Letters/Editor

Time to Enact the 25th Amendment

by Norman Halls, contributor

The pass few weeks the President (Trump) of the United States of America has been unbelievable in his actions towards North Korea and the violent protest in Charlottesville, VA. With North Korea Trump acted as a child would. Supporting a group of white supremacists, a neo-Nazi and racism gang leads to think of Trump’s qualifications. Trump before and during his campaign, he said President Obama is not a U.S. citizen, seeking support of extremist which leans toward racism. Trump is unfit to be President of our United States of America. As Trump has demonstrated since January with his impulsive Twitted rants and questionable press conferences, leaves all to question his behavior. World leaders know Trump as there antagonizer, which will hurt the economy.

Right now Congress has a very big job, to remove Trump from office. As we know the President has control of weapons that he could use, lets us hope there are personnel that would question the use of said weapons. Congress should set-a-side all legislation and concentrates how to proceed to remove Trump. This could be much faster than impeachment. Will the Republican leaders have the guts to do it? If they decide to move forward, they must first explain to Vice President Pence what needs to take place once he is office. Remove all personnel and some Cabinet members and Attorney General that is not supportive to the Constitution. 

The Daily Kos wrote the following; “There is good news and bad news about invoking Sect. 4 of the 25 Amendment. The good news is that it is easy to do and takes very little time since it doesn’t involve the courts. The bad news is that it will require Republicans to institute and confirm the process. Simply requires the Vice-President and a majority of the cabinet officers (8 of the 15) to agree the President is unfit to serve, sign a letter stating that conclusion and deliver it to the Speaker of the House (Paul Ryan) and President Pro Temp of the Senate (Orrin Hatch). This provision prevents partisan “coups,” but there are no guidelines as to what makes a President unfit, so no explanation is necessary. Once the letter is delivered, the VP automatically becomes Acting President and takes on the powers, duties and responsibilities of the office. The President remains President, but is stripped of all powers. At any time, next day or next year, the President can send a letter to the Speaker and President Pro Temp stating the he is indeed fit to serve, and his powers will be restored at the end of four days. However, if the Vice-President and majority of the cabinet during those four days send them another letter reiterating their position the President is unfit, the Vice-President remains Acting President and the matter goes to a vote of the House and the Senate within 21 days of the two bodies being in session. It then takes a two-thirds majority vote of both houses to declare the President unfit to serve. The upshot is that it is very difficult to implement a 25 Amendment solution unless the President has so totally convinced members of his own party that he is so unfit for office that about half of them would vote to uphold the Vice-President and cabinet. That’s not a likely scenario, but only five months into his term support for Trump has eroded within his own party and its members are openly questioning his mental condition. How many incidents like misquoting the mayor of London, then calling him a liar after a tragic terrorist attack, will it take for Republicans to say enough is enough? How many insults, attacks on the press, and assaults on the Constitution will be required before our elected representatives say his alternate version of reality has crossed the line?”

John Kelly of Lexicon Valley wrote: “The presidency is without a doubt just what President Roosevelt has called it, ‘the hardest job on earth’. To achieve success in it much more than intellectual equipment is required. Indeed, it may be doubted if a genius of the first rank could, under present conditions, make a success of it at all. Given a fairly strong mind and will, which pertain without question to any man who reaches the White House, beyond that success or failure is largely a matter of temperament? Chief of the temperamental qualities is tact, patience, good humor in the last analysis, the ability to work well and smoothly with men, to avoid friction, to attract loyalty, to get the best possible out of subordinates and out of the coordinate branch, the Congress.”

Susan Milligan, Senior Writer US News explains: “Modern presidents, whatever their party or approach to governing, face the same fate: win the White House, and get on the couch. Presidential temperaments and personalities are exhaustively examined by professionals and lay people alike, as both experts and the public try to figure out what makes the most powerful man in the world tick. With President Donald Trump, however, the observations of the presidential personality have taken on a more ominous tone. Lawmakers and experts say they are troubled by Trump’s extraordinary focus on his own brand and popularity, including frequent and angry insistences that his crowds are bigger and more enthusiastic than anyone else’s and that, despite official vote counts to the contrary; he really won the popular vote for president.

As President Donald Trump continued to escalate his rhetoric about North Korea, U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-West Boca, Sun Sentinel editorial Board said: “the president’s comments are making the situation worse. Obviously we want to deter North Korea. We want to make sure that they understand the full power of the United States. That’s an important message for the president to send. But it’s got to be part of a broader effort to rein in the North Koreans. There’s not clear leadership coming out of the White House on this. Deutch discussed North Korea at an in Trump tweeted. Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong-Un will find another path! The president began ratcheting up the pressure on North Korea on Tuesday, pledging that the United States would unleash ‘fire and fury’ like the world has never seen. The problem with the president’s comments is that they don’t do anything to defuse the situation. The rhetoric itself is not necessarily the dangerous part. It’s the way he just throws out the aggressive language without tying it to anything,” Deutch he said.

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