How Should America Deal With A Mentally Ill President?

Suggestions that Donald Trump might not be mentally fit to serve as president have become more frequent after his first five days as Commander in Chief. You might think that this accusation is coming from the fringe on the Left, but that isn’t the case. Just this morning, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman published a tweet that said, “An American first: a president who was obviously mentally ill the moment he took office. Thanks, Comey.” Krugman is referring to James Comey, head of the FBI, who some believe swung the election in Trump’s favor by announcing an investigation into Clinton’s emails.

Trump’s erratic and delusional behavior since his inauguration should have us all worried. Many Democrats, including myself, have lamented that even if we get rid of Trump, we end up with uber Christian Mike Pence. By voting for Trump, poorly educated racist white voters in the South and Midwest have put America between a rock and a hard place.

I am having second thoughts about this issue, however. I detest everything that Mike Pence stands for, and placing him in the Oval Office would be a very dark day for this country. However, it is becoming apparent that Donald Trump’s mental state is putting this country in grave danger. His delusions about massive voter fraud, his threat to send the military into Chicago to stem crime and his antagonist rhetoric toward China are not the statements of a sane person. I don’t know a lot about Mike Pence other than his odorous political leanings, but if you asked me who I wanted to be in charge of this country’s nuclear codes, I would have to go with Pence. He just doesn’t appear to be as unhinged and impulsive as Trump.

This all raises a lot of questions. Who would determine if Trump was mentally ill and unable to carry out the duties of the president and what would be the criteria? Can Congress unseat a president under these circumstances without going through the impeachment process?  And, considering Trump’s personality, what would happen if it was determined he was unfit to serve, but he refused to leave? It isn’t a stretch to believe Trump and his administration would consider any effort to unseat him a coup attempt.

We are living in unprecedented times in America. Our newly inaugurated president is showing signs of mental illness. The second in command is only marginally better. All I can say is hold on to your seats because we are in for one hell of a ride.

Belligerent Trump Puts All Our Lives In Danger

Many people have thought about it, a few have come out and said it, but the reality is that Donald Trump has a better than even chance of getting us all killed.

Like climate change, good taste and science, Trump does not believe in diplomacy. Even before he was sworn in as president, Trump got under China’s skin over that country’s claim to several islands in the South China Sea. The subject came up again yesterday at a White House briefing where Sean Spicer said, “We’re going to make sure we defend international territories from being taken over by one country.” The implication is that the U.S. is prepared to take some type of military action or embargo to keep China off of the disputed islands. For there part, China says any activity like that could lead to war.

Trump is four days into office and we already have talk of war, not with Panama or Grenada, but with the most populist country on the planet, which also has nukes. Previous Republican presidents Reagan, Bush senior and W all had their wars and, while not “official” Republican policy, there have long been off-the-record sentiments expressed by party elites that it’s a good thing for one’s polls and continued loyalty within the party to be a wartime president. As we saw with George Bush, his approval ratings went through the roof immediately after 9/11 and continued to be high enough to start two wars nobody outside his administration really wanted.

What is so ominous today is that Trump makes Bush look like a global statesman. Where Bush was naïve and impulsive (I go by my gut), Trump is a thin-skinned bully who believes anyone who disagrees with him needs to be taught a lesson. It’s bad enough when you’re on the playground pushing around the skinny kid with a pocket protector, but something else entirely when you start antagonizing countries as powerful as China.

Yet I don’t believe Trump makes any distinction between the two. No one is going to tell him what to do, which includes other countries, his advisors and the American people. Has Trump ever uttered the words “peace,” “cooperation” or “working together” in the context of international affairs? I haven’t heard them. Like other chicken hawks, Trump opted out of showing any true courage by staying as far away from Vietnam as he could, but loves to talk tough from behind the podium.

The problem we as Americans face is that the consequences of belligerence in foreign affairs isn’t simply a punch in the jaw, but the potential deaths of millions of human beings.