Nancy Pelosi's 25th Amendment Talk Isn't About the Election, It's About the Lame Duck

[Nevilledog]

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a34330728/nancy-pelosi-25th-amendment-trump/

The Speaker of the House held a press conference on Friday morning at which she discussed fine-tuning the mechanism by which the President* of the United States may be judged unfit for office, or incapable of discharging his duties, and thereby removed from office. On a normal day in normal times, this would be reckoned to be a serious matter.

This is not about President Trump. He will face the judgment of the voters. But it shows the need for us to create a process for future presidents. Throughout our history our leaders have created and strengthened guardrails in the Constitution to ensure the continuity and stability of government in times of crisis. The 25th Amendment creates a path if a president suffers a physical or mental problem and is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

Specifically, section 4 of the amendment empowers Congress to set up an independent body to confront such a crisis. Congress has a constitutional duty to lay out a process by which the president is in capacity. This honors that duty by creating a standing commission of medical officials and experts selected in a bipartisan, bicameral way. A presidents's fitness for -- a president's fitness for office must be determined by the facts. With this bill, we honor our oath to support and defend the Constitution and protect the American people, and we hold our responsibility to preserve the republic for generations to come.

This, of course, is all about the current president*, who at the moment is one helicopter video away from one of those shirtless local-news videos that ensue after a high-speed car chase. Make no mistake. This was a shot across the administration's bow, not so much for the moment, but for the interregnum period between the election and the inauguration, when the president* will still be president*, win or lose.

The bill she proposed will pass the House and then die in the Senate, but that's not the point. If the president* decides to pull the temple down on his own head, the Speaker is now on record as considering a constitutional solution to that problem. The Republicans already are screaming about a "coup." The president* is babbling about arresting every Democrat back to Samuel Tilden. Somebody has to take the wheel before the whole enterprise ends up on the rocks.

*nothing further at link*

[brooklynite]

1. Then she should wait until he's lame...

[empedocles]

2. Hearings pre-election will publicize important issues.

[brooklynite]

3. Hearings pre-election will distract FROM the election.

I don't want to give disaffected Trump supporters a chance to get worked up.

[empedocles]

4. I understand your point. However, the Speaker has considered that and apparently

chose to go public now.

[BComplex]

6. And my vote is with Nancy.

She knows what she's doing.

[crickets]

9. +1

[GopherGal]

5. Maybe she wants to have the apparatus in place

so it can be activated if/when we need it.

If she does need to do something pre-election, I imagine the timing is better when people are still in DC and when Trump's recent displays of weakness are still fresh in people's memories.

[Liberty Belle]

7. Maybe she's setting this up in case he wins, so he can be removed,

or in case he loses but turns destructive between the election and Biden taking power in late January.

[JCMach1]

8. I trust the Speaker on this one