Calls mounted across the political spectrum for the invocation of the 25th Amendment after President Donald Trump posted a profane threat toward Iran on Easter morning, prompting lawmakers and former allies to question his fitness for office. The 79-year-old president’s message on Truth Social — posted on the Christian holiday commemorating Christ’s resurrection — included an explicit warning: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F–kin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The post rapidly became a trending topic on X, where former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan urged that the message “should really force the VP and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy wrote that if he were a Cabinet member he would be “spending Easter calling constitutional lawyers” about using the amendment. Representative Yassamin Ansari and Rep. Melanie Stansbury also weighed in, with Ansari saying “The 25th Amendment exists for a reason,” and Stansbury declaring, “The emperor has no clothes. Time for the #25thAmendment.”
Criticism crossed partisan lines and included unexpected voices from Trump’s former allies. Ex–Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once a vigorous supporter, posted that the administration should “intervene in Trump’s madness,” adding “he has gone insane.” Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh called Trump “a stain on this country…and the world,” and urged immediate use of the 25th Amendment. Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as White House communications director during Trump’s first term, wrote that the Founders anticipated removing a “mad man” from executive power and that the 25th Amendment exists for that purpose.
Invoking the 25th Amendment would require Vice President J.D. Vance and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unable to discharge his duties, after which the vice president would assume the role of acting president. The amendment has been used in presidential transitions and medical contexts — first invoked in 1973 when Richard Nixon nominated Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew as vice president, and more recently in 2021 when President Joe Biden temporarily transferred authority to Vice President Kamala Harris for 85 minutes while undergoing a medical procedure.
The flap follows other recent Easter-related controversies involving the president and comes as the White House faces scrutiny over his handling of the escalating conflict with Iran. Trump himself appeared to joke about the 25th Amendment in late March, asking at a press conference whether instituting it would mean he “wouldn’t be sitting here for long,” and quipping that it had not been used against President Biden. That remark, once treated lightly, has gained sharper attention amid the latest post and the intensifying debate over the administration’s strategy toward Iran.
Public reaction to deeper military engagement appears limited: an Economist-YouGov poll at the end of March found just 14 percent of Americans supported sending U.S. troops to Iran, while 62 percent opposed such action. Political analysts and some GOP allies have warned that the conflict could fracture Trump’s base as messaging within the party remains mixed and U.S. intelligence assessments reportedly contradict the president’s public assertions about Iran’s state of capability.
The incident has added urgency to conversations in Washington about presidential fitness and constitutional safeguards. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on the Easter post and the calls for the 25th Amendment; as of publication there was no official response.