It has been 266 days since Donald J. Trump has been sworn in as President of the United States. Now, for most of the liberal right, they keep preaching the end of days. But what I have seen for the most part is, life is going on as usual. I look at most of the bullshit that circulates on Facebook and Twitter with a pragmatic eye. There are blatant indications that he isn’t suited to be the leader of the free world. His constant use of Twitter is an indication of his mental stability (or lack thereof.) I have stated time and time again, you CANNOT set government policy 140 characters at a time. His constant “shooting from the hip” is one of the signs of someone who has poor impulse control. And since he is using a pretty much unsecured Android phone for his communications, there is distinct possibility that someone could hack his device. (FYI, my husband and I both use Android phones and Windows 10 personal computers, and I keep them as secure as I can.)
Now, there has been talk about replacing the President under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution due to his mental instability. But that would involve a mental health assessment by a qualified professional, in this case a psychiatrist. This part of the 25th Amendment would come into play:
“Section 4. 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.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days 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. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.”
The only way that they could get the President to submit to a mental health examination is petitioning the Supreme Court, and they would have to present overwhelming evidence that he is mentally unfit to be President. Without a report from someone who is qualified to judge the mental state of an individual, this would be an exercise in futility. Catch-22, folks.
Also, there is an informal rule that is followed by the American Psychiatric Association called “The Goldwater Rule,” which states it is unethical for psychiatrists to give a professional opinion about public figures they have not examined in person. But many psychiatrists have broken ranks and have publicly spoken out against Donald Trump, and described him as having “an assortment of personality problems, including grandiosity, a lack of empathy, and ‘malignant narcissism'”, and that he has a “dangerous mental illness.”
(Full disclosure: I have been in psychiatric therapy in the past (as recent as three years ago) for anger management issues and personal issues, and it has helped me immensely. Some people need it, and I was one of them.)
With so many psychiatrists openly stating that the President has major mental issues, why doesn’t someone in Congress or the Senate grow a pair of balls and force the issue?
Now, President Trump is trying to prove that he is the “big kid on the block” by getting into a pissing match with Kim Jong-Un of North Korea to prove who has the bigger dick militarily-wise. Kim is saying that he has the capability to strike the continental United States with a nuke, and Trump is basically telling him to go for it. But it all boils down to posturing. A political pecker-check.
Yes, North Korea is a threat, but what does Trump do? Tweet about football players in the NFL bending down on one knee to protest the killing of African-Americans by police. Or tweet about how much the disaster in Puerto Rico is costing us (never mind that Texas got hit just as hard, but he never talked about how much disaster relief cost there.) EXCUSE ME, POTUS! Puerto Ricans are American citizens also!
For a man who has bragged how he has a “great mind,” he sure is showing that he is someone who is driven by emotions alone. Should this man have his finger on the nuclear trigger? Absolutely not. Should he be impeached? There has to be overwhelming evidence that he has committed crimes against the United States. Robert Mueller is trying to build a case against him, but because he is going against the Chief Executive, he is going to encounter numerous roadblocks in his search for the truth.
The only way that he can take down Donald Trump is by co-opting the people that Trump has discarded in the 266 days that he has been President. Reince Priebus. Steve Bannon. Scott Spicer. Anthony Scaramucci. James Comey. Preet Bharara. All of these people can take him down. But that is wishful thinking on my part. The reality is, there will be numerous back-room deals that will be made, and Donald Trump will escape this, just like he did with the bankruptcies that he went through.
Yes, it is a cynical conclusion, but also a pragmatic one. And I am a pragmatist.
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(c) 2017, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.
