Trump Has No Clue Who is Third in Line For US Presidency — a Question From Citizenship Test

Donald Trump inadmissibly revealed a gap in his understanding of the U.S. presidential line of succession, a basic concept included in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration test. During a phone interview with far-right commentator Ben Shapiro, Trump was asked if the 25th Amendment should be invoked against President Joe Biden. This amendment allows for the removal of a sitting president due to incapacitation, death, or resignation, placing Vice President Kamala Harris next in line. This was also a topic of discussion near the end of Trump’s presidency after the attack on the US Capitol, as per MSNBC.

Trump responded by criticizing Harris' "very low IQ," and suggested, "Actually, now that you're mentioning it, I think they should do a double 25th Amendment. Get 'em both out." He then asked, "Who's third on [in] line?" "Because, heh, it's just terrible," he added. In response, Shapiro had to clarify that House Speaker Mike Johnson is third in line for the presidency. For the record, the 25th Amendment can only be invoked by the president's Cabinet.

This wasn’t the first time Trump had brought up the 25th Amendment in an unusual context. In September, Trump called for "modifying" the 25th Amendment to allow for the removal of a vice president who "lies or engages in a conspiracy to cover up the incapacity of the president," as reported by CNN. “If you do that with a cover-up of the president of the United States, it’s grounds for impeachment immediately and removal from office, beause that’s what they did,” Trump said during a campaign rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin. Moreover, in 2023, Trump bizarrely suggested that Congress could use the 25th Amendment to oust President Biden over the Iran deal—a deal made by Obama’s administration that ended back in 2017. 

During the 60-minute interview, Trump called out Biden and Harris' tenure in the White House saying, "This has got to be the worst administration ever," he added. "They both don’t know what the hell they’re doing. I have some friends, obviously, over there at the White House … he is so angry at her, and she’s trying to distance herself. She doesn’t want anything to do with him." the Republican nominee went on.

Trump brutally mocked Harris throughout the conversation. “She answers questions like a child,” he said. "This is not a president. She is answering questions in the most basic way and getting killed over it." He continued, "And every time she does an interview, she sounds like a child. She sounds like a person with a very low IQ." The former president also described his successor as a “stupid fool” before rounding on Harris. "They’re just incompetent. She is grossly incompetent," Trump said. "You know, Biden was incompetent. She is equally incompetent. And it in certain ways she’s more incompetent."