What would happen if an American president "lost his or her mind"?
We thought we had an answer in the 25th Amendment, but it turns out that the logical mechanisms to make activating that amendment happen depend on, well, logic. No one really anticipated a chief executive leading a cult of personality, propped up by a combination of greed and fear.
Of course, defining what "losing your mind" looks like is what pays the bills for pundits and politicians and much of the media. And you can't ignore the clear fact that even discussing another person's mental state is both impolite and inexact. There are endless supplies of hairs to be split and "what abouts" to be suggested.
So, the government continues to spiral into dysfunction and illogic and anger and meanness.
But is there any doubt that, at some point in the future, the Current Occupant will be judged as not only the worst president in history but actually insane? Yes, he may be suffering from some mental illness (his narcissism and constant need for revenge) and he may be showing some dementia.
It occurs to me that those diagnoses are both true and irrelevant. They amount to the same end: he should not be trusted with the nuclear codes or the economy or the armed forces or his social media account.
Yet we try to remain calm as the insanity continues.
I know I tend to oversimplify, but there is only one clear reason that nothing has been done to remove our Demented Leader from office and that is the fact that the extremely rich continue to grow their riches and power. Those things may not be because of Trump but they are happening under his watch... so why rock the boat?
So sorry to advocate for class warfare, but mechanisms must be found to reduce the wealth and power of the 0.1 percent. Focused tax increases and reduced exemptions and accounting tricks would be involved, of course. And the legal fiction of money possessing free speech needs to be corrected.
There's not going to be a revolution in America. Everyone has too much money for that. I, for one, am not willing to risk my personal finances, much less my health in a revolution. You have to be either desperately poor or fanatically committed to plunge into the chaos of revolution.
Perhaps I'm too old and tired to rush to the "front lines." Perhaps I am just too timid to embrace the unknown and unknowable (until it's too late).
And, hey, the stock market has hit record highs amidst all the chaos.
As Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman would say, "What? Me worry?"
