Jimmy Kimmel has asked just how far gone Donald Trump needs to be before the GOP invoke the 25th Amendment.
The talk show host says the president is unfit for office and asked the Republican Party to act against Trump after ICE shootings, threats to Greenland and other NATO countries, as well as the ongoing want for a Nobel Peace Prize.
During his opening monologue, Kimmel said, "We're less than a month into the new year, so far this administration has managed to start a war in Minnesota, invade Venezuela, threaten to invade Greenland, pull us out of the World Health Organization, attack our own Federal Reserve, abandon vaccine science, bring back measles, send healthcare premiums through the roof, and kill two US citizens in cold blood.
"And he still thinks he got cheated out of a Nobel Peace Prize. I mean, if that delusion doesn't trigger the 25th Amendment, what possibly will?"
Kimmel went on to compare Trump's situation in office with the former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. The talk show host added, "I remember a time when we thought Sarah Palin was crazy."
White House insiders had already considered pulling the 25th Amendment after Trump met with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Biographer Michael Wolff, who spoke with an unnamed person familiar with the situation, says Trump's comments during the meeting were unexpected.
Wolff, quoting the unnamed source, said, "'Nobody expected that. This was not the script. It was completely out of the blue... and concerning. This wasn’t just losing the plot. This was like a different guy. The look in his eyes was crazy.'"
The source added, "The only explanation was that the guy forgot who he is—so weird. It gives you a 25th Amendment shiver."
The 25th Amendment was written to ensure the vice president takes over in the event the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office by impeachment.
The amendment also provides the temporary transfer of the president's power to the vice president, and this, crucially, can be on the initiative of the president or the vice president. The latter would need a majority of the president's cabinet to agree to make the change of power, which would have the vice president step in as acting president.