25th Amendment

Don't Count on the 25th Amendment To Dethrone Donald Trump

Democrats can't muster the votes to impeach and remove Trump, or even to stop an illegal war. The 25th Amendment would be even more difficult.

Joe Lancaster | 4.20.2026 1:50 PM

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(Illustration: Keith Lamond/Onur Ersin/Leigh Prather/Dreamstime)

In recent weeks, a growing number of Democrats and progressives have called on federal officials to invoke the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to remove President Donald Trump from office. Even some of Trump's most stalwart onetime allies are joining in.

While it may feel good to wishcast about booting Trump from the presidency, the 25th Amendment is perhaps the most unlikely strategy possible.

Adopted after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the 25th Amendment addresses how to replace a president or vice president who dies, resigns, or becomes otherwise incapacitated.

It also establishes how to remove a president who may not want to be removed.

The amendment imbues this power in the vice president, as well as "a majority of either the principle officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide." Since Congress never did so, this means the secretaries of most of the 15 Cabinet departments.

If the vice president and at least eight Cabinet secretaries feel "the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office," they would notify the speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate. The vice president would then become "acting president." If the sitting president objects, then Congress has 21 days to decide if he is still fit to serve, or if he should be removed; removal would require a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate.

It's a lengthy and complex process, which has never been invoked. And that's why Democrats have no chance whatsoever of making it happen.

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