Nobel Prize winner and economist Paul Krugman is demanding that the 25th Amendment be invoked to remove Donald Trump from office. Writing in a post published to his Substack, Krugman warned that Trump is visibly “losing it” and that the consequences could arrive before it is too late to stop them. The urgency in his words was impossible to miss.
Krugman’s alarm stems from America’s deepening military crisis in Iran. He argued that Trump has led the United States into what he called “an epic strategic defeat,” and that the president is now fully aware of just how badly things have gone. Rather than stepping back, Trump appears to be doubling down.
The Nobel Prize-winning economist did not hold back in his assessment. “This is really bad,” Krugman wrote. “It’s clear that Trump, for all his pretense of ‘I’m always winning,’ is aware of how completely he screwed things up.”
Krugman believes Trump understands the political damage this war has done to him personally. He wrote that Trump “will probably quite rapidly lose his grip on U.S. politics” as a result of the Iran conflict. His legacy, Krugman warned, will not be shaped by his wins but by this defining failure.
“It’s going to be that he’s the man who single-handedly led America to one of its greatest defeats ever,” Krugman wrote plainly.
What worries Krugman most is not the defeat itself but what Trump might do next. He warned that Trump seems “unable to accept it” and is likely to attempt “something truly awful” in an effort to save face. That desperation, Krugman argued, is exactly why the 25th Amendment must be used now.
“If we had a functioning democracy, this would be 25th Amendment time,” Krugman wrote. “This guy should not have any authority at all.”
Krugman made clear that his concern goes beyond nuclear weapons. He stressed that Trump should not have any authority over “matters of state violence” given his current emotional state. That is a striking and serious demand from one of the most credible economic voices in the country.
The 25th Amendment allows the Vice President and Cabinet to remove a sitting president if he is deemed unfit to serve. That would transfer all presidential powers and duties directly to Vice President JD Vance. Krugman is essentially arguing that moment has already arrived.
Krugman also pointed to a deeply unsettling speech Trump delivered on Wednesday. He described it as “pretty depressing,” saying Trump appeared “low energy, listless, and disconnected from reality.” Trump insisted during that speech that everything was going well in the war, which Krugman found both alarming and dishonest.
The contrast between Trump’s public messaging and the reality on the ground was stark. On one hand, Trump was telling Americans the war was going great. On the other, he was privately aware, according to Krugman, that the opposite was true.
Making things worse, Trump posted a message on Truth Social threatening that “all hell will rain down” on Iran if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened within 48 hours. He ended the post with “glory be to GOD,” written in all caps. Krugman found the tone deeply disturbing and unlike anything Trump had said before.
“Saying glory be to God before you unleash violence, that is not what used to be the American way,” Krugman wrote.
Krugman closed his post on a personal and raw note. “I’m scared,” he admitted. He said the next few days could make “the world a much worse place very fast” if nothing is done to check Trump’s authority. Those are not the words of a political commentator looking for a headline. Those are the words of a serious thinker who is genuinely frightened.
The Nobel Prize winner’s call to invoke the 25th Amendment against a sitting U.S. president is extraordinary by any standard. It reflects a growing alarm among credible voices that Trump’s behavior is no longer just politically dangerous but potentially catastrophic for the country. The window to act, Krugman warned, is closing fast.
