Monday, January 04, 2021

Kind of Late in the Game, But the 25th Amendment Does Seem Relevant Here

Most of the talk about that phone call between Donald Trump and Brad Raffensperger seems focused on whether Trump committed a crime (soliciting vote fraud) by pressuring Raffensperger to overturn Georgia's presidential election results.

But here's Jacob Sullum at Reason:

It seems clear from the recording of Trump's one-hour telephone conversation with Raffensperger on Saturday that the president sincerely believes he actually won the election, notwithstanding the complete lack of credible evidence to support that belief. In his mind, he was not soliciting fraud but attempting to correct it.

If Sullum's right, Trump wasn't committing a crime.

But if Sullum's right, Trump was displaying symptoms of some kind of severe mental condition that makes him unable to distinguish fantasy from reality.

Which means that, per the 25th Amendment, the vice-president and the cabinet really should let Congress know that Trump's no longer in charge.

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