A post published on the economics blog Econbrowser on Oct. 20, 2026, points readers to three recent essays by Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman and argues that the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution may be the last remaining check on President Donald Trump. Econbrowser, a long-running economics blog maintained by economists Menzie Chinn and James Hamilton, is known for its macroeconomic and energy-market analysis.

"Krugman is saying what a lot of us are thinking," the author writes, linking to the Substack essays Donald Trump Is Politically Bankrupt, The Traitor in Chief, and Nerobefehl Nation. Krugman, who received the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, left his longtime New York Times column in late 2024 to publish on Substack.

According to the post, Trump "feels power slipping from his grasp" and may "roll the dice on reigniting the Iran war." The author further accuses him of "playing footsie with Russia, contrary to U.S. interests and U.S. law," and warns that, having been rejected by voters and unable to seek re-election, he may "decide to burn it all down."

While the U.S. system of government contains numerous checks on presidential misconduct, many have proven inadequate, the author writes. Recounting the aftermath of the 2020 election, the post states that the last time Trump lost power at the ballot box he "committed insurrection," and that although the House impeached him on a charge of incitement of insurrection, the Senate acquitted him in February 2021, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction — a choice the author attributes to Senate Republicans' argument that voters had already voted him out.

"There is one last check, and we may need it," the author writes, quoting Section 4 of the amendment:

"Whenever 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, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President."

Ratified in 1967 after the Kennedy assassination sharpened concerns over presidential succession and disability, Section 4 has never been invoked, though members of Congress formally urged its use in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. If the president contests such a declaration, the vice president can continue as acting president only with the assent of two-thirds of both houses of Congress, and Congress may also designate by law an alternative body to act in place of the Cabinet — a provision that has never been used.

The difficulty, the post argues, is that the Cabinet has never commanded less "independent public stature." Apart from Vice President JD Vance — mockingly dubbed the "Couch Cushion Casanova" — every member is "doomed to obscurity if they're lucky, prosecution otherwise" should Trump be removed. Vance "might thrill at the notion" of assuming the presidency but cannot assemble a Cabinet majority to do so, and officials know Republican primaries are "infested with MAGA voters." Because power and wealth are their only goals, the post concludes, Trump could "burn the country a crisp without opposition."

The full post is available at Econbrowser.