Could the US constitution's 25th Amendment take Trump down?

A story was published by Vanity Fair on Wednesday further ignited talk that the 25th Amendment might be enacted by the United States Vice President and Cabinet against Trump. 

Reporting on numerous interviews conducted with Republican officials and White House workers, Vanity Fair reported that the president was "unravelling."

The 25th Amendment was adopted in 1967 as a clarification to the US Constitution in the case of an unfit or unable President.

Its four sections prescribe the procedures for the replacement of both the president and vice president’s office in case of death, removal, resignation or incapacitation, respectively.

All sections have been invoked previously except for Section Four, and now some believe that it too will be used in the near future against Trump.

Rifts between the President and Republican members of Congress were already known, given the inability of the administration to pass a health bill to repeal previous president Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, despite having a majority in both levels of Congress. 

In addition, previous members of Trump administration have gone to part ways and harshly criticise the president, the most recent of which is his former chief strategist Steve Bannon.

In fact, Vanity Fair reports that when Bannon tried to warn the President of the 25th amendment, saying that it posed a greater threat to his presidency than impeachment, Trump reportedly said, “What’s that?”

On October 4, Republican Senator Bob Corker also spoke out against Trump, saying to a couple of reporters that it was only thanks to certain officials in the White House that prevented Trump leading the country into chaos.

A couple of days later, Trump tweeted about the senator not having the courage to run for another term in office and that Corker had “begged” Trump for his endorsement. The president also criticised Corker for his role in the Iran nuclear agreement, a deal that the president has been a very vocal critique of.

Corker replied a couple of hours later with the following tweet.

Later, in a phone interview with a New York Times reporter, Corker expressed his worries about the volatility that the president presents in the White House, saying that he thinks Trump sees it as a reality show and “does not realise that we could be heading towards World War 3.” 

Trump responded with the following tweet:

Interestingly enough, rumours about friction between the president and two of the three named officers have circulated this past week.

First, it was reported US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson referred to the president as a “moron” after a meeting back in July. Reports also involved Vice President Mike Pence as a mediator between the two.

Trump responded by challenging the Secretary of State to “compare IQ tests.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was quick to disband such allegations by saying that the president had “full confidence in the Secretary of State” and that his remarks were a joke. 

Trump was also quick to deny the friction on Twitter.

However, this couldn’t erase the fact that the two had previously butted heads on important issues such as North Korea and US’s Middle East policy.

With rumours and later the confirmed nomination of Kirstjen Nielsen by Trump as the Secretary of Homeland Security, a theory circulated that she might be the future replacement to current Chief of Staff General John Kelly.

Once again Trump refuted the allegation via Twitter saying that its was "fake news."

The following Google Trend chart spanning the past five years, taken on October 12, further validates the argument of an increased interest in the amendment following the President's inauguration in January. 

Talk about potentially using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office has been around since following his election, but recently with growing conflict and verbal spats between the President and Republican congress members, the option seems more possible.