Pleading the Twenty-Fifth

Last updated on: October 12, 2017 at 11:29 am by Shane Phipps

Pleading the Twenty-Fifth 2017-10-12T11:29:07-04:00 Shane Phipps

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

7FFF8CE4-2AEF-4B57-89FF-9F4F1335202C

As the administration of President Trump continues to plunge, full steam ahead, into uncharted waters of lunacy, talk of impeachment is never far from the American water cooler. While I can hardly wait to see Trump make an hasty exit from the White House, I also have grave concerns about the potential fallout from an impeachment. I wrote of my concerns here. But there is another way to remove a president from office short of impeachment, and I believe it would be a much smoother and more peaceful process, should it come to that.

One positive side effect of the crazy presidency of Donald Trump is the fact that a lot more Americans are paying attention to what’s going on in our government. Also, more Americans are making themselves familiar with the Constitution. As a result, a formerly obscure bit in the Constitution is now becoming very widely known. It is the 25th Amendment–added in 1967–which could provide a path to remove President Trump from office if he is deemed mentally unfit.

I believe that option is far superior to impeachment. For starters, getting enough votes to remove a sitting president through impeachment is very difficult. It’s actually never been successfully pulled off. It was attempted on Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Neither case was successful in removing the president. It likely could have happened with Nixon, but he resigned before it got that far. So, while President Trump may indeed warrant impeachment–that in itself is debatable, given the wording of what it takes to impeach–it may not be the wisest path.

Another concern is that a successful impeachment spearheaded by Democrats could lead down a path of tremendous and violent reactions across an already tumultuous and divided nation.

That 25th Amendment provides what I think is a much better option. In that scenario, the President could be deemed unfit for service by those in his own cabinet and if the majority of them agreed, they could vote him out of power. Being taken out of power through such an “inside job”, I believe, would be much better for the nation. It would allow the right wingers to more easily accept it since their own were responsible for it. If “Joe Shotgun” from Mississippi had an issue with his man Trump being removed under this 25th Amendment provision, his beef would be with other Republicans, not Democrats.

Left wingers, it might feel good to see Trump sweating it out in an impeachment trial, but I guarantee you, Red America would be a huge pain to deal with in the wake of a successful impeachment–perhaps horrible domestic-terrorist-level-trouble–perhaps even civil war-level-trouble.

There is mounting evidence that the higher ups in the Republican Party are deeply concerned that Trump is going off his rocker. Why not let them take out the trash for us all?

Previous Post

October 10, 2017

Better next time: A prayer for leadership

Next Post

October 18, 2017 The Other Side of Hollywood: How Harvey Weinstein has Exposed the Reactionary Hypocrisy in Us All

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 150 word story 2nd Amendment AARP abortion addiction aging alcoholism Anderson Wigwam Andrew Jackson Appalachia Basketball bias bigotry Black Lives Matter Christianity Christmas, Constitution, Bill of Rights Civil War Clinton cloning confirmation bias Conservation Constitution Controversial Creationism Creepy tales David Bowie depression Dogs Education Election Electoral College Empathy Environmental Evolution exvangelical faith Family Family History Fantasy Genealogy Genesis George Washington Ghetto Global Warming Gun Control health care High School Basketball Hillary History Hockey homosexuality Hoosier Hysteria Hoosiers Hunting immigration income inequality Interview ISTEP Jurassic Park Kaepernick Ken Hamm Kids say the Darndest things LGBTQ Love MAGA Manifest Destiny Merit Pay Mike Pence Muhammad Ali Multiple Perspectives Music Music Review Nashville News media NHL No Child Left Behind NRA Paradox Parenting Pence Perspective Politics POTUS Poverty Predators Race Religion religious freedom Sci Fi Science Secret of Life sexual harrassment Short Stories Slavery Small Town Indiana Smashville Social Commentary social media sports Stress technology Terrorism Thomas Jefferson Trauma Trump Turning 50 Uncategorized war Washington DC White Privilege wooly mammoths words in red Writing Writing Process Writing, Writing Process Young Earth

Select a Month June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the "Great Commission" Jesus gave his followers?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Build a temple Go and make disciples Gather riches Stay hidden

Support this
Column