Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki is pushing back on growing calls within her own party to invoke the 25th Amendment against President Donald Trump, as some Democrats continue raising concerns about his mental fitness.
Psaki, now an MSNBC host, argued that focusing on removing Trump through the constitutional provision is both unrealistic and politically counterproductive.
Speaking on Stephen A. Smith’s show Straight Shooter, Psaki acknowledged frustration on the left but questioned the value of repeatedly invoking the 25th Amendment.
“I think there are times — and I can’t speak for everybody on the left, I don’t agree with everything everybody says on the left either — you know, sometimes it’s just not constructive,” Psaki said. “I mean, you’ve talked about the 25th Amendment. I have no issue with people saying they’re for invoking the 25th Amendment, but it’s not going to happen. So it’s like, why are we spending so much time, you know?”
Her comments come as some Democratic lawmakers continue to escalate concerns about Trump’s behavior, including Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who directly confronted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a House hearing on Friday.
During the House Education and Workforce Committee session on the HHS budget, Takano displayed large posters of Trump’s Truth Social posts, including statements threatening to destroy the “whole civilization” of Iran, attacks on Pope Leo XIV, and an AI-generated image depicting Trump as Jesus Christ.
“Millions of Americans are questioning this president’s mental fitness, his emotional stability, and whether he can carry out the duties of his office. Do you share their concerns about his mental health?” Takano asked Kennedy.
After Kennedy did not immediately respond, Takano pressed further.
“We need a commander in chief that we know has full command of his mental faculties and is emotionally stable,” he said. “Mr. Secretary, given everything that I’ve shown you today, will you insist that President Trump undergo an assessment of his mental fitness and his emotional stability?”
“Absolutely not,” Kennedy replied.
Takano then asked whether Kennedy would support invoking the 25th Amendment if Trump were deemed unfit. Kennedy again rejected the premise, adding that “there hasn’t been a president who is more sane.”
Takano accused him of placing loyalty to Trump above the Constitution, prompting Kennedy to fire back, “Well, you need the fundraising video.”
Committee Chair Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) also weighed in, noting the partisan nature of such calls.
“I would hesitate to say something about the 25th Amendment with the last president. There was no concern there from the other side, but I won’t say that,” Walberg said.
Calls to remove Trump through the 25th Amendment have come from more than 50 Democratic lawmakers, along with other critics, some citing his rhetoric on Iran as evidence he is unfit for office.
But Psaki warned that the party risks undermining itself by leaning too heavily on such arguments and by narrowing its political appeal.
“What is also true is that in order to win, you have to invite more people to the party,” she said. “So if you want to win, you have to accept sometimes that there may be people who are part of your party, or you’re going to welcome into the conversation, who you don’t agree with on 100% of issues. And I think sometimes there can be a little litmus-testy feeling about who’s allowed to be a Democrat or who can consider themselves progressive.”
She also cautioned against a reflexive outrage-driven response to Trump.
“And part of that goes hand in hand with feeling like you have to scream at the top of your lungs about everything that comes out of the Trump administration,” Psaki said. “And I’m outraged by a lot of it. But I don’t think screaming about every single thing is the most constructive thing.”
The ‘Donald’ likes to push an issue by going overboard in his statements.
That’s what both ‘builders’ and politicians often do ( and Trump was first a ‘builder’ ).
They go way beyond what they expect to be able to get so that they have ‘working room’ with which to come to a compromise.
The ‘middle ground’ is then much more to the side of what they were originally going for.
If Trump is crazy, he’s crazy like a fox!
Is he sometimes bombastic? You bet!
But he usually gets close to what he wanted to get in the first place … what he believes is best for the United States of America!
It may not always come across as him being a nice guy, and sometimes as being ‘a bit out there’, but it works!’
It works for the betterment of the U.S.A.!
I don’t always agree with him, but his ideas seem to work out better than what I had envisioned.
“Trump Derangement Syndrome” has many Democrats firmly in its grip. These paranoid ideas of what Trump plans to do need to be classified alongside the far-out notions of the John Birch Society. The things they say about Trump and accuse him of planning are fictions made up in their own minds and do not reflect rational or balanced thinking. More and more Americans are starting to realize this.
BLIND SQUIRREL ALERT!
Jen Psaki demonstrating that even a blind squirrel can occasionally find a buried nut – even if for all the wrong reasons.
Much more consequential than Trump’s mental fitness is his biblical fitness. And according to the Bible’s mandatory biblical qualifications for civil leaders (e.g., Exodus 18:21, Deuteronomy 17:15, etc.), Trump is not fit to serve as president or, for that matter, as any civil leader at any level of government – the same as everyone else who’s served in any capacity in any of the biblically egregious Constitutional Republic’s three branches since its inception.
But this was made impossible with Article 6’s Christian test ban whereby (and more importantly) the Bible’s mandatory biblical qualifications for civil leaders were also eliminated.
Had the constitutional framers not eliminated God’s means for determining civil leaders, no one would have ever heard of Biden, the Clintons, Obama and/or any of their fellow Swamp Crocodiles on both sides of the imaginary aisle – disguised as both Donkeys and Elephants alike.
Since first adopted in 1788, America has been “saddled” with nothing but nincompoops, incompetents, scoundrels, immoral reprobates, and outright criminals for her civil leaders. Sound familiar?
For more regarding Article 6’s Christian test ban, see Chapter 9 “Article 6: The Supreme Law of the Land” of free online book “Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective” at https://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/BlvcOnline/blvc-index.html
Find out how much you really know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey in the sidebar and receive a free copy of the 85-page “Primer” of “BL vs. USC.”