A Democratic congressman’s call to remove President Donald Trump from office prompted a classic meltdown from one of the administration’s top spin doctors.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded to an X post by New York Rep. Dan Goldman, who expressed concern over a Wall Street Journal report that revealed the 79-year-old president’s behind-the-scenes tantrum over a rescue mission in Iran.
“The commander-in-chief was excluded from commanding a military operation because he was acting so crazy. Think about that,” Goldman, 50, wrote on Sunday night. “Trump is not well. We need the 25th Amendment before something really bad happens on U.S. soil.”
“Think about this: you, a sitting U.S. congressman, getting duped by fake news,” Cheung, whom Trump has referred to as his “sumo wrestler” and outed as a GLP-1 drug user, replied on Monday. “Just imagine how easily you might be compromised.”
Reached for comment, the White House referred the Daily Beast to Cheung’s post.
The Daily Beast reached out to Goldman’s office for comment.
White House insiders told the Journal that Trump screamed at aides and threw a tantrum when he heard that two American airmen had gone missing in Iran. It was an outburst reportedly so disruptive that he was banished from the briefing room and updated only at intervals on the rescue mission.
The geriatric president was reportedly worried that a failed rescue could signal a repeat of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, which cost President Jimmy Carter his re-election bid.
“If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter… with the helicopters and the hostages, it cost them the election,” Trump had said in March, according to the Journal. “What a mess.”
Goldman’s call to invoke the 25th Amendment echoes some of his Democratic colleagues’ efforts to remove the president from office due to his “erratic behavior,” which, over the last week, has included a feud with the pope and posting an AI-generated photo depicting himself as Jesus Christ.
A bill introduced by House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin last week established a Commission on Presidential Capacity to discharge the Powers and Duties of Office.
Raskin, 63, said in a statement that the country is at a “dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and unstable situation.”
Trump’s approval rating has plummeted over the last few weeks as his war on Iran continues without an immediate end date in sight. An NBC News poll found that 63 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s overall performance, with 50 percent saying they strongly disapprove.
