Hundreds of Political Scientists Call for the Removal of President Trump

On January 6, 2020, hundreds of political scientists signed an open letter demanding that President Trump be removed from office via impeachment or through the invocation of the 25th Amendment. 

Dartmouth political science professor Brendan Nyhan tweeted “Donald Trump should be removed from office immediately – he is unwilling or unable to fulfill his oath to protect and defend the Constitution. An open letter from 200+ political scientists (and counting): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iL.”

The letter was written after a pro-Trump crowd stormed the U.S. Capitol, which argued that Trump’s behavior allegedly threatens American democracy.

“He has rejected the peaceful transfer of power, encouraged state legislators to overturn election results in their states, pressured a state official to change election results, and now incited a violent mob that shut down the counting of electoral votes and stormed the U.S. Capitol,” the letter stated, which was co-authored by Nyhan and fellow Dartmouth professor John Carey.

“Our profession seeks to understand politics, not engage in it, but we share a commitment to democratic values,” the letter outlined. “The President’s actions show he is unwilling or unable to fulfill his oath to protect and defend the Constitution. He should be removed from office immediately before further violence takes place or further damage is done to our democracy.”

Among those who signed on to the letter was the renowned, realist international relations scholar Stephen Walt. He tweeted, “Count me in.”

Ironically, Walt is one of the more prominent advocates of foreign policy restraint and a skeptic of a foreign policy that benefits politically-connected defense interests. The Trump administration arguably had the most restrained foreign policy of the last five decades.

The entire ruling class is showing its true colors as gatekeepers who want to bring back politics to the days of the neocon/neoliberal consensus. These folks will be in for a rude awakening given that such politics will never come back to America.