Let's get real. It's time to invoke the 25th. The 25th Amendment, that is. `

Back on March 18th, in a post written just after Joe Kent, a top U.S. counterterrorism official resigned in protest over the Iran war, I advocated that the time was right to invoke the 25th Amendment. In his resignation letter Kent wrote, “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” In its reporting of Kent’s resignation, The New York Times noted the Kent “is the first senior member of the administration to quit over the war.” In my post, I noted that Kent’s resignation was particularly important because he was “said to be a close associate of his boss, DNI Tulsi Gabbard” and that “Gabbard, Kent and Vice President JD Vance have been seen as part of a faction within the Trump administration that is more skeptical of US military intervention abroad.”

Vance and Gabbard, as Cabinet level officials, are two of the “principal officers of the executive department” who could invoke the 25th Amendment which reads (Section 4):

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

I closed my post this way:

…should we simply wait for the mid-term elections, hope that there really will be elections, and pray that if there are, they’ll be free and fair—despite Trump’s and the GOP’s manipulations—while crossing fingers that even if one or both houses are flipped, that the rogue Trump will abide by any actions by Congress to rein him in.

Can it happen? Will it happen? Are there really any other viable options? Because if bold action isn’t taken, it will get worse. And not even the next No King’s Day marches will make a difference.

Is my advocacy of the 25th simply wishful thinking, a pipe dream, a fool’s errand?

Perhaps it is. Or maybe, just maybe, it “was.”

Why?

Because yesterday, reacting to Donald Trump’s “nothing cheeseburger” of a presidential address to the nation (my description) on the “Iran Excursion” (Trump’s description—mine would “Illegal War of Choice”) Thom Hartmann, one of our most insightful progressive political commentators, posted on his Substack, The Hartmann Report, his own plea for the 25th. In a post called, Trump Is Unraveling: Isn't it Time to Act Before He Destroys the World?, Hartmann argues:

Republicans in Congress and the cabinet must decide whether their loyalty is to an aging, mentally ill, demonstrably incompetent man or to the nation and world he’s put at risk.

Because the cost of continued inaction here isn’t some abstraction; it’s already being paid in American blood and treasure, and could easily lead to an escalation that no one can deal with if it really starts to spin out of control. The echoes of World War I are too loud to ignore any longer.

There are two immediate constitutional remedies: Impeachment and removal from office, or the 25th Amendment.

If even a handful of Trump’s cabinet members can summon the courage to deal with the reality that we all saw last night, they could force him into retirement. Alternatively, if enough Republicans in Congress choose country over career, they could impeach him and thus end this crisis before it spirals further.

Hartmann goes on (bold text, his):

If we’re serious about avoiding a wider war — or worse, a global one — we may not have the luxury of waiting for November’s election; we need to push a few brave Republicans (if we can find them) to join all the Democrats and take action now.

Because last night’s speech not only failed to tell us where this war is going but starkly shoved in all our faces the reality of how far gone the man leading it already is.

Similar to Hartmann, I also suggested that either impeachment or the 25th Amendment are options. But unlike him, I felt impeachment was a non-starter since I believe that corraling enough congressional Republican support is highly unlikely, while putting together a majority of the Cabinet is a realistic goal.

News today makes that goal even more realistic since after firing HHS Secretary Noem and AG Bondi, Trump is signaling that he’s fed up with his cabinet. According to reporting from The Atlantic and Polico, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, FBI Director Kash Patel, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer are reportedly on the chopping block.

Is this news about more potential cabinet firings Trump’s defense against the 25th Amendment—to get rid of those who he believes might sign on to remove him before they can mobilize, replacing them with toadies who are more sufficiently sycophantic? If indeed that’s Trump’s scheme, there’s no time to waste. There are 23 cabinet positions (with Bondi’s open) meaning 12 are needed to vote Trump out. Counting the four likely on the chopping block plus Vance and Gabbard, only six more are needed.

It’s time for these “public servants” to, as Hartmann opines, “act before he destroys the world.” It’s time for them to serve their country as opposed to what they’ve been doing—serving a tin-pot would be king, one who is “unraveling,”

We need the 25th Amendment and we need it now!

You can help to get this moving by calling your senators and representatives, particularly the GOP ones, demanding action. Demand action now before this window of opportunity passes us by.

One last request. If you agree with me, I urge you to repost, “restack,” or simply forward this post to like-minded friends and family. You might even want to send it to friends and family who are not so like-minded. Who knows? We might be at the inflection point where even Trump supporters will finally see the light.