What A Day - Is Trump… Okay?

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

The media and Democrats have been sounding the alarm on Trump's mental health for a decade. But now, even some of his biggest supporters are wondering: is Trump… okay? Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin agrees that Trump's recent behavior is alarming, which is why he's introduced a bill that could start the process of removing Trump from office involuntarily using the 25th Amendment. We discussed the amendment and why the Representative believes it's worth pursuing now.And in headlines, our fearless leader sows more seeds of confusion regarding the Iran War, Virginians head to the polls to weigh in on state redistricting, and Trump is set to attend the White House Correspondents' dinner — for the first time.Show Notes: Call Congress – 202-224-3121 Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Tuesday, April 21st. I'm Jane Koston, and this is what a day. The show bidding a less than fond farewell to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez de Riemer, who will finally be leaving her post. I'll always remember her for being involved in multiple alleged scandals involving affairs, steering grants to political favorites, taking her staff to strip clubs, and a husband who was banned from entering her department's building. What I won't remember is her doing her actual job. On today's show, our fearless leader

sows more seeds of confusion regarding the Iran war. And Virginians head to the polls to weigh in on state redistricting. I remember when this only happened once a decade. But let's start with the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. President Donald Trump has never been what I'd call a paragon of mental acuity. I, for one, remember the time he ranted about his, quote, nuclear button back in 2018. But I think we can all agree that whatever he was like during his first term, his second has been worse.

Back in January, he confused Greenland with Iceland. Now, in April, he's posting about how he wants to destroy civilizations and that the Pope is, quote, weak on crime. He even admitted that he fell asleep during a meeting to plan the Iran war. The media and Democrats have been sounding the alarm on Trump's mental health for a decade. But now, even some of his biggest supporters are wondering, Is Trump okay? Here's conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, one of Trump's longest-running allies

speaking during a live stream in April. With early dementia, it's like a light bulb that's about to go out. Remember old incandescent ones where they would get brighter and they kind of circle it in and out for a day or so and then be gone. Sometimes they pop at the end.

So Trump will blaze bright and say something really true and smart and then he'll get dim and then he'll kind of buzz and flash and crackle. And that's why you'll have five, six times a day. Oh, we won, it's over. No, it's going to go on forever. Total destruction. I'll never let have the straight. Yes, we're giving up the straight. I am not going to hand it to Alex Jones, and neither should you. But that's just how bad Trump's conduct has gotten.

Maryland Democratic Representative Jimmy Raskin agrees that Trump's recent behavior is alarming, which is why he's put forward a bill that could start the process of removing Trump from office involuntarily using the 25th Amendment. We spoke about the amendment and why the representative thinks it's worth pursuing now. Representative Raskin, welcome back to what today. Thanks for having me. You've introduced a bill to invoke the 25th Amendment. There's been a lot of chatter from Democrats on the Hill about the 25th. There's been a lot of chatter from even some of Trump's previous supporters about the 25th. It has never actually been used to remove a president because it has such a high bar.

Why do you think this is the best approach for Democrats right now? Well, the bill doesn't exactly invoke the 25th Amendment. It establishes a body that's called for by the 25th Amendment. It really should have been done back in 1967 when it was first added to the Constitution. But the whole amendment is all about the continuity of government and the stability of operations. It's based on the idea that we've got 535 members of Congress and just one president. And so it deals with the possibility of an interruption in the office in different ways. So the section one says if the presidency is unfilled, it's filled by the vice president.

And that person becomes not an acting president, but an actual president. Section two says if there's a vacancy in the vice presidency, the president nominate somebody, and then by majority vote in both houses, a new vice president is named. Section three is about temporary transfer of power. I think of it as the colonoscopy provision because a lot of presidents have used it during and colonoscopy or other surgery to say, I'm going to sign over the powers of the president to the vice president on an acting basis. But what we're talking about is section four, which has never been used, which is about a situation where you have an inability of the president to discharge

the powers and duties of office, but is also unable for either physical reasons or mental reasons or other to even express that idea and to articulate that idea and make that decision. And so then it's left to the vice president in a majority of the cabinet or the vice president in a majority of another body set up. And so this bill is about creating that body. So let me just back up a little bit. The intent is to set up this other body as referenced in section four that is made up of doctors and other retired professionals to basically determine if the president is compas mentis. Let's put it this way. How would that work?

Well, and since it's never happened before, we don't know. I've proposed this commission. You described it correctly. 17 members, half appointed by Democrats, half appointed by Republicans, the 17th, the chair, chosen by all the other members. Half of the people are former members of the executive branch of government. They could be former presidents, vice presidents, attorneys general, surgeon generals, secretary of treasury secretary of defense and so on and half would be physicians and of those half of those

or a quarter of the whole body would be people with psychological psychiatric and cognitive training so they're a minority but they're definitely on there because we need people who are doctors and people who are you know psychologists or neurologists or psychiatrists and then people who just know how the executive branch of government works and know pretty much what's demanded of a president of the United States. So I hope we'll work on a bipartisan basis, which is why it's set up on a bipartisan basis. And, you know, I think about the January 6th Select Committee, which I was on, which is the best experience with bipartisanship I've ever had,

where every member of the committee, Democrat or Republican, were together working towards a common goal. And this would be a common goal of figuring out if, you know, there's a real problem. Of course, everything's got to go through the vice president. so you can't have a political operation. Like, let's get rid of the president this way. The vice president is there. In any event, the president always has the ability to say, no, I'm perfectly fine. And then you would need a two-thirds vote in the House and a two-thirds vote in the Senate,

which means the political threshold is even higher than what it is for an impeachment, where it's just a majority of the House and two-thirds in the Senate. Right. So let me be blunt. Is this plausible? Well, I mean, you know, nothing in politics is plausible or even possible until it becomes inevitable. And so I suppose it depends on what one thinks about the mental or physical state of this or that president or politician. And then whether one thinks that partisanship simply overrides everything.

If you think partisanship overrides everything, then it's ridiculous to talk about. But we did find in the second impeachment, and I was the lead impeachment manager there, that there were 10 Republicans in the House and seven Republicans in the Senate who were willing to break from explicit party orders and dictates in order to do the right thing. So I'm not so much of a cynic as to say it's worthless to try. And, you know, one of the things that we hear every day during the Trump period is do something, right? see what is possible and do it, even if you're not going to succeed on the first day, who knows? I mean, if we put this commission into being, it might not work today, but who knows where we are six months from now? Who knows where we are 12 months from now?

And things might look very different. Right. It's funny going back, because I saw that you put forward similar legislation in 2017 and 2020, 2020 when Trump had COVID. Now, it's funny. I don't know if you've done this, but have you gone back and watched Trump speaking in 2016 or 2018 and thought to yourself, wow, a lot's happened since then? I've not done that recently, but back in those days, I went back and looked at what it was like when he was on Oprah Winfrey or Phil Donogne do, and that was a stark, dramatic difference. Right. No, and it's, I can tell you representative, it hasn't gotten better. But something that's interesting to me is that you're hearing from people who work with him, who are big supporters of him, who were very much in line with

how he sounded during his first term, when I think that he sounded, at best, bombastic, at worst, unwell. What are you hearing from others, people who may not be, you know, giving interviews about the president's condition and how it seems to have worsened over time? You hear it all the time, wherever you go. But, like, everything seems like a dramatic new departure. into derangement. I mean, dressing yourself up online like Jesus Christ, picking a fight with the Pope, you know, slurring your language constantly and unleashing profanity as president of the United States.

I mean, you've got to imagine that, you know, President Obama had done any of these things or President Bush. what kind of reaction would cause? It's just that there's a completely different lowered set of standards for Donald Trump and people who support him because they view it through the Prince of Partisanship just say, well, that's just Trump being Trump. They will accept anything.

Right. And to be clear, he didn't dress up as Jesus Christ. He posted an AI image of himself as Jesus Christ. And then he said that he was being a doctor. again, these raw words, I wish I wasn't saying. He was just impersonating a doctor who was impersonating Jesus Christ. You know, as one does when one is the president of the United States and has the nuclear coats. I want that nuclear football put so far away from here. Well, you raise a really profound point if I could just pick up on that for a second.

The 23th Amendment was adopted in the nuclear age. One of the key champions of it was Robert F. Kennedy, the little brother of John F. Kennedy, of the Cuban Missile Crisis, who was assassinated. So these questions were very much on the mind of him and Senator Birch Biden, who was the lead sponsor of it. What do you do in the nuclear age where, you know, one person's mental derangement is another person's extinction of an entire civilization, as well as the general problem that presidents like everybody else get sick,

presidents fall ill, their mental condition changes. So the whole premise of the 25th Amendment, which is part of our Constitution, I'm not making it up. You can go read the Constitution. The premise of it is that a different set of protocols should operate around the President of the United States. Yeah, I just keep thinking back. There's the famous example of President Woodrow Wilson, who had a stroke, and it appears based on historical documentation that Edith Wilson was essentially president for a short period of time. And people would prefer, some people would prefer to live with the myth that presidents are superhuman and invulnerable and let a first lady govern then just deal with the reality, which I think is already embodied in the Constitution. Right. But the 25th Amendment, as we've discussed, has a high bar. And at least right now, it's going to take a lot of work to get. through that. But you successfully impeached Trump during his first term. What other tools does Congress

have to hold the president accountable? Well, you've got impeachment, trial, conviction, removal, disqualification. That will process. And that requires a majority vote in the House, two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict. You've got waiting for the next election or waiting for the president to leave. And then there's the 25th Amendment. I mean, I suppose if you take the Richard Nixon example, there is the prospect of party elders convincing someone to resign in the event that they've become disgraced and corrupt in the eyes of the world. But apparently that is no longer much of a social, cultural, or political sanction in these days. Representative Raskin, thank you so much for joining me.

The pleasure is all mine. Keep up your great work. Thank you. That was my conversation with Representative Jamie Raskin. More news about our very normal, very stable president is incoming. But if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. What a day is brought to you by Zbiotics. Let's face it, after a night with drinks, I don't bounce back the next day like I used to.

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Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down. Just remember to make pre-alcohol your first drink for the night, drink responsibly, and you'll feel your best tomorrow. Every time I have pre-alcohol before drinks, I notice it. difference the next day. Even after a night out, I can confidently plan on getting my workout done without worry. From the fairways in Augusta to the first pitch of baseball season and the start of festival circuits, April is a sprint of outdoor celebrations. Don't let a rough next day keep you on the sidelines. Drink pre-alcohol to stay ahead of the game and make the most of every sunny Saturday. Go to Zbiotics.com slash Wad to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you

use Wad at checkout. Zbiotics is backed with a 100% money-back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to Zibiotics.com slash Wad and use the code Wad at checkout for 15% off. What a day is brought to you by Common Power. Since 2018, Common Power has talked with thousands of voters, and they've summed up three important lessons as we had into the midterms. An anti-Trump message is not enough. Working class voters are the priority. And lastly, in the age of AI, talking to voters at their doors is necessary to win. This year, Common Power is supporting new Democratic leadership in key primary across the nation to ensure we have a fighting chance at winning in the general.

They're training and deploying thousands of volunteers to reach voters in more than 20 battleground states in over 50 races just this year. Next generation leaders are what fuel movements and the teams at Common Power, and they need your support to fund their travel and long-term development. Midterms are here. And for those who refuse to sit this pivotal moment out, you can donate today at commonpower.org slash crooked. Here's what else we're following today.

Head of lines. Joining me as Crooked's news editor, Greg Walters, and talk about the big stories. Hey, Greg. Hey, Jane. Greg. To paraphrase Ray, where the hell is my vice president

and what's taking him so long? Because as of Monday afternoon, the vice president of the United States might be on his way to Islamabad Pakistan to continue talks with Iran. Or he might not be on his way to Islamabad Pakistan. All of this, because the U.S. is holding talks this week with Iran in Pakistan.

Or maybe they aren't. Either way, this is the worst version of where in the world is Carmen San Diego I have ever participated in. And the original was bad enough. You know, I personally was always really terrible at that game. I just never had the patience for it. For those who don't remember, you were supposed to win by piecing together the clues on where Carmen San Diego and her gang might be, which is what reporters were doing on Monday

with the whereabouts of J.D. Vance, which matters because J.D. Vance is supposed to be the peace guy, right? Like, if he's at the negotiation table with the Iranians, that's progress. And if he's not, that's bad. But the clues here have been all over the place. Trump said yesterday that J.D. was on his way. And then J.D.'s motorcade rolls up at the White House. Very much not in Pakistan. Thanks for playing. Womppwomp. You lose. Greg, the trick to Carmen San Diego is that the answer was almost always Brazilia. But yeah, this story has been incredibly hard to follow. According to New York Times, Vance is expected to leave for Islamabad today.

And Iranian officials confirmed that their negotiator would attend if Vance did. You know how like you would try to figure out if you were going to go to a party because someone else you knew was going to go to that party, but you didn't know if they were or not? And also the party was negotiating the end of a war. and the someone else you knew was the vice president of the United States. It's like that. Yeah, and on top of it, this party just never ends. You know, all of this arbitrariness, though, underscores something important,

which as long-suffering fact-checker Daniel Dale over at CNN pointed out, it shows that nothing Trump says about this war can be relied on as fact, like not the big stuff, like what the two sides have agreed to, or the small things, like where the hell is, Jady Vance right now. And how can you negotiate the end to a war if nothing Trump says means anything? Yeah, that seems like a big question. But voters in the Commonwealth of Virginia have another big question.

They are heading to the polls today to decide whether to redraw the state's congressional voting map, part of the redistricting tit for chat that's been going on since Texas started a redistricting plan last year to give Republicans an advantage. Now it's Democrats trying to seize the means of voting. production by getting an advantage in all but one of Virginia's 11 districts. And it's getting very expensive. Both sides of the issue, Greg, have combined to spend nearly $100 million. Yeah, that's a lot of money. So to be clear, gerrymandering is an old game that both parties have played really hard over the years. But it's important to remember that this latest round was

started when Donald Trump pressured Republicans in Texas to redraw their map to help him hold the house in the midterms. Like, he started this on purpose, and there's a big irony in how it's shaping out. Yeah, it turns out that the Brookings Institute found back in March that rather than adding five new Republican seats in Congress, redistricting in Texas might have only added two. And if things go really downhill for Republicans, they might even lose seats. Former spokesperson for George W. Bush, Ari Fleischer, who's wrong about everything, even went on Fox News Monday to say that maybe the whole, let's gerrymander everything,

effort by Republicans was a bad idea. Yeah, this may turn out to be a self-own of epic proportions for Republicans. To quote that Rolling Stone song that Trump has kind of ruined for me by playing it on repeat at his rallies, you can't always get what you want. Yeah, I always wondered why Trump plays that song at rallies when it's like, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need. Is Trump the thing that we don't want or the thing that we cannot get or is he the thing that we need? I don't know. I need Mick Jagger to clarify. Yeah, it was weird. It was like, you can't always get what you want. Vote Trump 2020.

It was just like strange. Like, what was the point of that one? I'm looking forward to a day when I can get that song back. But speaking of something other than what we want, Trump is dropping by a certain black tie comedy themed dinner this weekend. And the vibes are already getting weird, Jane. Yeah, the president is delivering a speech at the White House correspondence dinner, because a man who hates the mainstream press cannot turn down an opportunity to hang out with the press. Though arguably, the White House correspondence dinner is sort of how we got Trump in the first place. Let me take you back to 2011. I was two years out of college. President Barack Obama was in the White House. Earlier that year, Trump had started waxing Repsodic about the

misbegotten conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in the United States, birtherism. Look it up. It was terrible. Cut to that year's White House Correspondents dinner. Donald Trump is here tonight. I know that he's taking some flak lately, but no one is happy. No one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter. Like, did we fake the moon landing?

What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac? You can see that Trump is visibly furious. Now, Greg, I don't know if this bit is why Trump ran for the White House. But I do believe it 100%. Yeah, you can basically see the fumes of hatred like rising from his forehead. You know, it's all fun in games until that guy's fragile ego gets so bruised that he decides he's going to run for president and show us all. It's the high cost of cheap jokes.

Except for our cheap jokes, which are fine. Thanks, Greg. Our cheap jokes are free, Jane. Very true. And that's the news. Before we go, if the latest ice raids, police crackdowns, and law and order talking points feel like they're everywhere and somehow never explained, Empire City is where it starts to make sense. Host Chenjerai Cominika breaks down how these systems were built, who they were built for, and why they keep showing. up in every headline. Now he's taking Empire City off the feed and onto your screen for a live

conversation with journalist Matt Katz and Yale professor Elizabeth Hinton, two people who've spent years reporting on and studying policing from completely different angles. Join them live Tuesday, April 28th at 5 p.m. Pacific, 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Sign up at crookedideas.org slash Empire City. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. But remember, it's not over until it is over. over and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, and not just about how the Delaware Marathon ended with the would-be winner, Carson Mello, celebrating a touch too early, not knowing that another runner was right behind him. Like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out

and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston, and if you're listening to our show, all you need to know is that winner Joshua Jackson beat Mellow at the last possible second. Is this a metaphor about my greatest fear for the midterms? Maybe. Water Day is a production of Crooked Media. Our show is produced by Caitlin Plummer, Emily Ford, Erica Morrison, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Haley Jones, Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Joseph Dutra, Johanna Case, and Desmond Taylor. Our music is by Kyle Murdoch and Jordan Cantor.

We had helped today from the Associated Press. Our production staff is proudly unionized for the Writers Guild of America East.