David Frum appeared on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell and made a shocking statement especially since he is a long-serving Republican. One would not expect talk about presidential removal from the likes of him.
David Frum startling statement
Neocon and George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum made a shocking statement to Lawrence O’Donnell on a possibility to remove Trump from the presidency. O’Donnell asked Frum about a tweet he recently sent out that captured his attention.
Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Article 4. We’re all going to be talking a lot more about it in the months ahead.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 16, 2016
The tweet said,
Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Article 4. We’re all going to be talking a lot more about it in the months ahead.
Frum was not shy about answering it.
“Presidents can be removed in two ways,” Frum said. “By impeachment of course for high crimes and misdemeanors. And we have a pretty high bar for what constitutes that. But if somebody is simply psychologically or physically incapable, there is also a process in the Constitution, section four of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment that says, it’s a complicated process, it’s difficult to do. I don’t predict that this will happen at all. But I do think we are going to be talking about it more and more as we wonder about the mental state of the President Elect.”
Donald Trump has been erratic. He spoke to the Australian Prime Minister over an unsecured phone. He met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe without any policy briefing. Trump continues to tweet about the New York Times unaware that the stature of the President Elect criticising the free press sends the wrong signals to despots especially coming from presumably the world’s number one democracy. He tweeted about a meeting with Ford Chairman Bill Ford about a plant he claimed was being shipped to Mexico that was never going to Mexico.
Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky – no Mexico
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016
Trump is treating the Presidency like a game. How soon till someone monopolizes on his mistakes? Following is the text of Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.
25th Amendment 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.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days 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. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.