By Hal Brown, MSW
On October 26th the The New Yorker published “We May Need the Twenty-fifth Amendment if Trump Loses.”
EXCERPTS: If a President were, in fact, impaired to a serious degree, it would, of course, be responsible for lawmakers to treat that as a grave threat to national security and to act to insure a stable transition of power to the Vice-President. That is the reason the Twenty-fifth Amendment is in the Constitution in the first place. How we have dealt with Trump thus far, though, has only strengthened the constitutional norm that even widespread and persistent public alarm about a President’s mental fitness does not warrant the use of the Amendment to remove him. More to the point, the bar for mental acuity and stability for Presidents has lowered along with much else in the past four years. As Frank Bruni put it, in the Times, “Please tell me why I should care whether Joe Biden is declining mentally when Donald Trump bottomed out morally long ago.”
John Gartner, the Duty to Warn psychologist, told me that, if Trump loses the election, the period between November 3rd and Inauguration Day, on January 20th, is likely to be “the most dangerous moment” in his Presidency. “What does a malignant narcissistic person do when they’re enraged?” Gartner said. “They want to act out in an aggressive and sadistic way, to regain their sense of power.” He compared the voting public to “the abused spouse” who finally says to the abuser, “We’re going to leave you. We’re kicking you out of the house. Come January, we’re packing your bags. Well, what does he do then?” During that transition, it might be most important to have the Twenty-fifth Amendment at the ready. .
In view of the reports coming out about what can only be called psychiatric decompensation in President Trump it is clear that he may precipitate an international crisis when he realizes all hope is lost for winning the election. I think the highest risk comes when he realizes he has failed at causing a Constitutional crisis with his efforts to use the state electors to overturn the result of the election. They meet on Dec. 14th. Watch that date. The only final recourse after this fails is the Supreme Court, but that is an even longer shot than stealing the election through a slate of rogue state electors.
.
.
It is more likely he would do something like bomb Iran claiming falsely that he has evidence they have taken a major step to advance their nuclear program. Obviously this could start a war.
.
There are other things that could happen where his being in the midst of a narcissistic rage compounded by having an acute break with reality, i.e. a delusional and paranoid psychotic break which would make his immediate removal from office imperative.
.
There is always the possibility that an unforeseen crisis will occur. It could be a devastating natural disaster hitting a state which he considers his enemy. For example, a major earthquake could hit the west coast. His actions, really his inaction, out of spite could imperil countless lives.
.
A bad international actor could take advantage of the mentally unstable president to initiate some kind of military action. Russia for example could make an incursion into Ukraine or mass troops on its border.
.
North Korea could test launch an ICBM capable of hitting a target deep within the continental United States. Trump could retaliate by ordering the sinking of a Chinese warship.
.
In the case of Russia, Trump’s doing nothing would be the problem if he refused to support NATO as they took steps to counter the aggression. In the case of North Korea, Trump’s retaliatory action could lead to further escalation unless Biden could put a damper on a Chinese over-reaction.
.
Donald Trump is dangerous right now. He is more dangerous than he ever has been.
.
I see no signs that the 25th Amendment will be initiated preemptively. If Mike Pence has a pebble of patriotism buried under the giant mountain of Trump worship he’d better be willing and ready to call the Cabinet into an emergency meeting to enact the 25th Amendment if one of the crises I thought of occurs, or something else I haven’t thought of happens.