Rick Scott just went on Joe Biden and the 25th Amendment

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“After the disastrous events in Afghanistan, we face a serious question: Is Joe Biden capable of fulfilling the duties of his office or is it time to exercise the provisions of the 25th Amendment? he tweeted.

To see. There is no doubt that the footage from Afghanistan over the past few days has been horrific. And that Biden – and his key associates – were taken by surprise by the rapid surrender of Afghan forces to the Taliban. And even that blame-game speech from Biden on Monday afternoon likely aggravated his political position rather than strengthening it.

All of these things are true! And absolutely none of them suggest that the 25th Amendment should be invoked!

Let us remember what we are talking about here. While the bulk of the amendment is devoted to formalizing the presidential succession – it was passed following the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the rise of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson – there is this passage, in section 4, dealing with the dismissal of the president:

“Whenever the vice-president and the majority of the principal agents of the executive departments or of any other body that Congress may provide by law, transmit to the president pro tempore of the Senate and to the president of the House of Representatives their written declaration according to which the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the vice-president immediately assumes the powers and duties of his office as interim president.

While the early sections of the 25th Amendment were used sparingly, especially when Gerald Ford took over as President after Richard Nixon resigned, Section 4 has never been invoked.

The reason is simple: it’s a REALLY high bar for the Vice President and a majority of the Presidential Cabinet to decide as a group that the President – i.e. the person who chose them for their work – had lost the ability to make his own. work. It was of course on purpose. The overthrow of the will of the people – as expressed in a presidential election – by a small group of government bureaucrats should be something that is only used in absolutely extreme circumstances.

These are not the circumstances. Not even close.

Rick Scott is not a model. He knows it.

What he does is simple: He’s an ambitious politician – Scott is mentioned as a potential 2024 presidential candidate – who wants to throw red meat at the grassroots. He knows that by rejecting the wacky idea of invoking the 25th Amendment against Biden, he will gain the attention – and kudos – of those closest to the former president.

The problem? Words have consequences. When a sitting US senator rejects the idea of impeaching the President of the United States because a foreign policy decision did not go as planned, he degrades the gravity of such a decision. And why? To score cheap political points?

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