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What is the 25th amendment and could it remove Trump? - YouTube
Channel: The Guardian
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this is one of Donald Trump's favorite
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movies a heroic president is captured by
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terrorists aboard Air Force One but it's
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also a film of hidden constitutional
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steps I'm told that you want my
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interpretation as to what the
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Constitution says about the situation
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let me explain it deals with something
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the Constitution never considered what
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happens if the president becomes unable
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to do their job now this could be
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because Air Force one was hijacked by
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terrorists or it could be something a
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little less dramatic what if the
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president became mentally unstable this
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is all hypothetical of course President
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Donald J Trump has completed his first
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periodic physical examination as
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president of the United States I found
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no reason whatsoever to think that the
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president has any issues whatsoever with
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his thought process but what if a
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president did have an issue the answer
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lies in the US Constitution's 25th
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amendment way in which to remove a
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president with disability including both
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physical and mental health it wasn't
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meant to provide a political way of
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limiting the president's power to
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understand its origins we need to go
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back to the 1960s it was the height of
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the Cold War the Cuban Missile Crisis
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had nearly ended in nuclear Armageddon
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president john f kennedy's assassination
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brought something sharply into focus
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what would happen if he had survived but
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wasn't able to function as president
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there was nothing in the Constitution in
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the past when President Woodrow Wilson
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had a major stroke while in office he
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was simply shut away by his doctors and
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hidden from public view
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when President James Garfield was shot
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by an assassin in 1881 he lay on his
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deathbed for 80 days hallucinating while
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the government carried on without him
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this make it up as you go approach
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obviously wouldn't work in the age of
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nuclear standoffs and television news
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presidents needed to be visibly in
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charge and so Congress was forced to act
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the final result was a 25th amendment
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passed into law on February 10th 1967 it
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has four sections the first was already
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convention if the president dies or
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resigns the vice president becomes the
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new president section 2 deals with the
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replacement of the vice president fans
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of nerdy political dramas know all about
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section three of the 25th amendment
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which permits through written
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declaration to temporarily transfer all
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powers of the presidency to the next in
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the constitutional line of succession
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section three was used by president
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george w bush while he had a routine
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medical procedure because the president
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will be under the effects of anesthesia
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he once again is elected to implement
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section three of the 25th amendment to
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the united states constitution so for
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just over two hours the
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commander-in-chief was the vice
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president dick cheney but the big one is
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section four and it's never been used
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before except in fictional shows like 24
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what do you know about section four of
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the 25th amendment that provides that if
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the majority of his cabinet feels he's
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unfit to fulfill his duties that the
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president could be removed from office
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that's removed from office involuntarily
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we know from insider accounts the people
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around President Ronald Reagan were
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having these discussions during his
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second term his staff noticed that he
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seemed inattentive sometimes he wouldn't
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read his papers and only wanted to watch
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television but they never took it any
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further six years after leaving office
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former President Ronald Reagan notified
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news agencies late today that he has
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been diagnosed as having Alzheimer's
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disease so what does this all mean for
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president Donald Trump well if there
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were ever any serious doubts about the
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president's sanity the decision to
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trigger the 25th amendment would fall
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first on the Vice President
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then on a majority of the members of
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trumps cabinet and then it would require
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support from two-thirds of both houses
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in Congress a pretty high bar as
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unlikely as this seems 25th amendment
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they won't bring up the 25th yes
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so 25th amendment is a concept that is
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alive everyday in the White House the
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White House of course has dismissed all
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of this as pure fantasy but Michael
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Wolfe isn't the only one raising this a
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group of lawmakers mostly Democrats were
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recently briefed on the president's
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mental state by psychiatry professor
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from Yale the danger he poses is related
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to past dangerousness that he has shown
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and in terms of verbal aggression
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boasting about sexual assaults his
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proneness to paranoid reactions his
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loose grip on reality but even if the
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vice president and Trump's cabinet were
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prepared to act to trigger the 25th
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amendment Trump would still have a
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possible way out presidents can remove
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any cabinet member for any reason at all
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as Trump has already proven major
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breaking news this morning from the
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Trump administration just moments ago
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the president announced that Rex
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Tillerson is out so while it might cause
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a constitutional crisis if he feared his
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cabinet were plotting to remove him he
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could take them out first with his
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favorite catchphrase you're fired
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[Applause]
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