Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
It is indeed ironic. This week, as much of Americans marked the occasion and celebrated the 241st anniversary of this nation’s inception, there are now growing concerns about the Chief Executive’s fitness to hold office. A House Democrat is calling for Congress to review the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, suggesting President Donald Trump is mentally “unstable.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who has represented a Portland district for 20 years, wrote in an op-ed that the 50-yearold amendment contains a “fatal flaw” that must be addressed. The 25th Amendment relates to the procedures for removing a president or vice president in the event of death, removal, resignation, or incapacitation.”
Blumenauer cautioned that the amendment – ratified after the JFK assassination – would “fail” in the case of a president who is “mentally unstable, paranoid or delusional.”
More specifically, he wrote:
“The erratic behavior of Donald Trump has raised new questions about his mental and emotional capacity to discharge the tremendous burdens of the most powerful position in the world. It is the president who can launch nuclear weapons, unleashing untold devastation on the world. Presidents can create diplomatic chaos or move markets with the most carefully crafted declarations, let alone late-night tweets with grammar and misspellings of a fifth grader and decidedly un-presidential tone.”
Speaking on the House floor last Wednesday, Blumenauer argued that Trump has repeatedly made statements that are “demonstrably wrong,” including about the crowd size for his inauguration and the weather on that day. Blumenauer said a bipartisan panel of lawmakers and former presidents should determine if the current president is fit to serve.
There is ample food for fodder as it relates to Trump’s mental health picture. There is broad evidence and consensus (Republicans, Democrats and the entire intelligence community) that Vladimir Putin and Russia meddled in our presidential election in 2016. But, Donald Trump refuses to acknowledge this fact, and has demonstrated a steadfast unwillingness to take steps to prevent future incursions in our electoral process. Instead, Trump fixates and rants about unidentified sources who have leaked information to the media.
Recently, Trump has put forth another bogus narrative in hopes of silencing the ongoing Russian probe and his administration’s possible involvement. In typical Trump fashion, he now contends that President Obama is responsible for the Russian meddling situation, because Mr. Obama knew about it and didn’t act. This is a bit confusing, Mr. President. One minute you are unwilling to concede that Russia played any role, then you claim that anyone might have done it, including some 400-pound couch potato, and now President Obama (your convenient foil) is responsible for this dastardly attack on our system of Democracy.
The Fourth of July weekend saw the start of a trending new hashtag: #25th Amendment. Because of his bizarre, unpredictable and often vile behavior, many are beginning to question Donald Trump’s mental health and temperament to hold office. Just recently, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) claimed that GOP senators have privately expressed concerns about Trump’s mental state. Really … that’s a very sad commentary to think that it’s taken this long for them to realize that Emperor Trump has no clothes.