Once Trump gets his fangs into disabling foreign aid, I might like his agenda. The wall idea is all stupid. If I was the president I would propose an economic factory zone consisting of 100 miles of land equally distributed on Mexican and US Soil where factories would be built and the system modeled exactly like the Chinese. No Lawyers, Taxes on wages, and a place where anyone with bad luck can at least get a job even if it is not minimum wage. The trucking industry would boom and something positive could be initiated. Cervazo's would be free too.
‘He’s losing it fast’: Republican predicts Trump will be ‘out of office before the midterms’ This morning I phoned my friend, a former Republican member of Congress. Me: What's going on? Seems like the White House is imploding, and Republicans are going down with the ship. Him (chuckling): We’re officially a banana republic. Me: Seriously, what are you hearing from your former colleagues on the Hill? Him: They’re convinced Trump is out of his gourd. Me: So what are they going to do about it? Him: Remember what I told you at the start of this circus? They planned to use Trump’s antics for cover, to get done what they most wanted – big tax cuts, rollbacks of regulations, especially financial. They’d work with Pence behind the scenes and forget the crazy uncle in the attic. Me: Yeah. Him: Well, I’m hearing a different story now. Stuff with Sessions is pissing them off. And now Trump's hired that horse’s ass Scaramucci -- a communications director who talks dirty on CNN! Plus Trump’s numbers are in freefall. They think he’s gonna hurt them in ’18 and ’20. Me: So what’s the plan? Him: They want him outa there. Me: Really? Impeachment? Him: Doubt it, unless Mueller comes up with a smoking gun. Me: Or if he fires Mueller. Him: Not gonna happen. Me: So how do they get him out? Him: Put someone else up in ’20. Lots of maneuvering already. Pence, obviously. Cruz thinks he has a shot. Me: But that won’t help them in the midterms. What’s the plan before then? Him: Lots think he’s fritzing out. Me: Fritzing out? Him: Going totally bananas. Paranoia. You want to know why he fired Priebus, wants Sessions out, and is now gunning for Tillerson? Me: He wants to shake things up? Him (chuckling): No. The way I hear it, he thinks they’ve been plotting against him. Me: What do you mean? Him: Twenty-fifth amendment! Read it! A Cabinet can get rid of a president who’s nuts. Trump thinks they’ve been preparing a palace coup. So one by one, he’s firing them. Me: I find it hard to believe they’re plotting against him. Him: Of course not! It’s ludicrous. Sessions is a loyal lapdog. Tillerson doesn't know where the bathroom is. That’s my point. Trump is fritzing out. Having manic delusions. He’s actually going nuts. Me: And? Him: Well, it’s downright dangerous. Me: Yeah, but that still doesn’t tell me what Republicans are planning to do about it. Him: Look. How long do you think it will be before everyone in Washington knows he’s flipping out? I don’t mean just weird. I mean really off his rocker. Me: I don’t know. Him: No all that long. Me: So what are you telling me? Him: They don’t have to plot against him. It will be obvious to everyone that he’s got to go. That’s where the twenty-fifth amendment really does comes in. Me: So you think… Him: Who knows? But he’s losing it fast. My betting is he’s out of office before the midterms. And Pence is president.
The 25th amendment is not some magic bullet. Even if his cabinet chose to declare him unfit, that doesn't remove him--if he asserts that he's capable of discharging his duties, it goes to the Congress and they need to vote by a two-thirds majority to remove him. So, it makes no sense to say that impeachment is not on the table but "the 25th" is. They both end up in the same place--Congress having to vote out a President who doesn't want to leave.
True. But one advantage of the 25th is it leaves everybody around Trump unscathed. Impeachment requires corruption, and proof thereof, and the danger that Repubs look like traitors for turning on the Dear Leader. Whereas if, with heavy hearts and an eye on what's best for the country, they relieve a noble but hobbled old soldier of his sword...
In the end, Republicans are only as loyal to Trump as they feel they have to be to not lose the ~20% of the population (and 40% of the Republican voting base) that is with Trump no matter what. I'm reasonably sure that that group of people--the group that distrusts the party establishment but loves Trump--would view using the 25th amendment as an even more underhanded way of ridding themselves of Trump. And not unreasonably, since that's not what the 25th amendment was intended for. More moderate Republicans might, also. If they're willing to blow off that group of voters, impeachment is probably the "cleaner" way to go (in the eyes of more of the voting public), because they could claim the moral high ground of removing him on corruption charges, rather than trying to misuse a different procedural maneuver.
Stop trying to think like Trump voters without being drunk or lobotomized. Ooh, there I go being elitist again. Okay, maybe just have your amygdala wildly overstimulated.
