This would be a good novel

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...deranged president coddled and propped up by a cabal of White House staffers.

It's not a novel, though, it's a believable narrative in an anonymous NYT op-ed where someone, apparently the ringleader of the cabal, heralds their self-appointed patriotism in a public confessional looking for a pat on the back from those of us already horrified by the first takeover of our government by Putin.

Here's their incredible appeal:

"Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over."

So, there are concerns about the president's mental state which they believe rise to invoking the 25th amendment, but, instead of informing the responsible authorities (Congress), they've chosen to 'steer' the mentally malfunctioning president to avoid what they term a 'constitutional crisis' which would effectively derail their conservative agenda.

The 'crisis' they fear would be the undoing of their republican presidency, not the threat to our democratic system of governance posed by a president unfit to hold office. But there is a system already in place to effect that control of an out-of-control Executive which does not proscribe that staffers to the president co-opt those responsibilities.

Their subversive concealment of the president's impairment is not only a threat to the nation, but it's a betrayal of the oaths they took to defend the Constitution, made even more egregious by their partisan ambitions in their cover-up:

To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous...

It should make your blood boil to read their call for 'civility,' effectively asking that we all come together and support this propped-up sham of a presidency. This travesty need to end. This rebel facade needs to be dismantled and this presidency examined closely by Congress to determine just who is steering the ship of state.

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1. it's not clear they haven't properly informed the responsible authorities under the 25th amendment.

the process starts with the vice-president. pence and a majority of the cabinet have to agree to invoke the 25th.

given that this cabinet in particular was chosen for loyalty, and given that their jobs might very well go away if donnie goes away (even if pence promises he won't fire them, how could they be sure?) it's not at all likely that pence and the cabinet will invoke the 25th.

then it goes to congress, where 2/3rds of both houses are needed if donnie challenges it (and surely he will).


it's a very implausible route for removing a president whose problem conscious and aware but immature and ill-suited for the job.
it was intended for a president in a coma or who suffered a severe stroke.


"the resistance" might very well have told pence, but he knows he can't get a majority of the cabinet on board, never mind 2/3rds of both houses of congress....

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2. personally

...I think this is about as close to a soft coup as I can understand the term.

There is already a process in place to deal with a president unfit to hold office.

This isn't it. This is a usurpation of the president's authority which sidesteps Congress's role in determining who makes those decisions (in effect, the American people's voice in that).

Where's the accountability? I mean, how in the world did we come to trust the likes of Coats and Pence (or any other self-serving conservative), for godsakes, to establish regular order? It's all too perfect for Coats to pose as a critic of Trump, for instance, and endeavor to subvert that office to effect whatever conservative agenda he might seek to advance.

This is clearly a presidency already in crisis. It's not contained by self-appointed patriots serving their own interests while covering up this president's infirmity. It needs to be halted and examined to determine just who is running the nation.

Sen. Warren:

"If senior administration officials think the President of the United States is not able to do his job, then they should invoke the 25th Amendment," Warren told CNN. "The Constitution provides for a procedure whenever the Vice President and senior officials think the President can't do his job. It does not provide that senior officials go around the President -- take documents off his desk, write anonymous op-eds ... Everyone of these officials have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. It's time for them to do their job."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/06/politics/elizabeth-warren-25th-amendment/index.html

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3. They serve at the pleasure of the president. That's accountability.

In fact i expect Donnie to be purging a number of staffers shortly.