Cut Trump Loose the Hard Way, Or The Harder Way

Oct 2

Gentlemen:

To paraphrase a statement recently made popular by the gang boss of the Federal Communications Commission, you can do this the hard way, or the harder way.

The hard way is to dump Trump now, either through impeachment or by invoking the 25th amendment provision that allows for removal of a president due to incapacity to govern.

That would be really hard for you to do, given Trump’s support among many Republican voters. But it would allow you to keep the White House with Vance and go into the 2026 mid-term elections without the anchor of Trump’s sinking popularity. Nor would you need to worry about Trump’s unscripted craziness hogging the headlines and forcing your candidates to support the unsupportable antics of a rogue and mentally challenged leader.

While there would be temporary political outrage from many Republican Trump supporters, think of the consequences if you don’t.

Constitutional Crisis on the Campaign Trail

Can you image, during all of the events planned for 2026 highlighting the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution, constantly having to defend a president who violates it with regularity? You already are confronting the historic odds against the party in the White House winning the congressional mid-terms. But in this case you likely will have the added burden of a Trump recession, inflation, and millions who have lost their health care. The Democrats only need to flip three Republic seats to win the House majority.

Then consider what’s ahead if the Democrats take the House.

A Trump who becomes even more irrational at the prospect of impeachment, making him more difficult for you to defend as he declares it was a rigged election and demands that you subvert the results.
A Democratic controlled House that impeaches both Trump and Vance (Democrats would need just a simple majority to do that).
Your own Republican Senate caucus comes under extreme pressure to convict. Would they? Or would they rather face reelection trying to explain to voters why they kept a deranged man in the White House?
A Democratic speaker of the House becoming president as the next in line of succession with Trump and Vance both impeached and convicted.

These are your political options. The longer you keep defending Trump the harder it will go on you, your party and your members in Congress.

The Hard Way or the Harder Way

Then there’s the matter of your own oaths and conscience.

Because you’re in frequent contact with Trump, you can’t plead ignorance about his mental condition. It’s obvious to anyone paying attention to his unscripted speeches and midnight online ravings. If you missed his tragically embarrassing speech to the UN, here’s a verbatim copy.

That speech was verbal self-immolation on a global scale for Trump personally and the U.S. as a nation, topped off by his weird and illegal effort to try to make America’s top military officers cheer and applaud him as if they were attending one of his MAGA rallies.

Does the choice as I’ve outlined it seem unlikely to you now? Maybe your options will crystalize in a few weeks when the votes are counted in Virginia and New Jersey. Or when Trump follows through on his orders to our military to consider Democratic majority cities (“the enemy within”) their primary targets rather than China, Russia and North Korea.

Or without consulting you he lobs more missiles into countries where we’re not at war. Or illegally kills more people in international waters. Or keeps exiling longtime, peaceful, productive immigrants to war torn countries where they’ve never been. Or continues to violate the Constitution by thumbing his nose at you when you budget money for public programs he never intends to fund. Or keeps shouting just wait a little longer for his MAGA policies to pay off while he steers our economy into the abyss.

Gentlemen, cut your losses. Cut America’s losses. Cut Trump loose. You have the means. Suck it up and do what’s right. Do it now. Or lose it all.

Here’s this week’s STEM Winder: A weekly look into the future.

Comments? Criticism? Contact Joe Rothstein at jrothstein@rothstein.net

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Joe Rothstein

This article was written by Joe Rothstein, a veteran political strategist, media producer, and author. Over a career spanning decades, Joe has managed and advised more than 200 political campaigns, served as editor of a major daily newspaper, and written three political thrillers—The Latina President, The Salvation Project, and The Moment of Menace. Through his writing, he offers clear, experience-driven perspectives on politics, culture, and the forces shaping our democracy.

https://www.joerothstein.net/