Lawmaker cites Trump’s anti-voting crusade in push for removal under 25th Amendment

A Democratic congressman is urging the Cabinet to remove President Donald Trump from office — arguing not only that his recent threats toward Iran are dangerous, but that his sustained attacks on voting rights and fair elections pose a direct threat to American democracy.

In a letter sent Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) called on Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet officials to invoke the 25th Amendment — a constitutional provision that allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president unfit to serve and transfer power.

Thanedar’s letter comes amid a broader wave of calls from across the political spectrum, including from some on the far right, to use the 25th Amendment. They follow Trump’s recent threats toward Iran, which critics say raised the risk of catastrophic military escalation. 

Thanedar’s letter cites Trump’s threat to Iran, in which he pledged to wipe out an entire “civilization.” But the lawmaker’s argument also brings in what he describes as Trump’s escalating efforts to undermine elections and restrict voting access — a throughline that has intensified ahead of the 2026 midterms.

“President Trump has also threatened one of the key rights of Americans: their right to vote,” Thanedar wrote. “As he has previously done in elections since 2016, President Trump is already sounding the alarm that the 2026 election would be rigged and stolen, arguing that Congress must immediately pass legislation that would increase voter ID requirements and harm the ability of Americans to vote by mail, even though he voted by mail in a March 2026 special election.”

The letter points to recent actions and rhetoric that have raised alarm among voting rights advocates, including Trump’s push for the anti-voting SAVE America Act and renewed attacks on mail-in voting — a method widely used by millions of Americans.

Thanedar also highlighted actions that he says go beyond rhetoric and into direct interference with election systems.

“His orders to raid election offices in Fulton County, Georgia, and seize voting records have caused great concern among Americans, and questions about the integrity of our elections have grown in the aftermath,” Thanedar wrote.

The congressman further warned that Trump’s efforts to reshape electoral maps for partisan gain — including a push for a mid-decade GOP gerrymander in Texas — could trigger a nationwide erosion of fair representation.

“His push to launch an unprecedented mid-decade gerrymander in the State of Texas for the sole purpose of securing more seats for the already slim Republican majority in Congress prompted a race amongst other states to do the same,” Thanedar wrote.

Taken together, Thanedar argued, these actions represent a sustained assault on democratic norms — one that, in his view, rises to the level of disqualifying Trump from office.

“At no time in history have a president’s actions caused this much alarm amongst states and shaken the confidence of the American people in our government since before the American Civil War,” Thanedar wrote.

The letter ultimately calls on the Cabinet to act immediately — invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from power. That process has never been successfully used to forcibly remove a president and would require agreement from both the vice president and a majority of Cabinet members.

While foreign policy concerns have dominated headlines, the letter underscores that for many democracy advocates, Trump’s long-running campaign against voting rights remains central to the crisis.