this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
959 points (99.6% liked)

politics

29444 readers
1754 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] stoly@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Congress doesn’t use the 25th amendment, it’s the president’s cabinet.

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 13 points 4 days ago (3 children)

That is not completely accurate:

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.

Congress can, indeed, create a commission that serves as a substitute to the cabinet for 25th amendment purposes.

[–] iglou@programming.dev 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Doesn't this mean that Vance would need to approve it as well?

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yes. The 25th explicitly requires the involvement of the VP.

It could be argued that the Speaker of the House could do it if the VP position were vacant, but the 25th does not explicitly consider that situation.

[–] iglou@programming.dev 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Then it won't happen. Vance isn't stupid, he knows he can't hold maga on his own.

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I agree, he likely won't be able to hold MAGA on his own.

However, it's also likely that this is his only chance at the presidency. If he comes to that same conclusion, he may very well take his shot.

[–] iglou@programming.dev 1 points 3 days ago

He's relatively young. I think he might think he has a shot someday.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (3 children)

So the prize for removing Trump is empowering Vance. Is he more or less likely to nuke Iran?

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 6 points 4 days ago

Much less.

Nobody likes Vance. He was tapped for VP because he posed no apparent threat to 47. He can't hold the MAGAt personality cult together.

[–] iglou@programming.dev 2 points 4 days ago

He's an asshole and a piece of shit but he seems much more rational than Trump, at the very least.

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Remember that the president can only serve two terms. A VP becoming president is considered to have a full term if they work two years and 1 day. So there's your metric of when you would want this to happen.

[–] MousePotatoDoesStuff@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Wouldn't that still include at least 6 years and 1 day of Vance?

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

6 years minus a day. But that's still better than 8 years.

Seems sad that things could get to either of those points.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

Congress can, indeed, create a commission

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

Nothing in here about a commission. A Congressional majority could just announce the President unfit and kick power over to the VP immediately.

Obviously, Republicans aren't going to agree with this. Obviously, JD Vance is a fucking hack who would continue the atrocities. That's why Dems needed to block the 2026 NDAA back in December when they had leverage over the Pentagon's budget. Now they've already rubber stamped the checks and there's little left to obstruct or apply leverage against.

But this just illustrates why "Forming a Commission" is bullshit. Is this really their plan for 2027? Spend a year fucking around on a vote to form a committee to research a bill to have another vote? So they can maybe hand JD Vance the keys to the White House? Assuming some dissident Fetterman tier Senator doesn't spike it while drapping himself in an Israeli flag?

Pathetic.

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 3 points 4 days ago

Nothing in here about a commission.

There certainly is, you're just not understanding what role that commission will perform. The commission is the "some other body" that Congress may provide to serve in lieu of the heads of the executive department.

A Congressional majority could just announce the President unfit and kick power over to the VP immediately.

No, actually, they can't. Incompetence is not an impeachable offense. They would have to hold what is effectively a criminal trial in the Senate. They would have to find him guilty of something beyond a reasonable doubt. That's the evidentiary standard they would have to meet.

With the 25th, they merely have to indicate they have lost faith in his ability to perform the job. That's it.

His tweets threatening nuclear war with Iran are not enough to impeach him. He technically has the authority to make those threats. He can't be impeached for those threats.

Those same tweets are a perfectly valid justification for removing him under the 25th.

[–] pfried@reddthat.com 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

This commission is the "some other body" that Democrats in "Congress may by law provide."

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

This commission is the “some other body”

They don't need "some other body" because it already empowers Congress.

[–] pfried@reddthat.com 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

"Some other body" is quoted from the 25th Amendment, which empowers Congress not to do the same thing that the Vice President and Cabinet can do but to create "some other body" that can do what the Vice President and Cabinet can do. They could pass a law that empowers Congress to do that, but that would be less likely to pass than passing a law that empowers some committee because Congress has other things to do.

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 0 points 2 days ago

Impeachment action is limited to "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors".

Impeachment is not permitted for simple incompetence.

Congress is only empowered to remove the president by convicting him of a criminal act. Congress does not have the power to remove the president for dementia. Dementia is not a "high crime" or "misdemeanor".

To remove the president for dementia (or simple incompetence or other non-criminal disqualification) requires the 25th amendment. The VP needs the support of either the majority of the cabinet, or a majority of "some other body" that Congress has established for the purpose.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Dems can't get anything done in Congress, so they might as well poison the MAGA well for the Midterms.

[–] BygoneNeutrino@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

I'm pretty sure their purpose is to stall the public until the Republicans can win an election. If a wealthy person just happened to be born in a Democrat state, then that is the ticket they run on. I'd love to find out how many of them have family and friends that are all conservative.