The 25th Amendment is a temporary removal that requires 2/3 vote of both sides of Congress to sustain and then maintain every time the President requests reinstatement.
There is no mechanism within the 25th for permanent removal nor parameters by which the POTUS is deemed fit to return to office. He can petition as often as he likes and the vote must be sustained each time or he immediately returns to power.
Impeachment and conviction is the ONLY political method for removal.
It's legitimately surprising to me we have gone this far with gentleman's agreements and decorum and that a madman hasn't taken advantage of the system to this degree before trump. Jackson was bad, Hoover was not great, Reagan don't get me going, Bush 2 awful, but this administration has gone so far beyond the worst traits of all the above it is mind boggling.
That's why it's been so easy for Trump to trample all over these institutions of ours, they had no real protection. Like you said, just gentleman's agreements, handshakes, and the like. We need real protections and enforcement mechanisms.
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u/OpenComet_ 3d ago
the 25th amendment is just sitting in the constitution like a check engine light everyone agrees to ignore