Presidential job approval is a simple, yet powerful, measure of the public"s view of the president"s job performance at a particular time. Approval ratings for Presidents Obama and Trump shown in the Presidential Job Approval Center are based on weekly Gallup Daily tracking averages.
From Truman to Trump...
On day 212 in office, President Trump has a 37% approval rating.
President Truman holds the record for lowest approval rating (for now) at 22% on day 2499 in office.
President George "W" Bush holds the record for the highest approval rating at 89% on day 267 in office
Back in July, Fox News columnist, Steve Kurtz, asked the question regarding the 25th amendment: Constitution or Coup? But that wasn"t the first time the 25th amendment was mentioned by democrats. They"ve been pining to use it to remove Trump from the day he took office.
Since the events in Charlottesville, this narrative has exploded inside the media, with one story after the next calling for the removal of the President under the terms of the 25th amendment.
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.
Here is a collogue of media headlines, asking whether America should remove its President in less than 1 year from being elected. This is just a sample. I could"ve posted dozens of headlines if I wanted to.
Defenders of Trump will point out that his behavior has been consistent over decades and what you"re seeing now is merely a continuation of his eccentric demeanor. In a CNN program this morning, CNN"s Brian Stelter, joined by WaPo"s Carl Bernstein and two other Never Trumpers, asked whether the President should be removed from office using the 25th amendment. Bernstein said it should be the primary goal of the media to get republicans on the record calling for his removal, emphatically believing the President was mentally ill.
Stelter posed the question to his audience: "Is the President of the United States a racist? Is he suffering from some kind of illness? Is he fit for office? (feigns fake concern) And if he"s unfit, then what?"
In summary, Trump could not win the election -- because he was a joke. Trump ended up winning, but only thanks to Russian hackers. Since Trump was helped by Russian hackers, he must"ve colluded with them. If Trump colluded with them, he should be impeached (cue Muller). Since the Mueller investigation is taking forever, let"s remove him for daring to suggest that ANTIFA thugs, who regularly beat up people for exercising free speech, were bad actors.
Notice how Stelter posed his multi-tiered question, leading with "Is Trump a racist?" Get the audience to first agree to something they"ve been programmed to believe, and then the rest will fall into place -- sales 101.
Just four months after threatening to invoke the 25th Amendment unless Trump "gets a grip," it appears the President"s ongoing tweet-tirades have given 25 House Democrats the ammunition to take a radical approach to impeachment - proposing the creation of an "Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity."
A group of 25 House Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, have been quietly working on a bill to impeach Trump since April, Yahoo News" Michael Isikoff reports.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland is the main sponsor of the bill, which takes a radical and unprecedented approach to impeaching President Trump under the 25th Amendment.
At 12:56 p.m. Thursday, barely four hours after Trump tweeted attacks against MSNBC cable host Mika Brzezinski in crude, personal terms, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the chief sponsor of the bill, sent out an email to his colleagues, urging them to get behind the measure, writing it was of “enduring importance to the security of our nation.”
“In case of emergency, break glass,”Raskin told Yahoo News in an interview. “If you look at the record of things that have happened since January, it is truly a bizarre litany of events and outbursts.”
Asked if Trump’s latest tweets attacking Brzezinski and her co-host Joe Scarborough — which were roundly condemned by members of both parties as beneath the dignity of his office — strengthened the grounds for invoking the 25th Amendment, Raskin replied: “I assume every human being is allowed one or two errant and seemingly deranged tweets. The question is whether you have a sustained pattern of behavior that indicates something is seriously wrong.”
After Trump’s Thursday morning tweets, four more Democrats signed on to Raskin’s bill, his office said Friday.
To be sure, even Raskin acknowledges Congress and the country are in largely uncharted waters.
But Raskin, a former constitutional law professor, has seized on some largely overlooked language in Section 4 as the basis for his bill.
As a reminder, Rep. Raskin is not known for his "honesty"...
So, what’s Article 4 to the 25th Amendment? In the abstract, the amendment itself is about presidential succession, and includes language about the power of the office when a president is incapacitated. But Digby recently highlighted the specific text of growing relevance:
“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.”
What does that mean exactly?
Well, it means Congress isn’t the only institution that can remove a president from office between elections. Under the 25th Amendment, a sitting vice president and a majority of the executive branch’s cabinet could, on their own, agree to transfer power out of the hands of a sitting president. At that point, those officials would notify Congress, and the vice president would assume the office as the acting president.
And what if the challenged president wasn’t on board with the plan to remove him/her from the office? According to a recent explainer, “If the president wants to dispute this move, he can, but then it would be up to Congress to settle the matter with a vote. A two-thirds majority in both houses would be necessary to keep the vice president in charge. If that threshold isn’t reached, the president would regain his powers.” All of this comes up in fiction from time to time, and in all likelihood, Americans will probably never see this political crisis play out in real life. And that’s probably a good thing: by all appearances, the intended purpose of the constitutional provision was to address a president with a serious ailment – say, a stroke, for example – in which he or she is alive, but unable to fulfill the duties of the office.
In other words, for the first time, the concept of a "soft palace coup" has been officially brought up on public media; we expect such speculation will only get louder with each tweet.
One of the best things is the fact that we can now say “President Trump.” Fawning media pundits and those armies of liberals who worship propriety will use the term “president” to address his predecessor; however, he is just “Obama,” plain and simple. It’s good to be rid of him. Now the real work can be done.
The primary focus of the American people from a perspective of priorities should be to convince the president to rally the Congress on one hand, and to use executive orders on the other to reverse the damage done by Obama over the past eight years. This is where it will take the American citizens to get the ball rolling on this. For those who may think it cannot be done, look at Prohibition. That heinous law was repealed, and in this light so can the evils pushed through Congress when the Democrats controlled it and the bureaucratic and executive fiats ramrodded upon us also may be negated.
Such actions as repealing all the hideous quackeries and Draconian edicts follow a logical series of steps to complete. The President has enough time, however, he and Congress need to work swiftly. Here’s how it can proceed:
The most pressing issues (such as Obamacare, the border fence for the illegal aliens, etc.) must be brought toward both the Congress and the President…in a listed format…a petition
This petitioning must also be supplemented by letters, e-mails, and telephone calls to each and every Congressman and Senator regarding these issues.
Organizations that are nationwide must carry out these “campaigns” of changing the existing legislation and heinous pieces of bureaucratic rules and statutes…in the manner they campaigned for the President before the election. With the unity of different groups (such as voting groups, veterans’ organizations, and political party associations), the attention of Congress and the President can be obtained
The petitions and letters must be sent to the President in duplicate, so that he will be aware of these issues that need to be changed, and that Congress (Representatives and Senators) is requested to act upon these matters
Legislation can be initiated, and action can proceed, on repealing Obamacare, for example.
If it should hit a stall in some way, the President can influence it, and possibly take those same Executive Actions that Obama brandished for almost a decade with impunity.
The bottom line is that the President promised to repeal existing legislation and initiate the changes himself, but he is not solely responsible for this: the American people (who hold him accountable at the booths) must not forget it is their job to monitor his progress and to help it along.
Here’s the deal. Around November, the Congressmen and Senators will begin to campaign. They will be a year out, and in order to keep their seats in the midterm election in November of 2018, there will have to be a good track record for the next year, with visible results within 6 to 8 months. There is also no excuse, now. The Republican party holds the House and the Senate. There is nothing from a legislative perspective that the President cannot accomplish, at least for the next year and nine months.
Of course, this will take solidarity within the Republican Party, and the Republicans have not had a very good track record in this department…with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan being the prime example. Ryan refused to back the President before the elections when Hillary Clinton was conducting the “smear” campaign with the closet conga line of “damsels in distress” videos and “boo-hoo” interviews. Then when the President won, Ryan did a complete-180.
That solidarity may not be able to be coaxed, but it can be coerced, by the people with the power of their votes. This will take action: by individuals writing and phoning en masse, and by groups (as mentioned earlier) and organizations.
When these Representatives and Senators realize their jobs are on the line, they’ll act: not for the good of the issue, but to keep their job.
So, the President is off to a good start. We need to wish him as much success as possible. We also need to help him out. How? By being proactive with the Congressmen and Senators of our States to bring matters to their attention. The election is over, and Donald Trump is now the President, but the real work is just beginning. If the people do not push these politicos with correspondence backed with the power of the vote, then the politicos will take a Merovingian stance and sit around idly. We the people have a chance to make a change, and it’s in our hands. The president is off and running, but even a champion racehorse needs a jockey for direction, and the jockey in this case is an informed and active public that keep him on the right course: the one to reflect the will of the people.
