FILE: Surrounded by her family Rep. Mia Love talks about election results in the 4th Congressional District at the Utah Republican Party offices in Salt Lake City on Nov. 26, 2018. (Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — For elected leaders in Washington, D.C., a former congresswoman from Utah has some timely advice: “Grow up and start leading.” In an interview with KSL NewsRadio’s Dave & Dujanovic, Mia Love cautioned those seeking to impeach or invoke the 25th amendment to remove President Donald Trump that doing so comes with a cost.
Inciting an insurrection. That’s the charge facing President Donald Trump as the House pressed on with impeaching the president for a second time — an historical first.
“He has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during an interview with “60 Minutes.”
“The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” said third-ranking House GOP leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming in a statement. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” she said as quoted by The Associated Press.
“The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors,” Mr. Trump falsely claimed Jan. 5 on Twitter, the day before Congress was interrupted from its duty to count the Electoral College votes by violence.
The president assumed no responsibility for the violence Wednesday that left five people dead, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, despite telling his supporters in a speech beforehand to “fight like hell.”
“People thought that what I said was totally appropriate,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday in Texas, his first public remarks since the siege on the Capitol. “They’ve analyzed my speech, my words,” he said. “Everybody to a T thought it was appropriate,” according to CNN.
Invoking the 25th amendment is a means Vice President Mike Pence could employ to drive Mr. Trump from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Pence made clear Tuesday night he would not do so, ending speculation about the ploy from House Democrats.
Should he? That’s another question. Is invoking the 25th amendment the right thing for the country to go through right now? It’s possible, perhaps even likely, that doing so would incite more violent protests, at least in the view of former Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah.
This the part of the 25th amendment that applies here:
Section 4
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Before Pence opted not to pursue the 25th amendment, Love said she doubted he would. Her reasoning: it would cost much more than the nation might gain in the nine days between now and the start of the new Biden administration.
“Do you think there’s a reason, one reason, why Mike Pence would invoke the 25th?” Dave asked.
“I can’t see it. You have to think about the tremendous amount of pressure Vice President Mike Pence was [under] when he was asked to do something that he knew he couldn’t do,” Love said. “He has done everything he possibly could to stand behind this president more so than even some his own family members.”
“I think it’s going to be very difficult for him to find a reason for him to push this 25th amendment because it clearly states that it can only be used if the president is unable to discharge the powers of his duty, the duties of his office,” said Love. “Even though he hasn’t done a good job . . . It’s something that he’s allowed to do. He has to be unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office in order for the 25th amendment to be invoked.”
Love said invoking the 25th amendment would further divide the nation, adding that doing so gives the president more attention and more fuel to rally his base once again.
“I think it’s time for us to just let the nine days [left in office] go and move on. We need better leadership,” Love said. “We need a two-party system. Let me remind everybody: I do not believe what the Democrats are doing is right, either. . . . We don’t wanna end up like the Republic of China or Cuba or some of these other countries that have a one-party system or a dominant-party system.
“America needs a two-party system to debate ideas. And we need grownups at the table,” Love said. “This is a really good chance for us to just reset and remember what we stand for and why so many other countries want to be like America. Because right now our light is not shining so bright.”
How about a second impeachment round? Is that what the US needs right now?
According to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Monday:
Roughly 48 percent of respondents agreed that Congress should begin impeachment proceedings to remove Trump from office, compared to 44 percent who disagreed. Another 8 percent of those surveyed did not express an opinion on the issue, and the poll had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
Love asked rhetorically if there was an appetite for impeachment amid mass layoffs and a nationwide coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Her advice for D.C. leadership stuck in a political infighting quagmire is this:
“Grow up and start leading. This is not about you. This is about the people you represent who put you there.”
“I totally agree with Mia Love right there,” said Dave. “We’ve got so many things on our plate right now. We don’t need anymore.”
Dave & Dujanovic can be heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app, a.s well as Apple Podcasts and Google Play.