Democrats talk about impeachment and the 25th Amendment pretty much all the time when it comes to President Donald Trump. There were plans to impeach him before he even took office in 2017. They spent years calling him crazy, inviting quack doctors on left-wing media outlets, and claiming he was unstable. So, the recent push to simultaneously push for impeachment and invoke the 25th Amendment is hardly new territory for them, but it’s getting kind of old, even for CNN.
On Saturday, CNN’s Michael Smerconish delivered a scathing rebuke of Democrats’ rhetoric and methodically dismantled their favorite talking point that Donald Trump is mentally unfit to serve as president.
Smerconish began by recalling Bill Maher’s now-infamous dinner with Trump at the White House last spring, which triggered the predictable meltdown from the left — including Larry David mocking Maher in the New York Times under the headline “My Dinner with Adolf.”
“In a choice between two of my favorite comedians, I stood with Maher on [the] theory that it’s better to have dialogue and to break bread than to demonize,” Smerconish said. Maher had dinner, went right back on television, and kept up his criticism.
As you know, it was Trump’s Truth Social posts during the Iran war that really set things off for the Democrats this past week, sparking the talks of impeachment and the 25th Amendment. The problem was, it worked, and 90 minutes before Trump’s deadline, Pakistan brokered a two-week ceasefire.
Funny how that works.
Smerconish went on to summarize a New York Times deep dive into what happened behind the scenes in the lead-up to Trump’s decision to bomb Iran.
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While Benjamin Netanyahu pushed for action and initially aligned with Donald Trump, key U.S. officials pushed back hard. John Ratcliffe dismissed Israeli regime-change plans as unrealistic, Marco Rubio bluntly rejected them, and J.D. Vance emerged as the most vocal opponent of war.
But new intelligence created urgency, showing a rare opportunity to target Iran’s leadership. After failed diplomatic efforts led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump convened a final meeting, heard all sides, and weighed legal and military input.
With a deadline looming, Trump made the call just minutes before time expired, approving the strike and greenlighting “Operation Epic Fury.”
New intelligence revealed Iran’s leadership, including the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be exposed in a rare, vulnerable setting, prompting urgency inside the White House. Donald Trump still gave diplomacy one last shot, but after Witkoff and Kushner reported that Iran wasn’t negotiating in good faith, the focus shifted to action.
At a February 26 Situation Room meeting, Trump heard arguments from his team. Vance warned against a strike but deferred to the president, while Ratcliffe presented the intelligence, and legal and military officials confirmed the plan was viable.
With a deadline looming, Trump made the final call aboard Air Force One, approving “Operation Epic Fury” just 22 minutes before the cutoff.
Why did Smerconish bring this up?
“It shows airing of competing views, some open to dissent, reliance on legal counsel, and a deliberative process, not the impulsivity with which Trump is so often associated,” he said. “There’s nothing in the Times behind closed doors account of an unstable Trump at the same time that he was playing the madman card in public.”
The guy posting about civilizations dying was, simultaneously, going around the table, listening to dissent, consulting lawyers, and making a hard call under enormous pressure. Smerconish put it cleanly: “It’s not that there’s a method to his madness, it’s that the madness is his method.”
Now, Smerconish argued that the act is wearing thin, and that’s a debate worth having. But, the New York Times report, Smerconish concluded, revealed the same thing Bill Maher saw over dinner: Trump is capable of exactly what his critics insist he isn’t. “Patience, process, and genuine deliberation. He went around the table. He heard the dissent. He consulted the lawyers; he made a hard call under enormous pressure. And 90 minutes before his own deadline, a ceasefire materialized.” He was direct: “That’s not nothing, and it’s certainly not the behavior of someone who needs the 25th amendment invoked or warrants impeaching.”
🚨NEW: CNN’s Michael Smerconish *OBLITERATES* calls to remove Trump from office🚨
“You’d expect the guy that posts about a whole civilization dying would be simultaneously busting up the White House furniture — but there’s NEVER been ANY reporting of Trump like that behind… pic.twitter.com/gA2bnbRcnj
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) April 11, 2026
Democrats spent months building a narrative around Trump’s unfitness. A CNN anchor just torched it.
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