I tried looking up the number of times that Democrats and MSM figures called for Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment against Donald Trump, but I couldn't find a reliable source. 

What I did find was something I didn't recall: the Democrat House of Representatives passed a resolution calling on Pence to depose Trump in January 2021--just days before Trump was scheduled to leave office. 

It was widely discussed in the media then, and many, many times during his presidency. 

It makes sense. After all, within 20 minutes (no, I am not exaggerating in this case), The Washington Post wrote a story about the "campaign to impeach Donald Trump." This was during his inaugural speech. 

Impeach Trump for having been sworn in. The Democrats wanted to impeach Trump simply for having won the election. He hadn't done a single thing yet. 

So imagine my (non) surprise with the Democrats' unwillingness to consider invoking the 25th Amendment due to Biden's clear incapacity to perform his duties as president. 

Even if you don't accept the argument that he is senile--he clearly is, but perhaps you are blinded to this fact by partisanship or loyalty--you have to admit that a president who, by his own admission, needs more sleep and is only functional for 6 hours a day is not suited to running the most powerful nation in world history. 

Yet Democrats and most people in the mainstream media are restricting themselves to discussing Biden's incapacity to run a political campaign, which needless to say is not as significant as running the country. 

Do Democrats really think Trump is a civic emergency? I'm starting to have some doubts. https://t.co/nnutnIKGed

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) July 8, 2024

Jonathan Chait calls out his fellow Democrats for caring more about saving their political careers than defeating Donald Trump--something they claim is tantamount to saving America. 

It seems obvious to me that the threat of a second Donald Trump presidential term, with its authoritarian inclinations unchecked, poses a civic emergency that supersedes any other normal political consideration. Because it is so obvious to me, I had long assumed the Democratic Party would consider it equally obvious.

But it is no longer clear to me that the party’s elected officials actually share that assumption. They very much wish for Trump’s defeat. But to the extent that goal conflicts with other, more mundane imperatives, more than a few Democrats seem to view beating Trump as a secondary objective.

Chait is upset that elected Democrats are worried about their petty political concerns more than saving America from the fascistic Donald Trump, who will imprison everybody to the Left of Genghis Khan or something before he pushes the nuclear button--or whatever fanciful scenario the Democrats claim will happen if Trump wins.

But Chait doesn't go the next step: if Joe Biden is incapable of running a campaign for president, he obviously is incapable of being president RIGHT NOW. 

This is blindingly obvious to the meanest intelligence. Most of the people calling for Biden to step down acknowledge that there is some sort of cognitive deficit and are even speculating about what might be causing it. Is it Parkinson's? Lewy Body Dementia? Sundowner's syndrome?

None of us can diagnose the president's particular disease, but we all know SOMETHING is very wrong. 

Vinay Prasad lays out the facts: there are two separate issues here: what is the illness Biden is suffering from? And is Biden capable of performing the duties of the presidency?

Doctors need to address the first question, and nobody can diagnose a disease from afar. There are too many possibilities, and it is stupid to guess. 

But citizens need to assess the 2nd issue because the specifics of Biden's medical situation are irrelevant to the larger question of whether we think he can do the job, and he clearly cannot. Our allies know that. Reporters know that. And anybody looking at the issue fairly knows that. 

From Peter Baker's New York Times story six days ago:

In the weeks and months before President Biden’s politically devastating performance on the debate stage in Atlanta, several current and former officials and others who encountered him behind closed doors noticed that he increasingly appeared confused or listless, or would lose the thread of conversations.

Like many people his age, Mr. Biden, 81, has long experienced instances in which he mangled a sentence, forgot a name or mixed up a few facts, even though he could be sharp and engaged most of the time. But in interviews, people in the room with him more recently said that the lapses seemed to be growing more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome.

If this is what people in the room with Biden are telling reporters it's pretty clear that Democrats shouldn't be questioning Biden's ability to defeat Donald Trump because there is a much bigger issue: Biden shouldn't even be president right now. 

Nobody seems to care, though. It's almost a joke to the White House, which now describes Biden talking to the press in the worst possible terms. Biden is a "Big Boy."

JUST IN: Both Karine Jean-Pierre and John Kirby refer to President Biden’s upcoming press conference as a “Big Boy” press conference.

Remarkable.

KJP: “This week, President Biden will… hold a press conference, a Big Boy press conference.”

Kirby: “After that the president will… pic.twitter.com/gJf3k2cIgz

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 8, 2024

This isn't a matter of liking Biden or not, approving of his ideology or not, or worrying about who can beat Trump. The question is existential for the country: should Biden be in control of the United States' military and all its nuclear weapons?

No Democrats seem to care about that. They are too worried about their own poll numbers.