2017 Aug 25^th

Today comes yet more speculation regarding the president’s sanity. We have already pointed out that the constitution does not require that our president be literate. Either the founders felt no need for a president who could read and write or they assumed anyone aspiring to the office would have these abilities; surely the latter is the case.

There were mental asylums in 1775 but the symptoms requiring incarceration were far from subtle. There is no evidence that the founders thought a sanity test an appropriate requirement for the presidency.

The mental competence of our presidents has been an issue before. Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke while in office and his wife simply stepped in and assumed many of his responsibilities. She even controlled his visitors so that she was the de facto president. There are rumors that Ronald Reagan’s dementia began before he left office and that his devoted wife and staff covered for him. When Senator Goldwater ran for the presidency some psychiatrists speculated about his soundness of mind based on his comments. This was obviously inappropriate and led to the “Goldwater Rule” which declares that physicians cannot diagnose a person whom they have not personally examined. 

We do have the 25^th amendment which specifies how an incompetent president can be removed. The requirements involved make it useless in all but the most extreme cases.

There is an election in 2018 and that election is the best chance of ridding ourselves of Donald Trump. At this rate he will have no accomplishments as president unless we credit him with a right wing SCOTUS appointee. The odds are good that nothing will change. Trump lives in a world of his own making. No one who keeps track of Trump’s remarks, tweets, rallies or other appearances can conclude the man is totally rational. Unfortunately we will have to endure him until the next election. Let us fervently hope that we needn’t endure him beyond that.