Urgent 25th Amendment calls grow after Trump threatens mass destruction of Iran's civilization

A growing number of congressional Democrats are urging Vice President JD Vance and members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to consider invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office after the president threatened catastrophic destruction in Iran.

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The calls follow Trump’s statement Tuesday morning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran failed to meet U.S. demands tied to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route.

More than 50 Democratic lawmakers have now publicly called for Trump’s removal under the constitutional provision, which allows a president to be sidelined if deemed unable to carry out the duties of the office. Among the most forceful voices is gay California U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, who warned that Trump’s rhetoric poses a direct threat to civilians.

“Donald Trump has lost his mind and his threats to wipe out the Iranian people should be taken seriously,” Garcia wrote Tuesday on X. “He’s out of control and his cabinet and those around him must be loyal to the constitution and invoke the 25th amendment. He must be removed.”

Gay New York U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres said Trump’s language erases the distinction between a government and its people.

“‘A whole civilization will die tonight.’ Notice that Trump makes no distinction between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people,” Torres wrote. “Donald Trump is so dangerously unhinged that the 25th Amendment should be invoked, and America should rid itself of his psychotic presidency.”

Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, the first Iranian American Democrat in Congress, has also called for action, warning that Trump’s rhetoric risks global consequences. She called for Trump’s impeachment on Monday evening after Trump on Sunday wrote on Truth Social that Iran must “open the fuckin’ Strait.”

Other Democrats, including Reps. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey have expressed similar concerns about Trump’s fitness, while some lawmakers are also reviving calls for impeachment as an alternative.

“25th Amendment RIGHT NOW! Trump is too unhinged, dangerous, and deranged to have the nuclear codes!” Pocan wrote.

Markey wrote, “25th Amendment. Impeachment. I will support any avenue to remove Donald Trump from office. We cannot leave this man in charge of America’s nuclear weapons as he threatens to end an entire civilization. And Congress must not fund this reckless administration.”

The 25th Amendment, ratified in 1967, allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president unfit and temporarily transfer power. It has never been used to remove a president against their will, and the political threshold remains extraordinarily high.

Republican leadership has largely stayed silent, and the White House has dismissed the criticism as partisan, arguing Trump’s rhetoric reflects a negotiating strategy.