By
Robert Reich
In retrospect, what’s
most disturbing about “Sharpiegate” isn’t Donald Trump’s clumsy effort to
doctor a National Weather Service map or even his brazen move to get the same
agency to lie on his behalf. It’s how utterly petty his motive was.
We’ve had presidents
try to cover up a sexual liaison with an intern and a botched burglary, but
never have we had one who went to such lengths to cover up an inaccurate
weather forecast. Alabama being hit by a hurricane? Friends, this is not
rational behavior.
Trump also canceled a
meeting with the Taliban at Camp David. The meeting was to have been secret. It
was scheduled for the week of the anniversary of 9/11. He cancelled it by
tweet.
Does any of this
strike you as even remotely rational?
Before that, Trump
canceled a state visit to Denmark because Denmark wouldn’t sell Greenland to
the U.S. Hello? Greenland wasn’t for sale. The U.S. no longer buys populated
countries. The state visit had been planned for months.
He has repeatedly told
senior officials to explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes hitting the
U.S. He believes video games cause mass shootings. He blames light bulbs for
his orange hue.
Trump thinks climate
change is no big deal. He says trade wars are “good and easy to win.” He insists
it’s Chinese rather than U.S. consumers who pay his tariffs. He “orders”
American firms to stop doing business in China.
He calls the chairman
of the Federal Reserve an “enemy.” He retweets a comedian’s sick suggestion
that the Clintons were responsible for the suicide of convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein.
I think we have to
face the truth that no one seems to want to admit. This is no longer a case of
excessive narcissism or grandiosity. We’re not simply dealing with an unusually
large ego.
The president of the
United States is seriously, frighteningly, dangerously unstable. And he’s
getting worse by the day.
What to do? We can
vote him out of office in 14 months’ time. But he could end the world in seven
and a half seconds.
There’s also the
question of whether he’ll willingly leave.
Can you imagine the
lengths he will go to win? Will he get Russia to do more dirty work? Instruct
the Justice Department to arrest his opponent? Issue an executive order banning
anyone not born in the U.S. from voting? Start another war?
By the time the courts
order him to cease whatever unconstitutional effort he’s making to remain in
office, the election may be over. Or he’ll just ignore the courts.
It’s almost too late
for an impeachment. Besides, no president has ever been sent packing. Richard
Nixon resigned because he saw it coming. Trump would sooner start a civil war.
Also, being unstable
is not an impeachable offense.
Two Republicans who
have announced primary challenges to Trump have suggested another possibility:
the 25th Amendment.
Former Massachusetts
Gov. Bill Weld recently tweeted that Trump is “a clear and present danger” to
the U.S., adding the hashtag “#25thAmendment.” Former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh says
the amendment should be “looked at.”
Last February, former
FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe said officials in the Department of Justice
had discussed using the 25th.
Ratified in 1967, the
25th Amendment allows the vice president to become “acting president” when “the
vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive
departments or such other body as Congress may by law” declare a president
incapacitated.
The only attribute
Vice President Mike Pence has displayed so far is sycophancy. The most recent
illustration: overr-nighting at Trump’s golf resort in Ireland. But with rumors
flying that Trump might exchange Pence for another lapdog, who knows? Maybe
Pence will discover some cojones.
Another problem: the
25th Amendment doesn’t define who “principal officers” are, and the
Constitution never mentions the word “Cabinet.” If Trump thought a revolt was
brewing, he’d fire everyone instantly.
I wouldn’t completely
rule out the use of the 25th Amendment, but the only thing that’s going to get
Pence and a majority of Trump’s lieutenants to pull the plug before Trump pulls
it on them may be so horrific that the damage done to America and the world
would be way beyond anything we’ve experienced to date.
Which is to say, be
careful what you wish for.
Pray that we make it
through the next 14 months. Then, do everything in your power to remove this
man from office.
Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at
the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center
for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton
administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective
cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fifteen books,
including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of
Nations," and "Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "The
Common Good," which is available in bookstores now. He is also a founding
editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning
documentary, "Inequality For All." He's co-creator of the Netflix
original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.
