Opinion | Now Trump Really Needs to Talk About the 25th Amendment

The obstacle to such a smooth transition isn't the system: It's Trump.

Trump himselfnever admits weakness. As a businessman and a leader, he resists looking too far ahead, and is known for simply dodging and weaving to keep bad news at bay-a quality that has already served him badly in handling the biggest crisis of his presidency. As for the people around him: He hand-picks his staff for personal loyalty over any particular principles, and replaces them when they fail to exhibit the blind allegiance he desires.

The 25th Amendment has been invoked only a few times, always voluntarily by presidents themselves when they've undergone surgery. If it's hard to imagine Trump himself ceding power for any reason, it's even harder to imagine the amendment's powerful Section 4 being invoked, transferring power from the president without his consent. It requires consensus of the people close to him-specifically, "the vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide."

The idea that Pence and the Trump Cabinet would automatically step in and unseat their boss should Trump contract the virus-and, say, be hospitalized without handing over the reins-cannot be assumed. Even if they did get together and agree to hand Pence control, it is Trump, and no one else, who has groomed and cultivated the political base that would likely flip out and scream "coup" the moment it happened.

The 25th Amendment has already come up in Trump's presidency. It received heavy review and inspection in the early semesters of Donald Trump's term when top White House aides fretted that the chief executive might have only one oar in the water. Trump's erratic, impulsive, unstable ways-his firing of FBI Director James B. Comey; his divulging of classified information to Russian diplomats in the Oval Office; his request for "loyalty" from Comey, in particular- reportedly prompted discussions about using the 1967 amendment to replace him with Vice President Mike Pence.

But just because Trump, Pence and the Cabinet might not do the right thing doesn't mean we shouldn't secure a promise from them that an orderly transition of power is being sketched out should serious illness strike the president.To prevent a destabilizing vacancy in the most powerful office in the world,Trump must volunteer that he will use the 25th Amendment to turn over the powers of the presidency to Pence if he becomes seriously ill.

Under the amendment, he can retrieve these powers by simply writing a letter expressing that he has regained sufficient health to serve as president. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush used the amendment to temporarily delegate presidential powers during medical incidents during their terms. Trump must also encourage Pence to exercise a transition of power should he become gravely ill.

Invoking the 25th Amendment is nowhere near staging a coup, as Trump ultraloyalists might holler. The amendment allows the president to appeal to Congress, and both chambers must embrace the action by two-thirds majorities to maintain the vice president's assumption of the office.

Across the nation, people are having a similar talk with family and friends. They're updating wills. They're making promises should the illness strike them. They're talking to their children. For the well-being of the country, to guarantee confidence in the continuity of government, and in the name of sanity, Trump, Pence and his Cabinet need to have this conversation in calm and confident tones with the citizenry.