it would then require two-thirds of both the Senate and the House to keep Mr. Trump from returning.Even some prominent Democrats have acknowledged that the 25th Amendment is in no way a viable path to remove Mr. Trump from power. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said it is not a “realistic” solution “given [the president’s] oddball cabinet of sycophants and eccentrics.”“We’re going to have to buckle down and win this the old-fashioned way,” Mr. Whitehouse wrote.

Trump’s Iran Threats Prompt Democrats, Former Allies To Call for Invoking the 25th Amendment

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