Donald Trump’s cognitive abilities reach a whole new low
Last month, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Washington Post that Trump is “becoming self-impeachable.” Her characterization of Trump’s behavior is spot on. Pelosi’s point was that rather than steering clear of trouble, Trump has been doubling down on his obstruction, blocking fact-finding interviews and ignoring subpoenas. “Every single day, the president is making a case,” she observed. In addition to impeachment, it appears that Trump is also unwittingly building a case that would support his removal via the 25th Amendment.
After the House passed the long-awaited disaster relief bill yesterday evening by a 354-58 vote, Trump rushed to express his joy on Twitter. All Trump had to do was announce the news and say he looks forward to signing the legislation when he returns from his state visit to the United Kingdom. Instead, Trump managed to put his foot (bone spurs and all) in his mouth. He tweeted: “House just passed the 19.1 Billion Dollar Disaster Aid Bill. Great, now we will get it done in the Senate! Farmers, Puerto Rico and all will be very happy.” Trump appears to have forgotten that the Senate already passed the bill in May by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 85-8.
Trump should, of course, know that the next step after the House vote would be his signing the bill into law. But it is also obvious that Trump knew quite well what the Senate was doing, especially since he unsuccessfully tried to get the Senate to include $4 billion for border security funding. When the Senate voted in favor of the relief bill before Memorial Day, Trump even tweeted about it: “The U.S. Senate has just approved a 19 Billion Dollar Disaster Relief Bill, with my total approval. Great!”
Trump’s new tweet is gone from his Twitter feed. People close to Trump must have insisted he delete it (flouting the Presidential Records Act), recognizing it is an alarming sign of Trump’s lack of fitness for office. Fortunately, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer preserved the evidence of Trump’s mental decline in a screenshot, replying: “President @realDonaldTrump, you’re clearly confused. The Senate passed the bill two weeks ago. Hopefully after blocking it for so long, you’re not too confused to sign it!” Removing any President via the 25th Amendment is a tall order, and it seems unlikely to happen with Trump no matter how compelling the evidence may be. But at this point, it won’t be surprising if Trump simply wakes up one day and forgets he is President.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month