,
5 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Let's add some truth to 25th Amendment Twitter:
1. 25A4 would be harder than impeachment (which is a no-go now).
2. Folks who think Trump is losing it read #1 and ask, "What's 25A4 for then?" Answer: Mainly comas.
3. Acting secretaries in the Cabinet=largely irrelevant.
1/5
1. 25A4 would be harder than impeachment (which is a no-go now).
2. Folks who think Trump is losing it read #1 and ask, "What's 25A4 for then?" Answer: Mainly comas.
3. Acting secretaries in the Cabinet=largely irrelevant.
1/5
To elaborate:
1. 25A4 doesn't remove presidents from office, it transfers power provisionally. He can (and would) try to come back; keeping him out would require sustaining 2/3 majorities in the House and Senate--more than impeachment. Think the votes are there? Count again.
2/5
1. 25A4 doesn't remove presidents from office, it transfers power provisionally. He can (and would) try to come back; keeping him out would require sustaining 2/3 majorities in the House and Senate--more than impeachment. Think the votes are there? Count again.
2/5
2. The Amendment's framers wanted a process to transfer power smoothly when the president is unconscious/uncommunicative, but they wanted to make it otherwise hard to use. They intentionally stacked the deck in the president's favor if he is well enough to respond (like now).
3/5
3/5
3. Lots of tweets say, "Trump has all 'acting' people in the Cabinet, to avoid the 25th Amendment." Wrong. There are only 2 actings; such a strategy would make no sense; and most scholars believe actings can participate anyway. Thread on actings here:
4/5
4/5
If you've read this far, you might want a fuller account of 25A4's design, why the failure to use 25A4 now is consistent with that design, and what would need to happen for it to work now. If so, my book is available for preorder (out 9/16, not 10/14): tinyurl.com/y4r3xlhy
5/5
5/5
