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promotion of an AI-generated video about magical healing beds and his decision to deploy troops to Portland based on outdated footage from Fox News.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.
Americans across the political spectrum have continued to ask about the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s connections among the political elite. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
A view of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2026. President Donald Trump jolted Republicans during a fiery appearance at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, scrapping a housing bill signing ceremony and clashing behind closed doors with a party rebel who challenged him over the Iran war. Trump had been expected to sign the bipartisan housing.
Only Trump doesn’t care about housing
It was August 15, 2024. Then candidate Donald Trump stepped out of his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club’s columned clubhouse to a gaggle of reporters. He was flanked by tables of groceries and signs showing the rising cost of food. Also on one of the tables was a dollhouse, meant to represent the equally alarming rise in housing prices.
It was a speech about the economy, the single most important issue of the 2024 election cycle, full of promises that went right to the heart of Americans’ anxieties. While former President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris were contorting themselves to posture a good economy that just needed more time to recover from the pandemic, Trump was preying on voters’ very real fears of unaffordable gas, groceries, and homes. It was obviously a winning message.
In that speech, Trump promised, “We’re going to open up tracts of federal land for housing construction. We desperately need housing for people who can’t afford what’s going on now.”
As of mid-2023, there had been a housing shortage of nearly four million homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. Americans all over the country were either priced out of buying new homes due to low inventory, trapped in their existing homes by sky-high mortgage rates, or facing exorbitant rent hikes thanks to corporate investors buying up rental properties. Americans needed help, and Trump promised it.
Cut to March of 2026, when Trump reportedly told House Speaker Mike Johnson, “No one gives a sh*t about housing.”
That kind of thinking may explain why Trump this week suddenly announced he was canceling a signing ceremony for the bipartisan “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” a housing bill co-sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott that passed the House 358-32 and was approved in the Senate on Monday.
Trump instead demanded Congress pass the SAVE America Act, his controversial election grievance bill that doesn’t have enough Republican support to get passed in the Senate.
It’s just the latest in a line of policy self-owns where Trump has seemingly intentionally made life more difficult for Republicans hoping to keep their majority. Despite midterm elections occurring in the midst of a blistering economy and an unpopular war, they were surely hoping the housing bill would give them something — anything — to brag about when they returned home to their districts.
And very much to the contrary, Americans do give a sh*t about housing. According to a recent survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a whopping 79% say the cost of housing is extremely or very important to them. Eighty-three percent say Congress should take action on the issue — like it just did. Eighty-nine percent say the House and Senate need to work together to pass affordable housing legislation — like they just did. And 63% say they would be more likely to vote for a lawmaker if they helped pass legislation to build more affordable homes and lower housing costs — like they just did.
There aren’t many issues that unite Americans like housing does, and very few bipartisan policy wins Congress can point to, and yet, Trump is holding that bill hostage in order to get his pet project — which doesn’t even have the support of his own party — pushed through.
If you’re trying to make sense of something so nonsensical, as I’m sure many Republican lawmakers are, it’s certainly sad but not actually all that complicated. Trump said what he needed to get reelected and then promptly abandoned his promises in order to pursue his own self-interests, even if those interests are bad for Republicans and bad for voters.
That’s just the kind of guy he is.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.