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Opinion - Trump is losing it and must be removed.Opinion - Trump is losing it and must be removed On April 30, 2026, Sens.Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) entered a statement into the Congressional Record by 36 physicians — including neurologists, psychiatrists, and specialists in cognitive disorders from Harvard, Tufts, Columbia, and George Washington University.These doctors warned of President Trump’s “rapidly worsening, reality-untethered, increasingly dangerous decline.” They called him “mentally unfit” and said he must be removed “with the greatest urgency,” citing his “grandiose and delusional beliefs,” “reckless threats of violence,” “seemingly compulsive, manic-like late-night communications,” and “fixation on perceived enemies.” Citing his access to nuclear codes, they called for use of the 25th Amendment.But the chances now seem more remote than ever.Unlike during Trump’s first term, when the possibility of invoking the Constitution’s 25th Amendment was at least openly debated, no one in Trump’s close orbit will now speak truth to power.In this context, we must talk honestly about the compounding signs that the oldest-ever elected president is physically and mentally unfit for office.Ratified in 1967 in the wake of President Kennedy’s assassination, the 25th Amendment established procedures for presidential succession in the event of incapacity.Its Section 4 permits the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet — or another body designated by Congress — to declare that a president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.It requires a president’s own hand-picked people to make such a determination.In such case, Vice President JD Vance would take over as “Acting President.” During Joe Biden’s presidency, debate over his fitness for office was deafening and came from both sides of the political spectrum.Voters should demand the same level of scrutiny for this president.The warning signs for Trump predate the 2024 election.According to speech and language pathologist Michael de Riesthal, during Trump’s 2017 speech in Jerusalem, there was “definitely some imprecise progressive change in articulatory precision and slowing of his speech that is not typical in normal speech,” which the White House dismissed as a dry throat.After Trump’s June 2020 commencement address at West Point, questions arose about apparent unsteadiness, balance problems, and trouble enunciating words.In the final days of the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly jumped from teleprompter remarks to nonsensical tangents and back to his prepared speech.Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley questioned whether Trump was mentally capable of serving after he repeatedly seemed to confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and mistakenly claimed Haley had been in charge of Capitol security on January 6, 2021.This round, as Trump approaches his 80th birthday, the situation has gotten significantly worse.After his first physical in April 2025, the White House physician issued results within 48 hours.For his May 2026 visit, the White House initially said nothing, later sharing a memo from Dr.Sean Barbabella calling Trump in “excellent health” while recommending that he lose weight and exercise after gaining 14 pounds in the past year.Barbabella is lightly dismissing physical and cognitive signs that are impossible to ignore.Trump’s latest visit to Walter Reed was his third in 13 months.He has dark, unexplained bruising spanning the back of both hands, and he has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when veins struggle to return blood to the heart.Furthermore, his use of two hands to drink from a water glass has become a documented pattern.Trump’s cognitive decline is equally alarming.Before his August 2025 Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin, Trump told reporters at a press briefing, “I’m going to see Putin.I’m going to Russia on Friday,” though he later confirmed on Truth Social that the meeting was in Alaska.Trump also repeatedly confused Greenland and Iceland in his speech at the January 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos.In May, for reportedly the eighth time, Trump wrongly attributed the deaths of 13 U.S.servicemembers during the Afghanistan evacuation to Obama, when those deaths had occurred under Biden.In fact, Trump confused Biden and Obama eight times during that campaign.He also called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “the leader of Turkey.” Carolyn Aldwin of Oregon State University, a researcher of aging, told Slate that Trump was a much better speaker in the 1990s.Today, she said, he “has really severe language problems.He can’t complete sentences.He wanders off topic.He gets very confused.… He clearly has difficulties.How severe those are can really only be established by testing.” Trump’s apparent naps amid high-level meetings have become legendary — reportedly numbering some 13 instances, including at a December 2025 Cabinet meeting while Secretary of State Marco Rubio was speaking; during remarks at February’s inaugural “Board of Peace” meeting on Gaza negotiations; at an April Oval Office meeting; and during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke.Critics have begun calling him “Sleepy Don” — a pointed echo of his old “Sleepy Joe” label for Biden.A February 2026 Reuters-Ipsos poll found that a majority of Americans, including 30 percent of Republicans, say Trump has become erratic with age.On April 14, House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) introduced legislation establishing a bipartisan, independent commission to activate the 25th Amendment process.Said Raskin: “Public trust in Donald Trump’s ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations, unleashes chaos in the Middle East while violating Congressional war powers, aggressively insults [Pope Leo XIV] and sends out artistic renderings online likening himself to Jesus Christ.We are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment.” He is not wrong.Kimberly Wehle is a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and author of “How to Read the Constitution — and Why,” as well as “What You Need to Know About Voting — and Why” and “How to Think Like a Lawyer — and Why.“ Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc.All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.