1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says Donald Trump is UNFIT for office and must be removed under the 25th Amendment, and I could not agree more. The 25th Amendment is clear: if the president cannot discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President and Cabinet can declare him unfit and strip him of power. After Trump’s latest unhinged outburst to U.S. military leaders, Pritzker says the time has come. “There is something genuinely wrong with this man,” Pritzker said. “The 25th Amendment ought to be invoked.” The governor’s comments came after Trump told more than 800 top generals and admirals at Quantico, Virginia, that American cities like Chicago should serve as “training grounds” for soldiers. Pritzker isn’t about to let that happen without a fight. In response, he said that Trump sounded less like a U.S. president and more like Vladimir Putin. “It appears that Donald Trump not only has dementia set in but he’s copying tactics of Putin,” Pritzker said. And he’s not alone in sounding the alarm. Rep. Eric Swalwell posted an all-caps call: “25TH AMENDMENT!” Gavin Newsom warned: “Declaring war on our nation’s cities and using our troops as political pawns is what dictators do. This man cares about nothing but his own ego and power.” Chuck Schumer told MSNBC: “This is totally against the American grain, and it’s one example of many that they’re moving to an autocracy away from a democracy. In dictatorships, the federal military goes into the cities to do bad things.” Civil rights groups echoed the outrage. The ACLU called Trump’s speech “dangerous” and said military forces “must not police us, let alone be used as a tool to suppress the president’s critics.” The Not Above the Law coalition blasted it as a “fundamental betrayal of American values”, stating that, “our military exists to defend our nation and protect our freedoms, not to practice combat operations against our neighbors in our communities.” And here’s the truth: Crime rates in major cities are falling. Portland is doing better than most large cities in Southern states. Trump is manufacturing a crisis to justify using the military for political gain. By leaning on the National Guard instead of active-duty troops, Trump is skirting the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, a law designed to keep the U.S. military out of domestic policing. He’s even created a new “quick reaction force” meant to “crush disturbances.” This isn’t about safety. This is about power. This is about silencing dissent. Because when a president calls Americans “the enemy,” urges troops to attack protesters, and dreams of turning cities into training camps, DEMOCRACY ITSELF IS IN DANGER. In fact, very soon, it will be no more. For the first time in Trump’s second term, a sitting governor has said it plainly: Donald Trump is unfit for office. The 25th Amendment must be invoked.