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https://shipwreckedcrew.substack.com/p/ ... impossible
Does the 25th Amendment make it IMPOSSIBLE For Democrats to Replace Joe Biden with Kamala Harris?
"Who would replace Kamala Harris?" might be the more important question.
Joe Biden’s most recent performance in the CNN Townhall is another example of his unfitness for office due to his obvious mental decline.
This is no great revelation to the Democrat Party leaders who have propped him up like a character in “Weekend at Bernies” for the first six months of his term in office.
But his condition could be stage-managed for the most part with help from a compliant media and control over the actual workings of government by a small circle of close aides who use Jill Biden as a surrogate for many public events.
That situation is becoming less tenable as Biden’s personal popularity begins to wane, and the “right track/wrong track” number in polling has moved decidedly in the wrong direction. An unpopular Joe Biden leading an increasingly unpopular Biden Administration cannot be maintained if the Democrats want to keep control of Congress in 2022.
But it just might be that the Democrats are “mousetrapped” into being forced to keep Biden in place due to the mechanics of what might follow by a move against him under the 25th Amendment.
The situation behind the scenes might also be the cause for the rash of “Harris’ VP Office In Shambles” stories over the past few weeks, meant to forestall any efforts by Harris supporters in and out of the Administration to move Slo-Joe along and out of the way.
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution states:
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Section 2 states:
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 2 is critical given the current 50-50 split in the Senate. Because they lack 51 votes, the Democrats could not be assured of their ability to confirm a new Vice President to replace Harris because such confirmation requires a “majority”.
The Democrats rely on VP Harris, in her role as President of the Senate, to cast any needed tie-breaking votes on legislation or nominations. Without the VP vote, not only can the Democrats not win any party-line votes in the Senate, they cannot confirm any nominations that might be passed 51-49. Nor can they amend the Senate Rules to eliminate the legislative filibuster.
If the GOP was able to hang together on a party-line basis — far from a given — they could deny the Democrats confirmation of a new Vice President until after the Nov. 2022 election. If the GOP wins back control of the Senate, they could then confirm a new VP.
The downside to this strategy is that it moves Nancy Pelosi one step closer to the White House as Speaker of the House.
I wonder how Kamala Harris would feel about THAT?
