As someone who has studied presidential ill health, let me say it’s important to remember the motivations of political elites whose primary source of power comes through their relationship with the sick president.
Want more background?
Here’s the academic article I wrote with @bonidulani, in which we caution against relying too much on constitutional provisions to guide succession, especially in the case of presidential ill health: academic.oup.com/afraf/article/…
And here is a @monkeycageblog piece I wrote based on that research, looking at the case of #Zambia’s president becoming ill in office (but also talking about the US Constitution’s 25th amendment): washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-ca…
And here is another @monkeycageblog piece I wrote about #Malawi, which highlights how keeping presidents out of the public eye can yield a lot of rumors: washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-ca…
For more on the 25th amendment, read @rudalev’s @monkeycageblog piece: washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/…
But if 2016-2020 has taught you anything, I hope it’s that Americans should not rely on institutions to protect democracy in the US. /fin
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