Texas Senator Ted Cruz says that invoking the 25th amendment to oust President Joe Biden from office is not the way to go, calling such a strategy “dangerous as hell.”
The fiery Cruz touched on the subject on his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz” with co-host Michael Knowles, a well-known conservative commentator.
It’s blazingly obvious that Joe Biden’s fastball is a Wiffle ball. #Verdict https://t.co/wAIYGhyNur pic.twitter.com/nXcBDVN1hV
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 31, 2022
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‘Threshold Is Really Damn High’
Knowles asked if the 25th amendment should be considered, arguing, “I think even to honest liberals, that Joe Biden has some age-related impairment.”
Cruz agreed with Knowles’ depiction of Biden – but wasn’t so fast to agree with using the 25th Amendment:
“You know, There’s no doubt he’s diminished and diminished significantly due to age. Um, I think the threshold for the 25th amendment is really damn high. And it’s particularly damn high when the voters were on notice of the impairment and elected him anyway. Look, it was not a secret a year and a half ago that Joe Biden had, you know, lost about 65 miles on his fast ball.”
Cruz continued, saying that while it is apparent to Americans that Biden may not be calling the shots, it may also be apparent to our allies making them a bit skittish – and yes, dangerous – because our enemies see it as well.
“So, I would be hesitant to go down that road of the 25th amendment. I think it’s dangerous as hell. I think having a president in office who is less than fully aware of what’s going on, who our enemies believe is less than fully aware of what’s going on, who our friends believe is less than fully aware of what’s going on, who everybody believes is, to a significant degree, out of it. That’s a real problem.”
Multiple 25th Amendment Suggestions Against Trump
Earlier, Knowles had pointed out why Cruz calls such a move dangerous – calling for the 25th Amendment has become almost commonplace rather than being viewed as an extreme measure.
Look no further than Trump.
It wasn’t just Democrats looking for any way they could to get former President Donald Trump out of office. The names of several Republicans, even some members of the Trump administration, have been used in conjunction with stories of invoking the 25th amendment on Trump.
In a book recently published by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, the authors claim that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told then White House Counsel Pat Cipollone that, “we’ll be asking you for the 25th Amendment,” on a phone conversation that took place during the Capitol riot.
Last fall there were also allegations that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin discussed attempting to remove Trump via the 25th amendment, also after the Jan. 6 riot.
In November 2021, ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl was being interviewed on MSCBC’s “Morning Joe” for a book he had written. In the book, Karl claimed that after the riot, Pompeo asked for a “legal analysis” of the 25th amendment and how it might work in the case of Trump. A spokesman for Sec. Pompeo denied that any such conversation took place.
Remember when people constantly screamed for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against Trump because he was supposedly compromised, mentally or otherwise? What did Trump ever do that was remotely comparable in severity to Biden’s daily “gaffes” edging us closer and closer to WWIII
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) March 31, 2022
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Calls For The 25th Amendment For Biden Have Happened Before
As Joe Biden gaffes his way through his presidency, it should be no surprise that calls to invoke the 25th amendment have happened long before Vladimir Putin became front and center news.
Back in August of 2021, as the disaster in Afghanistan began to unfold, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) put forth the question in a tweet of whether Joe Biden was capable of carrying out the duties of the office of president.
After the disastrous events in Afghanistan, we must confront a serious question: Is Joe Biden capable of discharging the duties of his office or has time come to exercise the provisions of the 25th Amendment? https://t.co/l1bFrUdZH9
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) August 16, 2021
The 25th amendment was ratified in the wake of the assassination of President John Kennedy. It lays out the procedure for replacing a president or vice president upon their death, removal, designation, or incapacitation.
In order for the president to be removed from office, the Vice President and either a majority of cabinet members or Members of Congress must give written declaration to the President pro tempore and Speaker of the House that the President is unable to carry out the powers and duties of his office.
The Vice President then assumes the office as Acting President.
25th amendment https://t.co/GxV1iLCFQv
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) March 28, 2022