We should not be surprised that Donald Trump is
mentally and emotionally imploding under the cumulative effect of plunging poll numbers, his disastrous Iran war (which constantly humiliates him as both Iran and Israel
repeatedly defy his desperate attempts to control them and his phony
prognostications of progress in peace talks), and an increasingly
irritable Senate Republican caucus.
Trump recently suffered from supporters’ unraveling
and/or disaffection (e.g. Trump’s Paramount/CBS allies’ embarrassing implosion, the defection of white working-class and male voters, another insult to faith groups reminded of white
Christian nationalists’ religious bigotry), repeated legal defeats, and multiple legislative losses unprecedented for
a president with majorities in both houses (e.g. a House vote to fund Ukraine, passage of the War Powers Act resolution, opposition to
Trump’s sleazy slush fund, collapse of FISA Section 702 reauthorization because
of outrage over the appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of national
intelligence).
When you throw in the indignity of seeing his name
physically scraped off the Kennedy Center building, the cancellation
of musical has-beens from his cheesy, self-referential 250 Freedom bash, and
the entirely expected torrent of boos from Knicks fans,
you have the pathological narcissist’s worst nightmare: public humiliation. (Historian and fascism expert Ruth Ben Ghiat has explained that when their
autocracies unravel, strongmen’s overwhelming fear of humiliation and loss of
power compels them to lash out, grab more tightly to power, and make
increasingly rash decisions in the vain hope of fending off decline.)
Certainly, Trump’s mental and physical disintegration has
been on display for many years. However, it is easy to lose track of the velocity of
Trump’s decompensation.
As a group of 36 mental health professionals
recently explained in a stinging written statement, Trump’s
outbursts are not “momentary lapses nor political theater”; they instead
“reflect a rapidly worsening, reality-untethered, increasingly dangerous
decline.” And this was before Trump’s explosion on Meet
the Press, among the most cringeworthy presidential media appearances ever.
However, you do not have to be a
medical professional to conclude Trump is getting much worse much more quickly.
We should not avert our eyes from the indisputable evidence that Trump cannot
cope with reality. When confronted with indisputable facts, he lashes out and
retreats into denial. (As the New York Times reported, “President Trump, who
campaigned on a central promise to keep the United States out of overseas wars,
denied in an interview aired on Sunday that he’d ever made the
pledge.”)
The “big blubbery baby man, enraged at his ebbing power” provided a disturbing image in his MTP interview, Democratic pollster and analyst Simon Rosenberg aptly noted, of an “an old, addled man clearly in profound decline.”
His bloated, rage-filled, disheveled appearance
and inability to engage rationally with anyone outside his cult tempt one to
look away. Denial is natural when you fear nothing can be done to stave off an
impending disaster.
But now is precisely the time to demand a robust debate
in public, in Congress, and on the midterm campaign trail about the gravity of
leaving a patently unfit, raving lunatic in the Oval Office. In light of the
grave danger Trump poses, pro-democracy forces must educate the public, compel
legacy media to cover his breakdown as vigorously and consistently as they did
Joe Biden’s health after his 2024 debate, and pressure Republicans to remove or
at least restrain him.
Democrats do not control Congress, although they do occasionally take charge of the House through discharge petitions. Nevertheless, they have successfully used so-called shadow hearings to expose urgent issues (e.g., ICE brutality). A serious, sober subcommittee (perhaps drawn from both the House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight Committee) with professional staff should conduct methodical public hearings and assemble a comprehensive report documenting Trump’s deterioration.
In the laying out the
circumstances and frequency of his mental/emotional breakdowns, the public
should receive ample evidence that Trump’s increasingly severe meltdowns are
not a function of simple aging or odd personality quirks (an absurd if not delusional
interpretation of his conduct) but of dangerous mental and emotional
dysfunction.
At the end of the process, Democrats (and any patriotic Republicans inclined to prevent grave harm to the country) should present a series of specific, feasible recommendations, including legislation to compel the release of all presidential medical records and to require independent medical evaluation of presidents and vice presidents.
They should spell
out rules to implement the 25th Amendment.
They also should make clear that once they have subpoena power after the
midterms, they will supplement findings by calling witnesses to testify under
oath as to his observable behavior. If Republicans defend his indefensible
conduct and block common-sense measures, they will take on full responsibility
for the wreckage that ensues from sheltering an unhinged, unwell president.
Next, Democrats must undertake a focused and robust push to present their findings to the press and the voters. If the president’s emotional and mental competency is not the most compelling issue of the moment, it is hard to imagine what would be. Republican House and Senate candidates need to be put on the spot in every public encounter: Do they think the president is of sound mind? What do they intend to do to, for example, protect nuclear codes? Why shouldn’t the public have full visibility into the health of a president whose conduct has been so obviously aberrant?
Democrats should pound away at the issue in floor speeches, media spots, op-eds, and public forums. If it were not obvious before, leaving Trump in power surrounded by spineless yes men unwilling to challenge him and a MAGA Congress that abets his increasingly erratic conduct and flights from reality is a recipe for disaster — and the most persuasive reason to elect substantial Democratic majorities in both houses.
Nothing is more urgent to the survival of our democracy, national security, and collective well-being than to begin now to convince voters that stringent guardrails (if not, removal by 25th Amendment or impeachment) are required to shield the United States from further harm. Given the public’s rising disgust with Trump and his propensity to humiliate himself on a near daily basis, voters might well become convinced that extraordinary action is required to defuse the ticking time bomb in the White House.






