Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, urges invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump, citing delusional conduct like claiming to be Christ or a doctor alongside airport shutdowns. He highlights pressure from Black Congressional Caucus members and references a letter by House Judiciary Democrats warning of dementia-like symptoms, contrasting this with their inaction regarding President Biden. Johnson argues that normalizing such behavior is dangerous, calling on Republicans and Democrats to prioritize the Constitution over personal interests to ensure national safety. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Caring About This Country00:06:59
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We welcome back to the program.
Derek Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP.
Mr. Johnson, thanks for giving us your time.
Thank you for the opportunity.
A couple of days ago, a press release from your organization saying that your organization for the first time is asking the 25th Amendment to be used to remove President Trump.
What led to this moment?
Well, we have a president that's incoherent, irradical, irrational, and we are deeply concerned for someone to occupy the office to not have all of his mental faculties.
And based on most recent activities, what has been happening for a while, I think it's time that the cabinet seriously consider removing him from office.
The press release says that part of the concerns was over, quote, deteriorating health and increasingly delusional behavior.
Can you cite examples of those?
Well, no, two nights ago, you know, he posted a picture late night of him as Christ.
Then he comes back yesterday saying, no, he wanted to post, he meant to say he was a doctor because he can heal people.
That's irrational.
That's deterioration.
You know, on top of that, he attacks the Pope.
What president in their right mind attacked the Pope for the Pope actually saying that a war is not justified?
That's the role of the church.
That's the role of moral leaders.
And there are so many examples of his irrational behavior.
I think all Americans should be alarmed, regardless of one's political affiliation.
When you were coming to this decision, did you talk to not only members of your organization, did you talk to members of Capitol Hill?
Talk about the process of coming to this choice.
Well, I think many people within our membership ranks, members of Congress, particularly CBC members, they've all been saying the same thing.
This is not normal.
We should not normalize this type of behavior.
And it just didn't start.
I mean, yesterday, he had someone deliver McDonald's to the White House and, you know, create a social media moment for that.
There are very serious issues this nation is confronted with, both domestically and globally, and we're doing these types of things.
We have a commander-in-chief that many people are desperately concerned.
Members of our organization who served in the Reserve Armed Forces are concerned to be deployed abroad.
Now, that's in the backdrop of them being deployed domestically, something that should not happen.
In the backdrop of an unnecessary shutdown of many airports because TSA workers are not there.
I mean, it's been so many examples of just irrational, erratic behavior that many Americans should be concerned.
Mr. Johnson, you said yourself that you were calling on the cabinet leaders in power to make this decision.
What makes you think that they would listen to that?
Well, I don't know if they'll listen or not, but the power of the cabinet, I mean, to invoke the 25th Amendment, it rests with the cabinet.
So they will have to take on that responsibility.
They have to own these bad decisions and erratic behaviors of the president, or they'll take the responsibility and serve out their duty based on the Constitution and say that we have someone who lacks the mental capacity to continue to lead this nation.
Do you think that there are actually members of the cabinet who might sway that way?
Do you think the Republicans writ large may be thinking along your lines?
You know, I quit predicting what people would do in 2016 when we elect him to office the first time.
I just think at some point, Americans who care about our Constitution, who care about our nation, who care about the safety of our future, would need to step up beyond their own personal interests or political alignment.
This is Derek Johnson giving us his time and joining us.
And if you want to ask him questions about this, and we'll talk to him about other issues as well, you can use the phone lines 202-748-8001 for Republicans, 202-748-8000 for Democrats, and Independents 202-748-8002.
If you want to text us, your thoughts for Derek Johnson, it's 202-748-8003.
Mr. Johnson, what's been the response to this call?
I think many people are waking up to the reality that we must do something.
When former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked, that speaks volumes.
So it's just not people on the left or the right.
There are people who care about this country.
And regardless of how we see the role of government, we need a leader who care about the citizens who understands the Constitutions and willing to operate within the rule of law.
It was not too long ago, it was earlier this year, that the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the White House physician saying that this is from Jamie Raskin, quote, experts have repeatedly warned that the president has been exhibiting signs consistent with dementia and cognitive decline.
And in recent days, the country has watched President Trump's public statements and outbursts turn increasingly incoherent, volatile, profane, deranged, and threatening.
I suppose not unusual for Democrats to send this kind of letter, though, considering your position and the position your organization has taken.
Well, let's be very clear.
We should not view this from a partisan lens.
We have a problem with this current president and his mental state as being displayed late night posting on social media platforms.
That's not something that's normal.
We should not normalize it in NAACP.
We're a nonpartisan organization.
We care about this nation.
We care about the Constitution.
And how this current president has demonstrated the lack of ability to be completely present is concerning.
Mr. Johnson, when there were questions about the mental acuity of the previous president, President Biden, did your organization ever think to use the same kind of means to remove him from power?
Well, the questions we had with those questions, was it legitimate like we had with this one?