Catch 22

That is what the Twenty-fifth Amendment is. A Catch 22.

Section 4: says that only the Vice President or the Cabinet can initiate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment and there in lies the rub.

Following Trump’s Iran social media post, could the 25th Amendment be invoked against him?

PolitiFact

By Amy Sherman & Louis Jacobson

April 6, 2026

President Donald Trump’s profanity-laced Easter Sunday social media post threatening to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran led some Democratic lawmakers to call for his removal via the 25th Amendment.

Trump wrote on Truth Social, spelling out the f-word: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—–’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Reacting to Trump’s post, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., wrote on X, “If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment. This is completely, utterly unhinged. He’s already killed thousands. He’s going to kill thousands more.”

Other Democrats including U.S. Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico also called for using the amendment to remove Trump.

But you know what? Congress can jaw about this all they want! It is JD Vance and the Cabinet who can only initiate a “25”! However, there might be another way around the roadblock, and that is Congress cannot initiate Section 4 itself, but the text does allow Congress to create another body by law that could participate in the Section 4 process. Something like a special impeachment commission, but it needs backbone to do it.

Section four authorizes the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet, or the vice president and a majority of an “other body” created by Congress, to declare a president “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Doing so would elevate the vice president to acting president.

Notice it doesn’t say “Congress.”

So how likely is the Cabinet and the VP to start the ball rolling? 

Well the amendment says "unable to discharge the powers and duties" that is a high bar to meet! It doesn’t mean if the president making bad decisions, it doesn’t mean if the president if the president is unpopular, or breaking the law.

But on the other hand, impeachment can be for corruption! Abuse of power, obstruction, political retaliation, and election interference nad I think they could find something on Trump that fits those categories. However, it takes one more thing, Congress with a backbone.