[Jim Moonan]

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The list of those complicit in Trump's mob rule and criminal administration is longer than a country mile. Stuck between a pipe dream and a nightmare. My pipe dream would be he drags them all down with him in one Big Bang finale of Trump-style loyalty.
My nightmare would be that he is not held accountable and parlays it all into some new form of money-schemed perversion like trump media and the country continues to roil because of it.

Pence will never initiate the 25th. (He's one of those that populate the country mile).

Any slow boats to China leaving any time soon?
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[Roger Slater]

Pence could conceivably implement the 25th Amendment if Trump starts to move his tiny finger near the red button. But short of that, I agree.

[James Brancheau]

Hmmm. Even odds it's already drawn up? Whether or not it sees the light of day might depend on that red button. I mean, you know, even with most politicians, safety first.

[John Riley]

It's a little funny to hear Pence and McConnell and Barr and the other jumping rats sing out their opinions on what a president should do as they fall into the deep. It pisses me off much more than it amuses me but one has to try to find humor wherever one can. My son is in the final stages of Navy SEAL training. I'm not supposed to talk about it apparently but as a father who loves his son deeply, it is difficult for me to accept him taking on such a dangerous job because he sincerely loves his country and wants to help people, all the while watching what his country has turned into. Is it worth it? Should idealistic and strong and determined young men and women be willing to defend a country that would elect Donald Trump president? A country that is going to hang on to its deeply embedded racist roots to a catastrophic end?

[Aaron Novick]

Perhaps a more likely outcome (from a CNN anchor):

Our Capitol Hill team reports if Pence and the Cabinet don’t invoke the 25th Amendment, Democrats are discussing a process that would allow them to bypass the committee proceedings and move articles of impeachment directly to the floor within two days.

[Roger Slater]

Another impeachment would be nice, of course, but there's no way that the Senate would have the votes to convict. Still, they probably wouldn't have time to acquit either, so Trump's presidency would end without a verdict -- which is better than an acquittal.

Some scholars believe that the Constitution permits Congress to impeach a president after he's no longer in office, which would be for the purpose of barring him from holding public office in the future. My own view is that these scholars are clearly wrong, but some of them are almost as smart as I am so I wouldn't rule it out.

[Max Goodman]

It's true that "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."

The problem is that "Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days 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."

Can he fire the cabinet members who want him gone before they can submit the second declaration? Some analysts who understand this stuff better than I do say he can, and that the amendment's only practical use, therefore, is to remove someone who has been incapacitated. (which was the situation that prompted the amendment).

All academic, of course, since Pence isn't on board.

[Aaron Novick]

You (Roger) assume that no Republicans—post-election, remember—would change teams. I don't know that I believe that assumption.

I mean look, our elected representatives are not real people, I realize that, but they are like real people in at least one respect: they don't like fleeing for their lives any more than you or I do.

[Roger Slater]

No, some of them might, but I'm assuming that not enough of them would. It takes a 2/3 vote, after all, which is something like 1 in 3 Republican senators. I'd love to be proven wrong, but that strikes me as a virtual impossibility.

[Aaron Novick]

I think it was an impossibility when they needed Trump. They no longer need Trump. He is now exclusively a liability to them. Some are true believers and will never switch. But I don't think 1/3 is out of the realm of possibility. But we shall see, one way or the other.