The Dictatorship
Over 50 Democrats push 25th Amendment as Trump threatens to kill ‘a whole civilization’
President Donald Trump’s threat to wipe out “a whole civilization” in Iran has prompted growing calls from Democrats to remove him through a constitutional mechanism that has never been used to end a presidency: The 25th Amendment.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday morning. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
He continued, saying with a “different, smarter, and less radicalized” regime in Iran, he hoped Tehran would come to a deal on the Strait of Hormuz. But he left it open that the United States would strike Iran on Tuesday night if a deal was not reached.
“WHO KNOWS?” Trump asked.
The post came just 12 hours before the president’s previously announced deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or risk the U.S. attacking bridges and power plants. Or, as the president put it in an expletive-laced Easter morning social media post“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.”
In response to Trump’s threats, Democrats started a new trend on Tuesday that put the onus for Trump’s removal on some of the president’s most obsequious officials, calling on Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare the president unfit for office. Doing so would, in effect, remove Trump from the White House and replace him with Vice President JD Vance.
In a social media post, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., called for “this unhinged lunatic” to “be removed from office.” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said“Threatening war crimes is a blatant violation of our constitution and the Geneva Conventions.” And Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., wrote“In the last 48 hours alone, the rhetoric has crossed every line.”
“Donald Trump’s instability is more clear and dangerous than ever,” said former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
As of early Tuesday evening, more than four dozen Democrats had called on Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.; Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif.; Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.; Rep. Adriano Espaillat, DN.Y.; Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y.; and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D.N.M.
Of course, these calls are unlikely to do much of anything.
To actually remove Trump from office, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet would have to agree that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” If the president were to dispute that assessment, as he almost certainly would, at least two-thirds of the House and Senate would have to agree that the president is unfit to serve to remove him from office.
The threshold in Congress is actually higher than what is required through a straight impeachment and conviction.
The bar, said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is too high to clear at this moment, as Republicans on Capitol Hill and in Trump’s Cabinet remain in lockstep with the president.
“We’re going to have to buckle down and win this the old-fashioned way,” Whitehouse added in another post.
Some Democrats, such as Rep. Diane DeGette, D-Col.were clear that, if the Cabinet refused to invoke the 25th Amendment, then Congress should begin impeachment proceedings, an unlikely endeavor on its own in the GOP-controlled Congress.
But Democrats have increasingly argued that Trump’s war with Iran, coupled with what they have described as bellicose and progressively unhinged rhetoric, have crossed the line. (Some of the YOU are faithfulsuch as former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and conservative commentators Alex Jones and Candace Owens, have also called on Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.)
Still, almost every Republican in Congress has stood by Trump. In fact, rather than pushing back on the president, some criticized Greene on Tuesday.
“The TRUE madness is calling for the 25th to be used against one of the greatest presidents our nation has ever seen! @POTUS is making the entire planet safer,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., wrote on Xadding that Greene is “starting to sound like” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Tucker Carlson.
Most other Republicans have remained silent on Trump’s threats. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., made two posts Tuesday, one touting the “no tax on tips” from the GOP’s reconciliation bill and one cheering the International Olympic Committee for recognizing that “women’s sports are meant for biological women.”
Johnson, like Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has remained silent on Trump’s escalating rhetoric.
Notably, however, some Republicans have started to offer indirect criticism.
During an appearance on conservative journalist and commentator John Solomon’s podcast on Monday, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he is “hoping and praying” that Trump’s threat against Iran “really is bluster.”
“I do not want to see us start blowing up civilian infrastructure,” Johnson said. “I do not want to see that.”
Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, also posted online that he does not support “the destruction of a ‘whole civilization.’”
“That is not who we are, and it is not consistent with the principles that have long guided America,” he said.
And Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told MS NOW on Tuesday that while the president’s words about eliminating “a whole civilization” are “reckless,” he argued it is the president “negotiating Trump-style.”
“I do want to see the regime buckle and make a true peace,” Bacon said in a statement.
Democratic leaders in Congress have also been predictably critical of Trump’s threats, though they have stopped short of immediately calling for the 25th Amendment.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.; Majority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass.; and leading Democrats have instead called for the House to “come back into session immediately and vote to end this reckless war of choice in the Middle East before Donald Trump plunges our country into World War III.”
And top Senate Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., in a statement condemned the president’s messagesaying it is “not strength.”
“Intentionally destroying the power, water, or basic infrastructure upon which tens of millions of civilians depend to punish the very civilians who suffer at the hands of the Iranian regime would constitute a war crime, a betrayal of the values this nation was founded on, and a moral failure,” they wrote.
While calls have grown for the invocation of the 25th Amendment, some Democrats have targeted others in the administration, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
On Monday, Ansari said she planned to introduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth “for repeatedly violating his oath of office and his duty to the Constitution.”
“Only Congress has the power to declare war, not a rogue president or his lackeys. Hegseth’s reckless endangerment of U.S. servicemembers and repeated war crimes, including bombing a girls’ school in Minab, Iran and willfully targeting civilian infrastructure, are grounds for impeachment and removal from office,” she said.
For months now, Democrats have wrestled with the question of presidential accountability — namely, how much to focus on it as part of their party’s midterm messaging and potential governing agenda.
The fear among some Democrats is that focusing too much on anti-Trump sentiment could distract from a positive, kitchen-table agenda.
But as the second year of Trump’s presidency careens from domestic crises to an escalating overseas conflict, the president may be forcing Democrats’ hand. And depending on what happens Tuesday night, the entire political landscape could change with his military actions — and the debate over accountability could shift from theoretical to immediate very quickly.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, as two retiring Republicans on the panel dug in over President Donald Trump’s personal “anti-weaponization” deal with the government he runs.
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s decision to delay the committee vote that had been set for Thursday marks a setback for one of Trump’s highest-profile Cabinet nominees, at the hands of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a pair of Republicans set to leave the chamber next year.
“Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure. Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement,” the committee spokesperson said.
Blanche’s nomination to permanently head the Department of Justice needs the support of either Cornyn or Tillis to make it out of the committee to a vote by the full Senate, assuming all Democrats remain opposed.
“Why don’t you call over the Department of Justice and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon amid the hardening standoff over his demand that Blanche and the DOJ put in writing a commitment never to pursue the president’s prized “anti-weaponization” fund, and to clarify the terms of Trump’s personal deal with the Internal Revenue Service.
Tillis told MS NOW that the conversations were complicated by the need for the Justice Department to get “several parties” to agree on the language of the statement Cornyn and Tillis are seeking.
“What I’ve advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we’re not prepared to vote yes yet,” he added.
“The Department has been in regular communication with Committee members for weeks, and we look forward to continuing to work productively with Senators to address any concerns,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in response to the decision to postpone the committee vote.
Cornyn was set to meet with Blanche on Wednesday morning, but the meeting was called off after Blanche failed to meet the senator’s demand for written proposals to modify the controversial settlement agreement he brokered between Trump and the IRS. The Republican senator is set to leave Congress when his term ends in January after a bruising May primary loss to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump’s chosen candidate.
“Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office. “I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there’s a problem. I heard (Blanche) is going through quite nicely.”
Cornyn made clear to Blanche during his confirmation hearing that he will not get his support until he agrees to reopen and modify the settlement. Due to the committee’s narrow Republican majority, one GOP “no” vote is enough to sink Blanche’s nomination.
The senator has asked Blanche to provide proof that the proposed nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund established as part of the deal between Trump and the IRS is formally dead, and he has also demanded Blanche narrow the tax audit immunity provisions the settlement afforded to Trump and his family.
Blanche has publicly stated that his department has dropped the fund, but he and the DOJ have dodged requests from Cornyn and a federal judge to put that in writing.
After announcing his meeting with Blanche would not take place Wednesday morning, Cornyn told reporters that changes from Blanche “in a modified release form” would be acceptable, but that “for some reason … they simply refuse to do it,” referring to the DOJ.
Shortly after the meeting was called off, a Justice Department official told MS NOW that the department “provided a written proposal to Senator Cornyn’s staff yesterday following ongoing discussion with both the Committee and the Senator’s office.”
Cornyn said that proposal was “not responsive” to his demands because it did not address the tax audit immunity provisions in the settlement, one of his key demands.
In May, Blanche signed an addendum as part of the deal that granted Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from pending IRS tax audits. That agreement, which has been decried by former IRS officials and legal experts as unlawful self-dealing, is being contested in federal court.
Cornyn noted that Blanche testified under oath that he could meet the request during his confirmation hearing.
“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or you know, go along, but they’re mistaken,” Cornyn said when asked why he thinks the DOJ could be slow-walking his request.
Kevin Frey contributed to this report.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived this week for his tour of Washington, he may have had a mission in mind.
Netanyahu needed to overcome his newly diminished stature and waning influence over his once close friend President Donald Trump as both leaders grapple with the unpopularity of a war they started together and is escaping their control.
His meeting at the White House with Trump on Tuesday, which was closed to the press, was the first face-to-face encounter between the two allies since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack against Iran on Feb. 28.
Trump gave him a muted welcome and afterwards simply described the meeting as “very good.” “Obviously, many important subjects were discussed,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Rather than an intimate one-on-one setting, the Oval Office was full of top U.S. officials — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
But Netanyahu continued the full court press on the Trump administration.
Over the course of two days, in addition to seeing Trump and attending Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral at the Capitol, Netanyahu also met separately with Vance, Hegseth, and Rubio, White House and Israeli officials confirmed to MS NOW.
The Israeli prime minister’s slate of meetings with key U.S. national security officials comes at a pivotal moment in the Iran conflict as tensions escalate in the region and Americans increasingly sour on the war. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows 60% of American voters opposing U.S. military action against Iran and 74% against sending U.S. ground troops into Iran.
Not only does Trump face pressure as Republicans face an uphill battle to retain congressional control in this fall’s midterms, Netanyahu’s fate as prime minister is at stake in Israel’s upcoming September elections – and he can’t afford to lose Trump’s favor.
The talks largely focused on what to do next as Iran continues to menace shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliate against American bases in the region and launch attacks on Gulf allies.
According to a senior Israeli official who was granted anonymity to describe the closed-door meeting, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did not come to a final decision after discussing three paths forward: get a “good deal” focused on Iran’s nuclear program and enriched material, have no deal and instead continue the blockade and economic pressure, or take escalated military action.
But Netanyahu did not tell Trump what he should do – nor did he express a preference.
The senior Israeli official noted Netanyahu has not ruled out diplomacy – as long as it is coupled with “very strong pressures,” calling the push to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program “a contest of will and a contest of force.”
“There are ways of squeezing them and squeezing them and squeezing them and negotiating at the same time,” the official said.
Netanyahu did not present President Trump with new intelligence regarding the underground Iranian nuclear facility Pickaxe Mountain, per the senior Israeli official, noting the U.S. and Israel already are constantly sharing intelligence – and know where Iran’s highly enriched material is. “We don’t think it’s moved, and I think we have a pretty good grasp on that,” the official said.
During their meeting on Tuesday, Trump and Netanyahu discussed ways Israel and the U.S. can work together to stop Iran’s nuclear program and get the Strait of Hormuz open to maritime trade, the senior Israeli official said.
The two leaders also discussed a third goal: to continue to undermine the Iranian regime and “possibly create future conditions for a change in that area.” U.S. officials have backed away from pursuing paths that would overthrow the current leadership, but Netanyahu still believes that could happen.
“The chasm that has been created between the people and the regime is not about to be closed,” the senior Israeli official said of Netanyahu’s thinking.
Netanyahu advised Trump in February that Israeli intelligence indicated launching strikes against Iran would lead to the toppling of the Islamic Republic’s regime – and five months later, the slain ayatollah’s son retains power with a close circle of hardliners, calling into question the accuracy of Israel’s intelligence apparatus.
But the senior Israeli official said at the time, Netanyahu did not promise the Iranian people would take fate into their own hands following a coordinated attack. Rather, he chose his words carefully and said that an attack could create conditions to “advance the probability or the possibility that that would happen.”
The conditions needed for the Iranian regime to fall, “did not materialize,” the official told MS NOW, adding, “not for lack of insight, but for either operational failure or decisions that were made.”
Despite Netanyahu insisting Israel and the U.S. are on the same page, differences still remain: the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and the Saudi nuclear arrangement did not come up during Wednesday’s White House meeting, according to a second Israeli official granted anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues to spread, with an Iranian drone attacking a U.S. gas storage tanker off the coast of Egypt on Wednesday.
Trump indicated he would not let Iran’s latest action slide, telling reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. would retaliate against Iran even as he leaves room for diplomatic talks to resume.
“It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point,” Trump said. “But we’re going to hit them very hard.”
As for what it would take for Israel to join the U.S. strikes, the senior Israeli official said that if Israel is attacked by Iran, “We will respond very, very forcefully and very quickly. And I think Iran would make a great mistake.”
Julia Jester covers politics for MS NOW and is based in Washington, D.C.
International rage over FIFA’s close ties to President Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch after soccer’s governing body announced a plan to sell a significant stake to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
The president and his family have all but turned the White House into their personal piggy bank. And FIFA — which has its own sordid history of corruption — seems to have made itself a party to Trump’s self-enrichment under Gianni Infantino’s leadership, such as by paying for space inside Trump Tower in New York. (The organization has defended the office rental as a World Cup outpost.)
Soccer is seen by many as a unifying game. But Trump’s incorporation of FIFA into his political dynasty is threatening that idea.
FIFA has announced plans to sell a large minority stake in a new company that will run its main events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup, as part of a plan to triple the amount of development money it dishes out to its 211 member associations.
Under the proposals — which are subject to approval by a majority of those national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council — a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA remains the game’s global governing body and retains a majority stake in FFE.
A press release from FIFA confirmed the plans and said Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, is expected to lead the investment group that would control FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA did not clarify why Thrive Eternal was selected, and Kushner was already dabbling in sports.
But Trump basically has already given son-in-law Jared Kushner carte blanche to dictate U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East while simultaneously hatching business plans in the region. (Jared Kushner has denied any conflicts of interest.)
Joshua Kushner reportedly has been a major donor to Democrats. But, predictably, the idea of another Kushner becoming financially entwined with the World Cup — the world’s most popular sporting event — and basically being dropped into a position of global significance isn’t going over well. Several other soccer governing bodies have expressed concerns, including Europe’s UEFA.
“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said in a statement about The Athletic’s report, adding: “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also rebuked the plan, writing on X: “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough — now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”
FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!
Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a… https://t.co/knSZibuMea
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 28, 2026
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has already launched an investigation into the FIFA leader’s relationship with the Trump administration, while dozens of European lawmakers — citing concerns about “potential breaches of political neutrality” — have called for the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino. This new proposal seems unlikely to assuage those concerns.
But what it does seem likely to do is fuel global anger toward the U.S. — the kind that has been growing since Trump retook office.
And when you consider that, it’s truly remarkable how the same MAGA movement whose members whined for years about politics mixing with sports is now in lockstep with a president who seems dead-set on casting his shadow over every sports event he can.
This post on X basically sums up the foul stench around FIFA’s latest proposal.
Sepp Blatter was Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA president and oversaw the organization amid some of its many scandals. When heof all people, is warning about how Trump and Infantino’s relationship is “deeply damaging” soccer, it’s a sign of how far FIFA has descended into the gutter.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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