CHICAGO — Illinois Governor JB Pritzker ignited a wave of political reaction this week after publicly calling for the invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office, citing concerns over his mental fitness and inflammatory rhetoric targeting American cities.
Pitzker condemned Trump’s recent speech at Quantico, Virginia, where the president suggested using cities like Chicago as “training grounds for our military” and threatened action against “the enemy within.”
“It appears that Donald Trump not only has dementia set in, but he’s copying tactics of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” Pritzker said. “Sending troops into cities, thinking that that’s some sort of proving ground for war, or that indeed there’s some sort of internal war going on in the United States, is just, frankly, inane, and I’m concerned for his health. There is something genuinely wrong with this man, and the 25th Amendment ought to be invoked”.
By any measure of democratic stability, the recent rhetoric and behavior of President Donald Trump should alarm every American. When a sitting president refers to U.S. cities as “training grounds for our military,” we are no longer debating policy—we are confronting a crisis of fitness. Governor Pritzker’s bold call to invoke the 25th Amendment is not only justified, it’s overdue.
Other prominent voices echoed the governor’s remarks. Representative Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) posted a blunt message on social media: “25TH AMENDMENT!” following Trump’s Quantico address.
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich also weighed in, writing in a Tuesday editorial that Trump is “showing growing signs of dementia” and is “increasingly unhinged.” Reich cited Trump’s promotion of an AI-generated video about magical healing beds and his decision to deploy troops to Portland based on outdated footage from Fox News. “He’s 79 years old with a family history of dementia. He could well be going nuts,” Reich warned.
This is not political theater. It is a constitutional safeguard. The 25th Amendment exists precisely for moments like this—when the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office. It is not a partisan tool, but a mechanism to protect the republic from instability, erratic behavior, and cognitive decline that threatens national security.
Critics will argue that invoking the 25th Amendment is an extreme measure. But what is more extreme—removing a president who threatens cities with military force, or allowing such threats to go unchecked? What is more dangerous—questioning a leader’s fitness, or ignoring clear signs of cognitive decline and erratic behavior?
Pritzker’s leadership in this moment is both courageous and necessary. He is not merely defending Illinois; he is defending the integrity of American democracy. His invocation of the 25th Amendment is a call to action for Cabinet members, lawmakers, and civic leaders to prioritize the country’s well-being over political loyalty.
This is not about ideology. It is about stability, accountability, and the rule of law. The president’s words and actions have consequences. They embolden extremists, undermine public trust, and destabilize communities already grappling with economic and social challenges. When Trump speaks of “the enemy within,” he is not uniting the country—he is sowing division and fear.
Governor Pritzker’s stance reminds us that leadership is not about silence or calculation. It is about moral clarity. It is about recognizing when the line between political disagreement and constitutional crisis has been crossed. That line is behind us.
The 25th Amendment is not a relic of the past. It is a living provision, designed to protect the nation from precisely this kind of danger. It is time for those in power to heed Pritzker’s call. The stakes are too high for hesitation. America deserves a president who governs with reason, not rage; with clarity, not confusion.
Hugo Balta is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and the publisher of the Latino News Network.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.