Politics

What Happens If Trump Becomes Medically Incapacitated

(Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump both tested positive for the coronavirus early Friday morning. While Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence tested negative, the president’s test results raise some concerns.

What happens if Trump becomes medically incapacitated?

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment was written specially to handle a situation like this. This amendment outlines specific procedures for succession of a president if the current president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” (RELATED: President Trump, Melania Test Positive For COVID-19)

If Pence continues to test negative, then there are two options if Trump becomes medically incapacitated.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 29: White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows listen to Vice President Mike Pence speak at a meeting with Seventh U.S. Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, in preparation for her confirmation hearing, on September 29, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 29: White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows listen to Vice President Mike Pence speak (Photo by Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images)

Under Sec. 3 of the amendment, Trump can cede his power to Pence by writing a letter to the Speaker of the House declaring he is unable to carry out his duties. If this happens, Pence would assume the role of acting president.

Trump can then reclaim his power when he submits another letter declaring he is fit to resume his duties.

If the president suddenly becomes incapacitated and is unable to carry out his duties, Pence and the cabinet can send a letter to the Speaker of the House declaring Trump is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” and Pence would then assume the role of acting president.

If this occurs, Trump could then submit a letter once he’s capable of resuming his role to a deciding group, which could be a body that Congress designates, or the Vice President and Cabinet, that he’s no longer unable to assume his roles.

Once Trump decides he is capable, the deciding body has four days to disagree. If they agree that Trump can resume his role, Trump retakes office. However, if two-thirds of both chambers of Congress decide Trump is still unfit, then Pence would remain in office, according to the Constitution Center.

On July 13, 1985, President Ronald Reagan became the first President to invoke Sec. 3 of the 25th Amendment, sending a letter to the Speaker of the House informing him that he was going under surgery and that Bush would assume the duties of president.

Bush was acting president for less than a day, beginning at  11:28 a.m. and ending at 7:22 p.m., after Reagan wrote to Bush “I am able to resume the discharge of the constitutional powers and duties of the office of the President,” according to The New York Times.

Perhaps the biggest issue posed when invoking the 25th Amendment is the ambiguous language used to describe a president that is incapable. The amendment does not lay out any specific standard as to what counts as an “inability,” which could raise serious concerns over the next few days.

But this looming question isn’t new.

Article II of the Constitution lays out a more vague line of presidential succession. If the president becomes incapacitated, then the powers of the president “shall devolve on the Vice President.” However, “Congress may by law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”

In 1787, Delaware Delegate John Dickinson asked, according to James Madison’s notes, “What is the extent of the term ‘disability’ & who is to be the judge of it?”

His question was left unanswered, and similarly, the 25th Amendment also does not answer it.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel