He\u2019s been called crazy, erratic, loose cannon, and other unpleasant names, but President Donald Trump continues what he does best: make a fool of himself with his antics and tantrums. He\u2019d insult people who don\u2019t agree with him and put down others at the slightest misunderstanding. He loves to fire subordinates who don\u2019t see it his way or utter comments that would humiliate him or contravene his policies. And those who couldn\u2019t stomach his management style, quit.<\/p>\n
His Republican Party mates in Congress \u2501 out of fear \u2501 wouldn\u2019t dare contradict or oppose him. Only those who have decided not to seek re-election this year, have the courage to openly criticize him. The rest of the Grand Old Party pack would act as lapdogs, willing to do what the master wants them to do. <\/p>\n
But there is a growing number of Republicans who have decided not to seek re-election because they believe that Trump\u2019s unpopularity is hindering their own chances of winning another term.<\/p>\n
With midterm elections coming up in seven months, there is apprehension among GOP congressmen that the November election would be a bloodbath and that the Republican Party would lose control of the House of Representatives and, possibly, the Senate. And with the Democrats taking control over either or both chambers, Trump would not survive the last two years of his term. The Democrats would make sure that a midterm defeat for Trump would drive the final nail into Trump\u2019s political coffin. <\/p>\n
In Putin\u2019s pocket<\/p>\n
However, nobody should be presumptuous enough to put an end to the Trump presidency. With the aid of Russian hackers and local Trump operatives, Trump could repeat the 2016 \u201cwin\u201d that is now the subject of investigation by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller. As one political observer said, \u201cTrump is in Putin\u2019s pocket.\u201d What Putin allegedly did in 2016 to help Trump win, he could do it again in 2020.<\/p>\n
The question is: how much work has the Trump organization already done that would put Trump\u2019s reelection campaign ahead of potential Democratic presidential wannabes? With Trump\u2019s reelection campaign already in the process of structuring, he\u2019s way ahead in the game. He\u2019d be a formidable foe in 2020. <\/p>\n
It would be hard to stop him in the polls. His base in the Republican Party is solidly loyal to him. You\u2019re looking at 30-35%, which is more than enough to win the primaries and clinch the Republican nomination. However, the anti-Trump faction in the GOP is growing; but it is not enough to deny him the nomination. The only way to stop him is to remove him from the presidency before the 2020 elections. They can impeach him. But it is a lengthy process and there is no guarantee that it will succeed.<\/p>\n
The other option is to invoke the 25th Amendment. If done right, it could remove Trump even before the midterm elections and stop him from hurting the country. With each day that he stays in office, the U.S. is losing in the geopolitical game big time. Russia, China, and Iran are becoming bolder in challenging America\u2019s position as the world\u2019s superpower. North Korea is now working towards developing nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach anywhere in the U.S. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) \u2501 commonly known as the Iran nuclear agreement \u2501 is in jeopardy of being scrapped. The JCPOA was finalized in Vienna in July 2015 with the participation of the U.S., China, the European Union, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, and the United Kingdom. It blocked Iran\u2019s pathways to a nuclear bomb and prevented a new war in the Middle East. This landmark agreement was reached in exchange for a waiver of nuclear-related sanctions. But Trump wants to renegotiate the JCPOA. He threatened to withdraw from it, which could cause Iran to go rogue and restart its nuclear program.
\nHardline neoconservatives<\/p>\n
Recently, Trump abruptly changed his national security team, which included National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He fired both of them and appointed former CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and ultra-hawk John Bolton as National Security Advisor. <\/p>\n
But they\u2019re both unqualified for the jobs they\u2019re taking over. Pompeo was a hardline Republican congressman before Trump tapped him to be the nation\u2019s spymaster. Now, with zero foreign affairs experience, Pompeo will be the nation\u2019s top diplomat. <\/p>\n
Bolton on the other hand is probably the most dangerous person to ever hold the job of advising the president on matters of state security. Known for advocating pre-emptive strikes on North Korea, Bolton\u2019s hawkish and neoconservative views on foreign policy would, in the opinion of many political observers, bring the U.S. closer to a nuclear war. <\/p>\n
The question that keeps coming back to mind is: Why did Trump pick two war hawks to lead his national security team? Is he preparing the country to go to war? If so, then Congress should \u2501 nay, must! \u2501 do all it can to stop or remove him from office. <\/p>\n
Unthinkable<\/p>\n
Earlier, I mentioned the 25th Amendment. What\u2019s it all about? An article written by Jon Meacham provides the rationale for its enactment. He wrote: \u201cOn April 13, 1965, in the midst of a congressional debate over the proposed 25th Amendment to the Constitution dealing with presidential succession and incapacity, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Emanuel Celler of New York, dispensed with high-minded legal arguments. They were there, Celler said, to figure out what might be done if the unthinkable \u2501 a deranged American President with nuclear weapons \u2501 became thinkable. \u2018The President may be as nutty as a fruitcake,\u2019 Celler declared on the House floor. \u2018He may be utterly insane.\u2019 And for this reason, America needed a plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cRatified two years later, the amendment offered the country just that. And now, half a century on, the subject of whether President Donald Trump could face a removal from power under its terms is one of an ever-widening conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many believe that Trump\u2019s recent misadventures in geopolitics, strange behavior, and questionable actions have led many to believe that he has gone off the deep end. It\u2019s time to invoke the 25th Amendment. It would enable the Vice President, with a majority of members of the Cabinet, to declare the President unable to discharge his duties, thus installing the Vice President as acting President pending a presidential appeal to, and vote by, the Congress. But would Congress vote down an appeal by Trump in the event he\u2019s declared unable to discharge his duties as President?<\/p>\n
And this is where Vice President Mike Pence could use his personal appeal and charisma to convince the Cabinet members and the Republican congressional members that not only is Trump dangerously incompetent, Pence is ready to take the job and that he would be able to lead the country out of the quagmire that Trump has dragged the country into.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, it would come down to a question of loyalty and patriotism. Are the Cabinet members loyal to President Trump, to whom they owe their appointment? Or would patriotism and allegiance to the flag of the United States transcend party loyalty? (PerryDiaz@gmail.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He\u2019s been called crazy, erratic, loose cannon, and other unpleasant names, but President Donald Trump continues what he does best: make a fool of himself with his antics and tantrums. He\u2019d insult people who don\u2019t agree with him and put down others at the slightest misunderstanding. He loves to fire subordinates who don\u2019t see it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,52],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5038,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5037\/revisions\/5038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}