By Kirsten Matoy Carlson
Bipartisan calls for President Donald Trump’s removal from office increased on April 7, 2026, after he issued threats to destroy “a whole civilization” if Iran refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
These calls have come from across the political spectrum, from Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico to former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and right-wing pundit Alex Jones. Unlikely allies seem to agree that the president has gone too far and needs to be reined in.
Their concerns have emerged as Iran has walked away from talks to end the war and Trump’s language suggests that he plans to escalate it by destroying the country’s power plants and bridges.
Concerns over Trump’s fitness for office have grown in recent weeks as his commentary has become more erratic.
If lawmakers do attempt to remove Trump from office, here’s what would happen:
Senate Television via AP
25th Amendment
The Constitution’s 25th Amendment provides a way for high-level officials to remove a president from office. It was ratified in 1967 in the wake of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy – who was succeeded by Lyndon Johnson, who had already had one heart attack – as well as delayed disclosure of health problems experienced by Kennedy’s predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower.
The 25th Amendment provides detailed procedures on what happens if a president resigns, dies in office, has a temporary disability or is no longer fit for office.
It has never been invoked against a president’s will, and has been used only to temporarily transfer power, such as when a president is undergoing a medical procedure requiring anesthesia.
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment authorizes high-level officials – either the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet or another body designated by Congress – to remove a president from office without his consent when he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Congress has yet to designate an alternative body, and scholars disagree over the role, if any, of acting Cabinet officials.
The high-level officials simply send a written declaration to the president pro tempore of the Senate – the longest-serving senator from the majority party – and the speaker of the House of Representatives, stating that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. The vice president immediately assumes the powers and duties of the president.
The president, however, can fight back. He or she can seek to resume their powers by informing congressional leadership in writing that they are fit for office and no disability exists. But the president doesn’t get the presidency back just by saying this.
The high-level officials originally questioning the president’s fitness then have four days to decide whether they disagree with the president. If they notify congressional leadership that they disagree, the vice president retains control and Congress has 48 hours to convene to discuss the issue. Congress has 21 days to debate and vote on whether the president is unfit or unable to resume his powers.
The vice president remains the acting president until Congress votes or the 21-day period lapses. A two-thirds majority vote by members of both houses of Congress is required to remove the president from office. If that vote fails or does not happen within the 21-day period, the president resumes his powers immediately.
National Archives via AP
The case for impeachment
Article II of the Constitution authorizes Congress to impeach and remove the president – and other federal officials – from office for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” The founders included this provision as a tool to punish a president for misconduct and abuses of power. It’s one of the many ways that Congress could keep the president in check, if it chose to.
Impeachment proceedings begin in the House of Representatives. A member of the House files a resolution for impeachment. The resolution goes to the House Judiciary Committee, which usually holds a hearing to evaluate the resolution. If the House Judiciary Committee thinks impeachment is proper, its members draft and vote on articles of impeachment. Once the House Judiciary Committee approves articles of impeachment, they go to the full House for a vote.
If the House of Representatives impeaches a president or another official, the action then moves to the Senate. Under the Constitution’s Article I, the Senate has the responsibility for determining whether to remove the person from office. Normally, the Senate holds a trial, but it controls its procedures and can limit the process if it wants.
Ultimately, the Senate votes on whether to remove the president – which requires a two-thirds majority, or 67 senators. To date, the Senate has never voted to remove a president from office, although it almost did in 1868, when President Andrew Johnson escaped removal from office by one vote.
The Senate also has the power to disqualify a public official from holding public office in the future. If the person is convicted and removed from office, only then can senators vote on whether to permanently disqualify that person from ever again holding federal office. Members of Congress proposing the impeachment of Trump have promised to include a provision to do so. A simple majority vote is all that’s required then.
Kirsten Matoy Carlson is Professor of Law and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Wayne State University.
Alex says
We have a Congress that is sitting on the side lines as we witness an unhinged President threaten to kill civilians. They are just as much to blame for such bizarre statements as the person that made them.
Keenan Hreib says
Indeed Congress has been IMPOTENT to say the least, and Hakeem Jeffries as well as Chuck Shumer should be kicked square in the nuts.
JW says
The real problem is not Trump but the voters that are unfit to vote. Why? American voters (left and right) are not educated about civics, economics, world history and so much more. And it is getting worse every year (book banning) They are not able to critically think and judge what a brutal country we have become. They vote with their gut instead of with their brain. But even without proper education it is not hard to see the brutal wars that have been under way in the Middle East for decades and now sponsored by Natanyahu and Trump. And in history we fought other brutal wars like in Vietnam. Did we forget?
America is a “feel good” society, (yes, most of us are good people) so why is it that we don’t mind another genocide by today’s actors in the Middle East?
Lack of education, narcissism and religions!
skibum says
While I don’t disagree with you, we cannot force people to make smarter choices and decisions. Yes, we need better education. Yes, we need to have critical thinking be mandatory in our nation’s educational systems. Yes, we need to have a total separation between education and religion. Those are certainly worthwhile goals.
DaleL says
I suggest that the political party identification should not be on election ballots. Too many people vote for their “team” rather than a particular candidate. I also think that closed primary elections favor more extreme candidates in both major parties.
Ed P says
Then after the 8:00 pm dead line passed because a cease fire agreement was in the making, the same left talking heads declared “it’s the biggest Taco Tuesday ever”
Damn that crazy bastard.
Deborah Coffey says
And, now what’s happening? Taco Tuesday was a farce! Yes, impeach that crazy bastard.
Al says
Why does the left have wet dreams over Trumps demise. News flash it’s not going to happen. Does the left live just to dwell in disappointment? If there was ever a case for the 25th it would have been for a brain dead buffoon named Biden. Go have another demonstration of lasers while the rest of the country moves on without you.
PaulT says
If you take even a cursory look you’ll see it was right wing MAGA talking heads, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, MTTG and even Alex Jones who were openly suggesting that Trump was unstable and were dicussing the need for Section 4 of the 25th amendment.
Apart from his obvious love of theatrics, it’s likely the pressure from the right helped force Trump last minute announcement of a ceasefire, brokered by Pakistan with China’s support and based on Iran’s 10 point peace plan.
Ed P says
Hello PaulT,
No it’s was main stream as well, Jimmy Kimmel, DNC who got cheeky and used NACHO, Yahoo Finance, CBS, Bloomberg and CNN.
So in the future when posts reference the outlets above, we should place them with Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, and Candice Owen’s?
Is that cursory enough for you?
PaulT says
Ed P. If the groundswell from both left and right is uniting to say ‘Trump is Unfit For Office’ that seems like progress to me.
Ed P says
Hello PaulT,
When we believe the main stream talking heads, the radicals either left or right are who are the real truth tellers….well then even our reality compass needs recalibration.
Ponder this.
Do you believe you have ever been able to formulate a genuine original thought?
We remix, copy, and combine ideas.
No one actually thinks for themselves.
Once you accept this reality, it will assist in formulating personal perceptions.
Laurel says
Okay, let’s not start with the Biden crap. What went wrong with Biden, was he showed that he mentally stumbled during debate. That was not good, and a definite red flag. But, there is no evidence that he was not in control in his previous role as President. All that “sleepy Joe” stuff was made up bullshit.
Be real. We have had Presidents that have had problems in the past. Franklin D. Roosevelt hid the fact that he had polio, knowing the country would perceive that as a weakness. Ronald Reagan had dementia while in office, and his cabinet hid it. Stuff happens regardless of political leaning.
Donald Trump told a group of five year olds that Biden used an auto-pen, and that Kamala Harris is low IQ during the Easter Egg hunt. He threatened to wipe out a whole civilization, meaning men, women and children civilians. He is telling our amazing military personnel to break our rules and laws, and international law, which has no statue of limitations for our soldiers, but he clearly does not care. This is abnormal behavior. He is erratic and incredibly selfish. He is dangerous, mainly to us.
I’m not thrilled with Vance, he is an admitted liar, and the puppet of Peter Thiel and the Project 2025 group who want to rule our lives in a strict, rights killing way, but he may be more palatable than Trump. Maybe.
Ed P says
Hello Laurel,
Official diagnosis : Reagan announced his Alzheimer’s on November 5, 1994 several years after his presidency ended, January 20, 1989.
He may have suffered from various health issues during his presidency, some might even think he had lead poisoning because he was shot in 1981.
Trump will be 80 in June. We should all hope we have the stamina and mental acuities he possesses at that age. Of course he’s lost a step.
Everyone’s “ clutch starts slipping a little at that age” I will admit that.
Deborah Coffey says
Yes, everyone’s clutch start slipping a little at that age, but NOT their CHARACTER! Trump’s character is in the gutter.
Ed P says
Hello Ms Coffey,
Admittedly we look for different things in a leader.
You prefer a polite public figure.
While I prefer the alpha who delivers results.
You focus on tweets.
Me on success.
His character flaws might be exactly why he is effective.
So could both things be true?
Laurel says
Deborah: Correct! The character he owns has been with him all his life. The problem for us is, he is not our retribution, we are his.
Sherry says
@ Deborah. . . Thank You! Absolutely. . . trump’s character has been in the gutter his “entire life”!
Just read the books written by his niece, Mary Trump, a “clinical Psychologist”, to understand the foundations of his corrupt and criminal nature from childhood.
IMO- FAR BEYOND MERE POLITENESS- Character/Principles are the building blocks required for a human understanding of “Good VS Evil”.
Mary Trump has diagnosed Donald Trump with narcissism, anti-social personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, and an undiagnosed learning disability. Mary Trump, describes her uncle, Donald Trump, as a person lacking core moral scruples, stemming from a childhood where kindness was deemed weakness. She characterizes him as a bully who never evolved, often utilizing mendacity, cruelty, and narcissism, and who she suggests might be diagnosed with sociopathy.
Ed P says
Hello Sherry,
Not challenging yours or Mary Trump’s opinion of President Trump.
However, I will keep in mind, she might be more partisan and dislikes Trump even more than you.
Her alienation from the Trump family was primarily driven by a bitter inheritance dispute following the death of Fred Trump Sr. It got ugly on all sides. She felt her 2001 settlement was unfair.
Let’s keep it real.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
It was so made up that the Democratic party chose to disenfranchise their entire constituency by simply not letting them vote on who the Democrats ran. Gee, I wonder why that was.
Pogo says
Trash talk from losers across the spectrum; who is lower: the ones with their head up trump’s ass, or the shit talking weirdos that boasted about not voting or pissing it away on a protest?
Eat up, your killing everything and everyone.
EC: File
Bob says
UNHINGED? Most of those who comment on theses cartoons,need to look at themselves in the mirror.
Sherry says
@bob. . . and, yet, here you are. . . commenting. Did ya miss that mirror this morning?
Laurel says
Interesting that maybe Bob thinks Trump behaves normally.
Sherry says
Good Morning Laurel. . . Yes, ole bob, and unfortunately many others, think trump is behaving normally. . . although he has been diagnosed with serious mental problems by a “Clinical Psychologist”!
Amazing how some people fool themselves each and every day!
Laurel says
Warren Jeffs, the authoritarian leader of the FDLS cult, is spending his life in prison as a convicted child sex offender and for arranging illegal marriages between older men and underage girls. Yet, there are many in the FDLS who still believe that Jeffs is their prophet, and he still rules them from prison.
Yes, the human mind is interesting. Look at all the negativity, division, name calling and lies that came from Trump (and continues to happen) and he is still supported. I wonder how long it will take for sanity to return to our people and our country.
Sherry says
Regarding serious concerns over Reagan’s mental well being while in office. . . simply because someone isn’t “officially” diagnosed doesn’t mean they were not mentally impaired! Yet, President Biden is loudly proclaimed, in Maga World, as mentally ill on each and every day of his Presidency, with no “official” diagnosis to date? Ya think maybe this comparison is just a little “one-sided”?
Sadly, I’ve known several people with dementia/Alzheimer’s . . . in my personal experience, they change from day to day. Sometimes seeming perfectly fine, and just hours later drifting off, unable to complete sentences, recognize people, etc. Such a terrible disease is simply not that black and white.
Concerns over Reagan:
The 1987 “Jim Cannon Memo”
The most significant discussion of Reagan’s mental fitness occurred in early 1987, during the fallout of the Iran-Contra scandal.
Internal Alarm: Outgoing staff members reported that the president was “inattentive,” “lazy,” and “inept”. They described a White House where the staff system had “evaporated,” and Reagan appeared depressed or unable to focus on duties.
The Recommendation: James Cannon, an aide to the incoming Chief of Staff Howard Baker, wrote a memo on March 1, 1987, that explicitly recommended Baker “consider the possibility that section four of the 25th Amendment might be applied”. This section allows the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet to remove a president they deem “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”.
The Observation: Baker took the concern seriously but decided to observe Reagan personally before taking action. During a meeting the following day, Baker and his aides found Reagan to be alert, animated, and “fully in control”. The recommendation was dismissed and never acted upon.
Family Perspectives: In his 2011 book, My Father at 100, Reagan’s son, Ron Reagan, claimed his father may have shown symptoms as early as the 1984 presidential debates, where he appeared “bewildered” and “lost for words”. However, Reagan’s older son, Michael Reagan, and many of his former aides have strongly disputed these claims.
Linguistic Research: A 2015 study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease analyzed transcripts of Reagan’s news conferences and found a significant increase in conversational fillers and non-specific nouns (like using “thing” instead of a specific word) toward the end of his presidency. Some researchers suggest these are linguistic “markers” of early cognitive decline that predated a clinical diagnosis.
Aides’ Concerns: Some staff members, such as CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl, later recalled moments in the late 1980s where Reagan appeared unresponsive or confused, leading to internal concerns about his mental state.
Ed P says
Hello Sherry,
“ simply because someone isn’t “officially “
Do you believe in facts or not.
You can’t suspend or spin truths for convience.
You of all Flagler live commenters has demanded verified facts and truths more than the entire community combined.
What was your above post, because it wasn’t either?
WouldntYouLikeToKnow says
Take this whole regime out ‘behind the barn’ and be done with this whole ideology for good. Any body who wants to go ‘be free forever’ with them, is more than welcome to find a spot along the wall also. MAGA will be the end of America, one way or another. They will leave their mark on this nation like they so badly want, however, it wont be the mark they leave behind willingly…
Deborah Coffey says
America First means America Alone means America LAST. That LAST will include the MAGAs, too. We are at the edge of the MAGA cliff. Who will stop MAGA?
Sherry says
Of course trump is completely unfit for office in a number of different ways. . . we all know that.
Unfortunately, many of his supporters are “Unfit For Voting”!
Ron says
You use AOC as an expert! Give me a break. Biden should have been removed from office. The auto pen President. This article should be thrown in the trash.
This country has a lot of issues. There is rampant fraud steeling our money. You all need to get a life.
How many times are we going to accept Iran terrorist at their word. If they do not comply they should be eliminated! These are the same people killing their own citizens.
Deborah Coffey says
Before this nightmare is over, Donald Trump will own every cent you have.
Sherry says
FACTS:
“Clinical Psychologist”, Mary Trump has diagnosed Donald Trump as follows:
Mary Trump has diagnosed Donald Trump with narcissism, anti-social personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, and an undiagnosed learning disability. Mary Trump, describes her uncle, Donald Trump, as a person lacking core moral scruples, stemming from a childhood where kindness was deemed weakness. She characterizes him as a bully who never evolved, often utilizing mendacity, cruelty, and narcissism, and who she suggests might be diagnosed with sociopathy.
Ed P says
Hello Sherry,
Your 3 separate posts claiming Mary Trump is unbiased is 100% disingenuous.
She is not a valid source.
3 reasons:
Research THE GOLDWATER RULE.
Examine her lack of clinical observation
Factor in her personal conflict and biases
Laurel says
It is interesting that there are those who constantly attack others who supply facts, yet have nothing to say about those who have a lack of facts, and spout out fictitious bs like “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
It makes it easy to see the maga trolls are threatened.
GET OVER IT says
He’s the president. Get over it. And didnt the US drop TWO atomic bombs on cities? Trump says something and you want him out of office. Get a life.
Laurel says
This life doesn’t follow liars and con men.
Sherry says
FACTS that make trump “Unfit For Office”:
1. “CONVICTED FELON”
2. “Found GUILTY” of “Sexual Abuse”
3. “IMPEACHED TWICE”
[email protected] says
Hello Sherry,
When will you debate a policy, acknowledge a success, or offer a solution?
The above bullets are opinions because they do not disqualify holding the office of the President of the United States. They are not facts preventing Trump’s ability to serve.
Let’s focus on issues and put the Trump Style in the background because it’s utterly monotonous and trite. It’s are actually banal.
Laurel says
That fact that Trump presented himself as Jesus, then claimed he meant to portray himself as a doctor seems like normal, Presidential behavior to you?
Atwp says
The Democrats need to leave this alone. We need to try and millions registered to vote for a Democratic President in 2028. Did they learn anything over the past 8 years. Impeach impeached twice, a convicted felon and he is the President. Get voters registered to take the house and probably the senate this coming November. Leave this alone and get a good honest message for the voters. An unpopular war, a bad economy, high gas prices, lying promises is a good start for a good honest message to the voters. Leave impeachment alone and use the weapons the Republicans are giving us. Democrats we have the weapons let us use them wisely. Any time a person is hit in the pocketbook in a negative way as is what is happening now, Democrats you have a good weapon. Use it wisely and to the Parties advantage.
Me says
Congress has let our country down because they are too coward to stand up to Trumps maniac behavior at the expense of the people they took and Oath to serve and protect.
Trump is stealing taxpayers blind. He is hiding everything he is doing behind closed doors and no one is stopping this madness.
Our allies no longer trust us and our country is no longer safe or protected.
Trump said he is going to pardon everyone in his administration which proves they are all guilty of crimes.
Our democracy needs everyone to wake up to reality because this is our last chance.
Trump is doing everything Putin wants and it is obvious who he is working for and it isn’t the USA.
Sherry says
@ Me. . . Thank You!