President Donald Trump renewed calls for the 25th Amendment to be invoked after he went on a bizarre, contradictory late-morning posting spree.
Trump, 79, posted 33 times in 45 minutes on Tuesday, claiming he “has done more for NATO” than anyone and sharing conspiracies about Dominion voting machines, non-existent voter fraud, and a clip of his 2017 Inaugural address, among other things.
The flood of posts, which come as he threatens to shatter relations with longstanding European allies by demanding that the United States seize Greenland from Denmark, immediately renewed calls for his removal from power.
“Are we watching a real-time mental health crisis with Trump?” posted former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger on BlueSky, shortly after Trump’s mad barrage ended. “Seriously.”
Among the spree was a screenshot of a post from a user named “Bobby D” that claimed the United States’ adversaries are not China and Russia.
Rather, the post said the “enemy within,” NATO, and the United Nations are the real threat to America—something not even Trump’s most dedicated sycophants have said.
”So at what point are we going to realize the enemy is within?" the supporter asked. “China and Russia are the boogeymen when the real threat is the U.N., NATO, and this ‘religion,’” the user wrote, referring to Islam. “I put ‘religion’ in quotes because it’s not a religion. It’s a [death] cult! Yeh, I went there.”
The post quickly went viral as the latest reason for Trump’s Cabinet and Vice President JD Vance to transmit a declaration to Congress that the president is mentally unfit to complete his duties as president. Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, can also designate a body to invoke the amendment, but there is no precedent for it taking such action.
Republicans have given no indication that invoking the 25th Amendment is under consideration, but that is not stopping Trump critics from demanding action. Democratic lawmakers, including Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, have called for the amendment to be used.
The 25th Amendment would remove the president from office but requires Congress to ratify any decision to remove Trump from office within 21 days of receiving notification from the vice president and the Cabinet.
“Trump is insane and should be removed via the 25th Amendment before he destroys the United States,” wrote one BlueSky user, responding to the “Bobby D” post.
Another wrote, “When is Congress going to step in and invoke the 25th Amendment? Or seriously begin impeachment proceedings? This is urgent.”
A third called on Congress to act while Trump is in Switzerland to address the World Economic Forum. He is scheduled to leave Washington on Tuesday.
“Congress, while your cherished dictator is in Europe, now would be a great time to invoke the 25th Amendment and/or have him removed,” posted a popular left-wing account. “You will be held responsible for all the harm he has/is/will be done due to your inaction. Your silence is complicity. You work for us. Not the mad king. Do your job.”
Timothy Noah, a staff writer at the progressive site The New Republic, called out Trump’s Cabinet for trying to normalize his actions of late—like issuing threats to the government of Norway, a top U.S. ally, because the independent Nobel Committee did not award him a peace prize.
“The worst thing Cabinet secretaries can do right now is pretend a president who threatens war against NATO because (in his own words) he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize is even minimally competent mentally and does not require rapid activation of the 25th amendment,” Noah wrote.
