(My new American Thinker post)
Back in my college days, a fellow student asked the professor about the 25th Amendment and he said something like this: "What happens if the president suffers a stroke and can't return to the office? Or is a vegetable?"
We laughed a bit at the vegetable line but got the point. You can't have the leader of the world incapacitated and connected to a life machine.
Section 4 addresses the dramatic case of a President who may be unable to fulfill his constitutional role but who cannot or will not step aside. It provides both a decision-maker and a procedure. The initial deciding group is the Vice President and a majority of either the Cabinet or some other body that Congress may designate (though Congress has never done so). If this group declares a President “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” the Vice President immediately becomes Acting President. If and when the President pronounces himself able, the deciding group has four days to disagree. If it does not, the President retakes his powers. But if it does, the Vice President keeps control while Congress quickly meets and makes a decision. The voting rule in these contested cases favors the President; the Vice President continues acting as President only if two-thirds majorities of both chambers agree that the President is unable to serve.
Again, we've never used this before and it will be difficult to get two-third of the Congress to go along unless the medical evidence is overwhelming.
The problem with President Biden is that he is not really incapacitated. Yes, he is a bit strange and shows signs of senility, but that's not incapacitated.
The talk about the 25th is interesting but not realistic at the moment.
Of course, all bets are off if the first lady steps in to save the president from further humiliation. Politics aside, it can’t be fun watching your husband do those press conferences.
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