Meghan McCain calls on Republicans to invoke the 25th Amendment

Conservative commentator and “The View” co-host Meghan McCain asked leading Republicans to join her in demanding government officials invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Trump from office following rioting by his supporters in Washington, D.C., this week.

“This is one of the great national tragedies of my lifetime. … I have been absolutely despondent watching this,” McCain said Thursday. “The bedrock of our democracy is the peaceful transition of power. [Trump] is clearly a president who has turned into a mad king, and at this point, I’m calling on all Republicans and conservatives who still have clout — we have to invoke the 25th Amendment. We cannot withstand this. Our country cannot go on like this.” 

McCain, a vocal Trump critic who celebrated President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in November, said the ongoing threat of political violence as a result of Trump’s repeated claims that the election was “stolen” from him is too great a risk to allow him to remain in the White House. 

The daughter of the late GOP Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) grew visibly angry as she described what she felt watching pro-Trump rioters storm the Capitol complex on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers into hiding and stopping the certification of Biden’s Electoral College win.

“These bastards are using the American flag as symbols as they are attacking our own Republic,” she said. “You are not patriots. You do not represent America. You are scum of the earth who are using and abusing and bastardizing all that I love and have grown up with for your own sick agenda.” 

That mob, McCain said, was “directly sent by President Trump.” 

.@MeghanMcCain: “[Trump] is clearly a president who has turned into a mad king, and at this point, I’m calling on all Republicans and conservatives who still have clout—we have to invoke the 25th Amendment. We cannot withstand this. Our country cannot go on like this.” pic.twitter.com/2LxaUnS11l

— The View (@TheView) January 7, 2021

During a “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall on Wednesday, Trump repeated false claims that the election was “rigged” against him and urged his supporters to “fight” for him. 

“We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women,” Trump said. “We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

Hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol building hours later, forcing an evacuation. Police later said that four people died, including one woman who was shot by a Capitol Police officer. Dozens were arrested by police.

The events Wednesday have led several administration officials to discuss invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office before his term expires on Jan. 20.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) became the first Republican elected official on Thursday morning to call for invoking the 25th Amendment, saying Trump caused the violence at the Capitol and is “unfit” and “unwell.” 

In a series of social media posts on Wednesday, Trump urged the demonstrators to go home but also said there has “never been a time like this where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us.” 

“He didn’t disavow it, he didn’t send in the National Guard and then he called them special and said we love them,” McCain said, adding that Trump is “hurting our country” and “becoming a national embarrassment.” 

“We have to get him out immediately,” she said. “Because this cannot stand.”