Trump is so dangerous, I cannot flatly reject the value of removing him via the 25th Amendment, but it really is a much inferior tool to impeachment/trial and conviction. And using it to rid us of a seditious President will decrease its usefulness for its intended purposes. 1/

The 25th Amendment was designed to address the problem of incapacity, not the issue of sedition or criminal conduct by the President. Already Presidents have been loath to invoke it, even for straightforward temporary medical absences. 2/

If Pence and Congress remove Trump with the 25th A rather than by impeachment and conviction, I cannot see another president using it responsibly - eg for her own temporary medical incapacity - again. It would associate her with the sort of vile wrongdoing Trump has committed. 3/

Similarly, future vice-presidents will be highly averse to invoking the 25th to deal with a President who is unable to recognize his own incapacity, out of concern for being accused of lumping that President with Trump. 4/

Now, it is possible that people are trying to use the threat of the 25th A to force a resignation from Trump. That’s a political maneuver, which is fine by me, but I doubt it will work. 5/

Impeachment and trial would force the Republicans in Congress to officially acknowledge Trump’s sedition or to go on record excusing it. The 25th A allows this to be fudged. It lays no basis for the criminal prosecution Trump so richly deserves. 6/

Congress should have convicted Trump at his previous impeachment trial; he should have been impeached and tried earlier over violating Emoluments clauses and more again more recently for willfully causing massively excess preventable disease and death to Americans. 7/