Critics are eyeing a constitutional provision that has never been invoked in nearly 60 years
Democrats took control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, delivering a punishing verdict on the Republican Party.
Last week, the US President Donald Trump told The New York Times he would ‘absolutely’ accept the results, adding: “We’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll, you know, look forward to working with them. We’ll probably work something out.”
In the days since, the 80-year-old’s message has changed. On Monday, he posted on social media: “Does anybody really believe that this ‘Election’ was honest. How could the Polls be so wrong???”
He continued: “Some early voting ‘dumps’ were so large that it was impossible to win, no matter how many people went to vote.”
Trump also questioned election machines, writing: “It’s all about the machines, which are far more important than the voter!”
Later that day, while addressing journalists, he remarked: “I think the numbers were terrible in terms of early votes, you look at all those early votes.”
Why did Trump say Republicans lost the midterms?
He has offered multiple explanations since the vote for the Republican’s poor performance.
On Sunday, he told CBS 60 Minutes interviewer Ross Douthat that his immigration and deportation policies were ‘too tough’, adding: “I think ultimately… that hurt me.”
He also blamed the war in Iran for costing votes, telling Fox News by phone as results came in: “People agree with what I’m doing on Iran, but they probably weren’t willing to deal with the short term consequence of paying more for gasoline.”
Over the weekend, Trump shared many charts on Truth Social that sought to cast doubt on the Democratic wins, though none provided evidence of wrongdoing or election fraud. One, from an account called The Lone Raccoon, showed candidates’ vote totals climbing on election night, with sharp rises for Democrats, something that can often happen when election officials release large batches of counted ballots.
Another claimed: “Republican votes stayed the same. Democrats materialized 20 million new votes.”
Its bar chart showed Republicans on 54.2 million House votes in 2022 against a projected 55.6 million this year, with Democrats rising from 51.3 million to a projected 70.4 million.
The Washington Post reports that the midterms had the second-highest turnout in more than 100 years, behind only 2018, up three percentage points on 2022. Maine, Minnesota and Michigan, three of the states with the highest turnout, were where Democrats won surprise victories.
What is Section 4 of the 25th Amendment?
Many of Trump’s critics have been discussing the provision, which could be used to remove a president without impeachment. Once the new Congress is sworn in during the new year, Democrats could help invoke it.
As explained by Congress.gov, Section 4 covers what happens when a president can no longer carry out their duties but cannot or will not acknowledge it themselves. It was proposed in 1965 before becoming law in 1967, and has never been invoked in the almost six decades since.
Section 3, meanwhile, applies when a president voluntarily declares themselves unfit, such as ahead of a planned medical procedure.
