The real reason Betsy DeVos just resigned
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been one of Donald Trump’s most loyal and very worst cabinet members. But now even she’s resigning tonight, according to the Wall Street Journal, making her the second cabinet member that Trump has lost today, after Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao resigned hours ago.
DeVos and Chao both issued statements asserting that they were resigning because of Trump’s incitement of yesterday’s terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol. But there’s more going on here. All day there has been mounting pressure for Mike Pence to hold a cabinet vote on invoking the 25th Amendment and removing Donald Trump. Now two people who would have had to participate in such a vote are beating a path to the door before such a vote can take place.
It’s worth noting that these resignations don’t necessarily help Trump’s odds of surviving a 25th Amendment vote. Each time another cabinet member departs, the total number of cabinet members drops by one. So that means one less vote is needed to reach a majority. These resignations could end up helping or hurting Trump’s 25th Amendment math, depending on what the remaining cabinet members do.
