Democrats, don't do it.
The 25th Amendment and Impeachment: tempting but doomed to fail.
The president’s assault on decency continues. Can’t chide him for flip-floppery; he’s been consistently low-class since the 2016 escalator ride, now with cheesy schoolboy-level insults and mobster-quality threats wrapped in fiction sold as fact.
Standard stuff for a hustler, one who, because he’s the country’s chief executive, inevitably if painfully consumes the public sphere’s oxygen. Motives for the sustained preoccupation with his every spew vary.
For critics, his obvious mental decline proves his unfitness for office and risk to the country. Supporters hear truths they think only he has the courage to tell. All are transfixed by the entertaining car crash that media profitably deliver around the clock.
Curious are the Republicans in Congress. Their support for him remains steadfast, suggesting inside knowledge or a suicide pact. The few who are troubled by what they see look at their shoes.
What explains this? What are the implications for Democrats’ efforts to retake the House and Senate? What’s the risk that surveys—the modern-day oracles on which this post-industrial superpower does business—will (again) prove wrong?
Republicans are said to be concerned about November. History suggests they may be right; mid-terms are rarely kind to the party in power. But is the GOP really “bleeding support”? Or is this just another case of media spin and click-bait?
Democrats see polling data as grounds for optimism. They, too, may be right. But their addiction to self-inflicted headwounds (“defund the police,” now updated to the equally brain-dead, “abolish ICE”) makes victory less than a sure thing.
Reality rarely stops Democrats. In knee-jerk response to Trump’s threat to destroy the “whole civilization” of Iran, 70 of them in the House have called for Trump’s removal from office, be it under the 25th Amendment or through impeachment.
First, they give credence to a dementia patient’s foam-at-the-mouth bombast. Iranian civilization has been around for some 5,000 years. The Pentagon’s expertise ends at rearranged concrete and dead people.
Second, they ignore the 25th Amendment’s requirements. Section 4 would need Vance plus a majority of the cabinet to invoke it. A salivating Vance is unlikely to convince enough of his colleagues to get off the grift train.
Third, on impeachment, they deny arithmetic. A few GOP senators might vote to convict, but “a few” isn’t the needed 20, especially when support for Trump among Republicans remains solid.
Lastly, why would any Democrat let Republicans off the hook? They hold both chambers. It’s their president. Their choice not to restrain him needs to hang around their neck come November.
Democrats’ role in Trump’s defenestration would not reward them at the ballot box. Country-over-party is a noble idea, but—newsflash to Dems—virtue works better after getting to power. Then again, missing that point is part of their DNA.
The bit of good news? Schumer and Jeffries are competent enough to count votes. Whether they can persuade the more impetuous members of their party to refrain from internecine warfare in pursuit of the quixotic remains to be seen.