This kind of false equivalence completely undermines the bigger picture. It's not only Congress and the cabinet that are afraid to confront the truth--the man in charge is stark raving mad.
Wait a sec. First of all, Kristof is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. That said, if you read closely, starting from the first line -- "The United States has a long history of bungling Iran" -- he's comparing them *negatively*. The Carter administration's approach to the 1979 Iranian revolution was so naive it suggests a lack of intelligence (in both senses of the word) about what was happening in Iran.
The Trump II administration can't claim naivete. The world has known for decades what the Iranian regime was about. Worse, by taking out Saddam Hussein in 2003, the U.S.-led coalition sent Iraq into chaos and removed it as a counterweight to Iran.
I will INDEED spread the message. I am increasingly inclined to compare him to Valdemort. He sucks the life force from everyone and everything in order to continue to operate with impunity. This evil, being wrought in the name of the country I love, cannot stand. If we cannot remove this man, then we, too, have turned a collective page into a dark chapter that can never be erased from our history. Our collective ethos and sense of moral justice will not survive it. In the name of all that is good and right and true, this destructive force in the name of the Presidency must be removed or the office itself will be forever uninhabitable and worthy of respect. Words matter, Mr. President. In the name of the United States, use them with restraint and respect or all will certainly be lost.
Thank You Steven . "It is deadly dangerous." I agree completely . I don't see the 25th amendment happening any time soon with the filthy, greedy, power hungry cowards that are in control of the Congress and the Senate. Maybe if the oligarchs here in the US pushed them to do something they might. For all this time I thought Trump would never use a nuclear weapon. My thinking was he is not that crazy. Now I think he is. Somebody do something. lost in america
Dementia is a progressive disease that removes impulse control. The farther it goes, the more restraints are removed. It appears from this post that he is reaching the later stages of dementia. He is the most dangerous man on earth due to his position of power, and now the almost complete lack of impulse control. He has the nuclear codes, and there is no one in the regime who would try to stop him from using them.
Perfect essay. A king could stay in power even in us if they were sane and respected the laws
No person can be president wo is mentally incompetent, a law beaker, a danger to the country and the world, a thief, and bonkers. Plus there are so many other reasons. Vance is untested and I dont like him but its the lesser of 2 evils. . .
The US military can and should refuse to execute Trump’s illegal orders.
Trump and every member of his administration should be removed from office. Trump, Hegseth and Rubio should be prosecuted for war crimes.
Most importantly, MAGA supporters and enablers in Congress, the courts, and in the private sector need to be checked. This process will be slow, but vital. The likes of Mike Johnson, Lynsey Graham, Elon Musk, et.al. have to depart the scene.
"The military" may have fired some individuals, but I believe it was the secretary of defense who's been ordering the removal of general officers. The secretary of defense is a civilian. In our battered and tattered constitutional system, the military is under civilian control.
The military has bombed a school, killing children; they have bombed boats, killing fishermen. In both cases, the military bombed the target twice to assure maximum deaths. I do not trust the military to stop the carnage. It is full of hegseths!
Trump is clearly out of control, and quite possibly suffering from some mental dysfunction, but talk of removing him using the 25th Amendment is foolish and dangerous and exactly what JD Vance and the ideologue tech bro oligarchs that have created and fund him want.
As dangerous as Trump is at this moment Vance and his tech bro handlers are much more dangerous. They are much more capable of creating a world in their image which could, and likely would make life in America and across the planet significantly worse and more dangerous for almost everyone. Be careful what you wish for. It may come true.
I’m assuming Congressional action would only be required if he rejects the removal by Vance and his Cabinet. If it came to Congressional action the Democrats could initiate it. It probably would need a discharge petition to bring it to a vote. The Democrats would only need a few Republicans to sign it. Massie I bet would sign.
There are moments when I think he didn’t write the offensive post. It seems too well written for him. Putting the profane language aside, the rest is a rather well written statement. No weaves, disjointed sentences or unrelated comments.
Evidence of his severe impairment has been ample since before the 2024 elections. We need to devote more critical thinking and investigative journalism to probing the question: Why has the 25th not been invoked? Who stands to benefit from his continued dismantling of federal government? Who are the real power brokers who manipulate the news and manage elected officials? What threats does Trump hold over the elected officials (federal and local), the judges, attorneys from good firms? Publish the unredacted Epstein files - let’s see all the names and hold the guilty accountable. And demand explicit apologies. Expose the power dynamics and let the millions of decent, honorable people remove the muck and start building new communities.
Those are good questions but let's not forget that Trump I didn't come out of nowhere. The Republican Party has been headed in this direction since Nixon, and it hit its anti-democratic, pro-corporate stride with Reagan. Since the ultra-wealthy (it's not just billionaires) don't have nearly enough votes, they used racism, misogyny, and nostalgia for a past that never was to mobilize the white vote.
There is a real problem here. The newspaper of record (and NYT) is publishing opinion pieces that compare Trump's Iran strategy with Jimmy Carter's.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/opinion/trump-iran-war-power.html
This kind of false equivalence completely undermines the bigger picture. It's not only Congress and the cabinet that are afraid to confront the truth--the man in charge is stark raving mad.
Wait a sec. First of all, Kristof is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. That said, if you read closely, starting from the first line -- "The United States has a long history of bungling Iran" -- he's comparing them *negatively*. The Carter administration's approach to the 1979 Iranian revolution was so naive it suggests a lack of intelligence (in both senses of the word) about what was happening in Iran.
The Trump II administration can't claim naivete. The world has known for decades what the Iranian regime was about. Worse, by taking out Saddam Hussein in 2003, the U.S.-led coalition sent Iraq into chaos and removed it as a counterweight to Iran.
I will INDEED spread the message. I am increasingly inclined to compare him to Valdemort. He sucks the life force from everyone and everything in order to continue to operate with impunity. This evil, being wrought in the name of the country I love, cannot stand. If we cannot remove this man, then we, too, have turned a collective page into a dark chapter that can never be erased from our history. Our collective ethos and sense of moral justice will not survive it. In the name of all that is good and right and true, this destructive force in the name of the Presidency must be removed or the office itself will be forever uninhabitable and worthy of respect. Words matter, Mr. President. In the name of the United States, use them with restraint and respect or all will certainly be lost.
Thank You Steven . "It is deadly dangerous." I agree completely . I don't see the 25th amendment happening any time soon with the filthy, greedy, power hungry cowards that are in control of the Congress and the Senate. Maybe if the oligarchs here in the US pushed them to do something they might. For all this time I thought Trump would never use a nuclear weapon. My thinking was he is not that crazy. Now I think he is. Somebody do something. lost in america
Dementia is a progressive disease that removes impulse control. The farther it goes, the more restraints are removed. It appears from this post that he is reaching the later stages of dementia. He is the most dangerous man on earth due to his position of power, and now the almost complete lack of impulse control. He has the nuclear codes, and there is no one in the regime who would try to stop him from using them.
Perfect essay. A king could stay in power even in us if they were sane and respected the laws
No person can be president wo is mentally incompetent, a law beaker, a danger to the country and the world, a thief, and bonkers. Plus there are so many other reasons. Vance is untested and I dont like him but its the lesser of 2 evils. . .
Stephen, Heather Cox Richardson has quoted you in her piece today!
Sent thank you
Please feel free to copy these addresses
⬇️
Update
Please read article at the link‼️ @columbia @gwuniversity @nyuniversity @cudenver @universityofhouston @cuboulder @uofdenver @uflorida @universityatbuffalo @kansasstateuniversity @ohio.university @universityofky @universityoflouisville @universityofutah
https://america.substack.com/p/donald-trump-needs-to-be-removed?r
Out! 🇺🇸
@ABC @CBSNews @NBCNews @CNN @BBCWorld @nytimes @washingtonpost @chicagotribune @HoustonChron @MiamiHerald @denverwestword @Harvard @TAMU
@denbizjournal @denverpost @Yale @DemWomenCaucus @NYSYD @DemocraticWins @SenateDems @HouseDemocrats
https://america.substack.com/p/donald-trump-needs-to-be-removed?r=v5mzk&utm_medium=ios
The US military can and should refuse to execute Trump’s illegal orders.
Trump and every member of his administration should be removed from office. Trump, Hegseth and Rubio should be prosecuted for war crimes.
Most importantly, MAGA supporters and enablers in Congress, the courts, and in the private sector need to be checked. This process will be slow, but vital. The likes of Mike Johnson, Lynsey Graham, Elon Musk, et.al. have to depart the scene.
The military has fired individuals who might oppose Trump and they continue to do so. He is breaking our institutions in service to Putin.
"The military" may have fired some individuals, but I believe it was the secretary of defense who's been ordering the removal of general officers. The secretary of defense is a civilian. In our battered and tattered constitutional system, the military is under civilian control.
The leadership of the military then…
The military has bombed a school, killing children; they have bombed boats, killing fishermen. In both cases, the military bombed the target twice to assure maximum deaths. I do not trust the military to stop the carnage. It is full of hegseths!
Trump is clearly out of control, and quite possibly suffering from some mental dysfunction, but talk of removing him using the 25th Amendment is foolish and dangerous and exactly what JD Vance and the ideologue tech bro oligarchs that have created and fund him want.
As dangerous as Trump is at this moment Vance and his tech bro handlers are much more dangerous. They are much more capable of creating a world in their image which could, and likely would make life in America and across the planet significantly worse and more dangerous for almost everyone. Be careful what you wish for. It may come true.
I’m assuming Congressional action would only be required if he rejects the removal by Vance and his Cabinet. If it came to Congressional action the Democrats could initiate it. It probably would need a discharge petition to bring it to a vote. The Democrats would only need a few Republicans to sign it. Massie I bet would sign.
There are moments when I think he didn’t write the offensive post. It seems too well written for him. Putting the profane language aside, the rest is a rather well written statement. No weaves, disjointed sentences or unrelated comments.
Evidence of his severe impairment has been ample since before the 2024 elections. We need to devote more critical thinking and investigative journalism to probing the question: Why has the 25th not been invoked? Who stands to benefit from his continued dismantling of federal government? Who are the real power brokers who manipulate the news and manage elected officials? What threats does Trump hold over the elected officials (federal and local), the judges, attorneys from good firms? Publish the unredacted Epstein files - let’s see all the names and hold the guilty accountable. And demand explicit apologies. Expose the power dynamics and let the millions of decent, honorable people remove the muck and start building new communities.
Those are good questions but let's not forget that Trump I didn't come out of nowhere. The Republican Party has been headed in this direction since Nixon, and it hit its anti-democratic, pro-corporate stride with Reagan. Since the ultra-wealthy (it's not just billionaires) don't have nearly enough votes, they used racism, misogyny, and nostalgia for a past that never was to mobilize the white vote.
Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II gave us the Supreme Court that decided Citizens United in 2010. A January 2025 article on the Brennan Center website argues persuasively that Citizens United was a crucial factor in the 2024 election: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/fifteen-years-later-citizens-united-defined-2024-election.
Concur: the sooner the better.
I do not see any members of Trump’s administration invoking the 25th amendment. And the current house is a lapdog to Trump.
If world leaders want him gone as we do there is only one way this will happen. Without putting in print, everyone knows what had to happen.
I demand a feckful Congress!