It had been plain to reasonable-minded citizens for nearly three years that Mr. Trump was unfit for office, was trashing the rule of law, was implementing racist and nationalist policies, and was personally profiting off his office. It became more plain last fall when the Ukraine matter became public. In March we saw how incompetent he and his administration were and continue to be with our health, as the corona virus raged and killed more than a hundred thousand of us, with the death toll climbing higher each day. Finally, in the last few days it has become clear that for more than three months Mr. Trump has moved beyond his dalliances with Mr. Putin to actually consorting with a foreign power to tacitly approve the killing of American service members. Even Republican office-holders, who have claimed to “support our troops” no matter what else they believe, should now see plainly that Mr. Trump is a threat to the nation. It and we cannot afford to wait until noon on January 20th for his term to end.

The Vice President and the cabinet must act by noon Tuesday to invoke Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and declare the president unable to perform his duties. If they fail to do so, then the House of Representatives immediately should begin impeachment proceedings against the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of Defense.

Anything less is condoning a traitor.