Should the military remove Trump from the Presidency?

27 February 2025

Source

This essay discusses reasons why the military might remove Trump from the Presidency.

I am not advocating that this be done but merely raising the issue.

I defer to legal scholars as to what, if any, actions might violate 18 USC 115 Section 2385.

1. Trump has rejected the terms of the Presidency.

The Presidential oath states, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

A. Trump has stated that “he is a King”:

“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED,” he wrote. “LONG LIVE THE KING!”

• He is apparently unaware that the United States began as a country through the Revolutionary War against rule by Britain’s George III.

• He also repeatedly acts as a King, a violation of the conditions of the Presidency.

B. Trump refuses to accept the Constitutional restrictions of the Presidency and to respect the rule of law.

• Trump posted on social media, “He who saves his Country does not violate any law.” This appears to be a direct violation of his oath of office. His Vice President Vance stated, “Judges Aren’t Allowed to Control’ Trump’s ‘Legitimate Power”, which also appears to be a direct violation because Trump and Vance believe that whatever Trump does is legitimate. Judges have ruled that Trump repeatedly ignores the rule of law.

• Trump regularly refuses to follow the laws of Congress or to obey rulings of the courts, disregarding the two branches that the framers of the Constitution intended to be co-equal checks on a President’s power. These do not appear to be innocent mistakes or legitimate differences of opinion. Most judges, at least to date, appear to agree.

• Trump signed an executive order that an aide said “reestablishes the long-standing norm that only the president or the attorney general can speak for the United States when stating an opinion as to what the law is.” The order comes as Trump allies question court rulings blocking some of his initiatives and critics worry his administration will disregard judicial orders.

Can Trump be reasoned with about this? If not, these actions will likely only end when Trump is removed from office.

2. Trump appears to be a Russian puppet, undermining the national defense of the United States.

Trump has repeatedly promoted policies supporting Russia’s dictator Putin, who is America’s enemy. Trump has also embraced Russian propaganda and opposed America’s allies. For the security of the United States, many people believe Trump must be removed from office. What evidence would be needed to demonstrate that he is acting against the national interest to an extent that would allow him to be removed?

3. Trump is mentally deranged.

Donald Trump is deranged, if not insane. He cannot separate his desires (“I won the 2020 election”, “COVID is a hoax”, “climate change is a hoax”) from reality. He has no interest in correcting his lies and misstatements because he is not rational. He cannot conform his conduct to the law because “he is the law”. He is a danger to others and should not hold any position of public responsibility, much less the Presidency. On the other hand, there has been no known psychiatric assessment.

4. Trump is systematically destroying American institutions.

Trump, through Elon Musk, is systematically gutting the American institutions that make us a superpower and make our economy and democracy strong. For example, he is thoroughly politicizing the Justice Department to make it his personal law enforcement department. He is threatening the security of our elections. Even if removed today, it will take us decades to recover because other nations will not immediately trust us and we cannot quickly rebuild the expertise that many of our institutions have now lost. Removing Trump from officequickly would limit the damage and allow us to start to repair the damage he and his enablers have done.

5. Is there a reasonable alternative to having the military remove Trump from power?

It seems unlikely that Congress would impeach or convict Trump - this should have been done in the past but the Senate failed to even hold valid trials.

It seems unlikely that the current Congress will act to limit his powers. We could hope that Democrats prevail in the November 2026 elections and then try to limit his actions. However, he would have had 2 years to do tremendous damage to the country.

It seems unlikely that Trump, although deranged, would be removed through the 25th Amendment because his Vice President and Cabinet were chosen primarily for loyalty, not competence.

It seems unlikely that Trump would resign. Perhaps some clever prosecutors could create a settlement involving an admission of guilt in exchange for dismissal with prejudice of charges and cash to Trump from an outside party.

6. Is Trump self-destructing, mitigating the need for this harsh action?

Per Matt Kerbel, “I have no way of knowing if [Trump] is aware of the dangers ahead, but whether or not he is paying attention there are pretty clear indications that the cushy part of his reign is about to come to an end if it hasn’t effectively ended already.”

7. If the military acted, what could happen?

Most likely, recent military leadership who commands the most loyalty would take charge, although there are no clear guidelines on how to do this. They could assume the Presidency for a limited time or offer it to the line of succession (Vice President, Speaker of the House, Senator President pro tempore, Secretary of State, etc.) until someone agrees to serve who will obey the oath of office and reject Trump’s threats, with continued military oversight to ensure they don’t revert to Trump-type activities. The longer the military waits, the more difficult it will be because Trump is already purging military leadership and installing loyalists at its higher levels.

What do you think? Please post any comments below or email me at NatPernick@gmail.com. But, I suggest you review this statute first so you don’t get yourself in trouble. It begins:

§2385. Advocating overthrow of Government

Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government;

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