Brookline Town Meeting Members Cast Their Vote On Trump

BROOKLINE, MA — Voters passed a symbolic article in support of using the 25th Amendment to remove president Donald Trump from office during the second and final night of the Special Town Meeting Wednesday.

The vote passed by a total of 141 in favor against 27 opposed and 20 abstaining.
The 25th Amendment provides procedures for a vice president and cabinet majority to declare the president unable to carry out their duties and inform Congress of such a disability, allowing the transmission of the president’s powers to the vice president. Article 19 expresses concern for Trump’s mental state, citing “numerous actions that demonstrate his unsoundness of mind” as reasons to remove him.

After an initial vote to table the article failed, discussion ensued. Lead petitioner for Article 19 Jonathan Margolis appealed to voters by using history to argue that the town can make a difference on a national scale by passing this type of petition. He referenced the Town Hall plaque that lists the more than 80 residents who marched to meet the British in 1775 at the height of the Revolutionary War.

“They went out to meet some of the finest troops of the most powerful empire in the world. I’m sure some people said to them: ‘what can your punt company do to the British Empire?’ but they went anyway,” Margolis said. “This is our time to stand up.”

Margolis was followed by other residents who voiced their support for the article, including Rob Weintraub, who shared a personal story he believes demonstrates Trump’s unfit mental state and authoritarian tendencies.

“My sister was the chairperson of the Federal Election Commission when Donald Trump came into office and she was viewed as an opposition leader and he fired her soon after he came into office,” Weintraub said. “It just illustrates his disregard for dissent and disregard for freedom of expression.”
The article was also met with counterarguments prior to the vote, including Lisa Shatz who gave Trump credit for freeing the remaining Israeli hostages from Hamas last month despite calling him “likely the most corrupt President in American history.”

Elizabeth Childs said that town meeting members should be focused on more local challenges Brookline faces as opposed to denouncing the president.

“Article 19 convolutes political decision making with unfitness for office,” Childs said. “I am profoundly concerned about the slippery path of political bodies making determinations of mental fitness.”

The Special Town Meeting adjourned immediately after the vote as Article 19 was the final one on the agenda.

See Also:

Brookline Voters Table Lighting Bylaw Proposal