In regard to “Trump threatens government shutdown over border wall” (Aug. 24), Trump said: “If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.” The governance in the United States is the most important mandate of the U.S. Constitution, which directs the greatest responsibility to the federal government but makes no provision for a shutdown.
The Constitution does require that the U.S. president-elect take the oath of office: “I do solemnly swear . . . that I will . . . preserve, protect . . . the Constitution. . . .” When Trump advocates a shutdown, he is clearly not preserving and protecting the Constitution, and, thus, he is in violation of his oath of office.
If violating the oath is a type of “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” specified in Article II of the Constitution, then by Article I the House of Representatives should exercise its “sole Power of Impeachment” and begin the shutdown and removal of Donald Trump.
If Trump and the Republicans were to achieve a shutdown, then Trump would be “. . . unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. . . ,” that office being the “executive Power” proclaimed in Article II—such executive power having been shut down.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment clearly provides, when the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties. . . ,” that then the vice president takes over as president.
Trump’s removal from office will be well deserved.
LEO QUIRK
Corvallis
