Relax, We Can’t Invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment Every Time a President Threatens to Murder Millions of People

Look, we all know it’s been a rough couple of weeks. We’re a month into a war that even the most die-hard MAGA loyalists didn’t want, and things have gotten so bad that it finally broke Tucker Carlson. He’s beginning to say things that almost sound sensible.

But just because we’re all a little scared and frustrated doesn’t mean it’s time to take drastic action. As members of Trump’s cabinet, we’re not about to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment just because the president has repeatedly threatened to murder millions of people.

The problem with the Twenty-Fifth Amendment is that it does not provide a clear litmus test for determining when a president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Is it when he’s regularly slurring his speech? When he’s constantly falling asleep during public appearances? When he randomly starts saying, “Praise be to Allah”? It’s impossible to tell.

It’s particularly difficult to judge President Trump’s mental acuity, considering his lengthy track record of bombastic statements. This is the same man who wished all the “haters and losers” a happy September 11th, who publicly called Kim Jong Un “short and fat,” and who riled up a crowd of insurrectionists on January 6th (though, as Republicans, we maintain that the president was not responsible for the ensuing riot and that our lives were never in any real danger).

At what point does “He’s an America First warrior unafraid to ruffle liberal snowflake feathers” turn into “He’s a genocidal megalomaniac who is all but certain to usher in the demise of American hegemony”? Far be it from us to draw the line.

When Congress first proposed the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, they imagined a cut-and-dried situation where an otherwise reasonably competent president completely lost his marbles. Imagine if, out of the blue, Barack Obama (or even George W. Bush) randomly threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” You’d say to yourself, Sure, he’s committed a few war crimes (what American president hasn’t?). But publicly threatening to send an entire country to hell? The man’s clearly gone off the deep end.

With President Trump, however, apocalyptic death threats feel like something he’s been slowly building up to for years. Should threatening to annihilate tens of millions of innocent civilians really be the Truth Social straw that breaks the camel’s back?

Some have pointed out that merely threatening to commit mass murder ought to be grounds for removal from office, especially when that same man is the Commander-in-Chief and wields the nuclear football. But rest assured, there are plenty of guardrails preventing President Trump from unilaterally ending human civilization. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, for instance, still appears to have the president’s ear. And we don’t think nuclear Armageddon is part of the holy war he has repeatedly called for. At least, not that he’s admitted publicly.

The good news is we have two weeks to relax before we’re back to wondering Will they? Won’t they? with the fate of the world. So, until the president actually issues a direct order to start the ethnic cleansing, we suggest you all relax. And if the president does wind up instigating World War III, we’ll make sure he’s removed from office long before the nukes come raining down.

Then again, does anyone really want President Vance?