Alexander Hamilton was right, “The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge right or make good decision(s).” He is right because Trump won the election.
Whether you voted for Trump the businessman, or for one of his ideals (e.g., to kill globalism), or maybe even more shallowly, to vote in the first entertainer-in-chief, your vote for Trump has rattled the free world. If you didn’t vote at all, you voted for Trump.
Now as Trump transitions in his team of white men and women, America can ill afford to despair, his demagoguery has already ushered in an ugly America. Even Pope Francis’ Roman Catholics revolted against his own papal cautions; it was white Roman Catholics who rejected Tornado Francis’ social justice vision for the world, and helped usher in the first tweeter-in-chief. Now we can no longer ask the questions, “What if he wins new legislative victories?” or “How will he restore our republic to balance?” (It is only a matter of time.) Furthermore, in this case history cautions us against this type of reflection. Why? Call to mind the names of other dictators from the West or East whom people ushered in with an “open mind.”
As someone who works in the health and mental health field, the mere possibility of a Donald Trump presidency alarmed me. How did he pass the proverbial litmus test? Did Trump’s privilege and billions of dollars in assets prevent his party from fully evaluating his competence to lead America, and the free world? Hindsight is always 20/20.
I understand the process by which Trump ran, was elected by his voters. As a former student of history, I know that the democratic process must be respected, not resented. It’s why democracy works: it represents the voice of the masses, even the voiceless. Still, I’ll always wonder how a man living on 5th Avenue in New York City captured the minds of white men and women living on the brink of poverty from the Rust Belt, through the Bible Belt, and on to the Corn Belt.
Still we cannot be complacent: to prepare for a Trump Presidency, I urge Americans to study and to know the 25th Amendment. Knowing what we know now about Trump, e.g., how he thinks and how he reacts, it is a real possibility that his cabinet might have to exercise their rights under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, specifically Article II Section IV.
Article II Section IV reads: “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”
The 25th Amendment was ratified in 1967, as a clarification to Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the U.S. Constitution. The 25th Amendment deals with the succession of the Presidency, especially at a time when the sitting President becomes unable, incapable or unfit to perform the duties of his or her office. It also establishes procedures to fill a vacancy left by the Vice President. It is essentially a safeguard against a president who runs amuck, or who goes insane, or who cannot fulfill his or her duties as commander and chief and leader of the union of 50 states.
To me, it is more likely than ever before that Article II Section IV of the 25 Amendment could be enacted during Trump’s Presidency. Why? Two of Donald Trump’s remarks trouble me the most.
First, Trump encouraged Russia to hack the private emails of the former Secretary of State, to produce for the media the 30,000 plus missing emails. He encouraged espionage by a non-ally and threat to the security of the United States. Essentially Trump called for a direct breach of his own government’s classified information carrying system. Some consider this type of speak treasonous. Later, Trump played it all off as “sarcasm”.
Second, Donald Trump has revealed a negative temperament, threatening violence: "to hit" his opponents, e.g., the men and women who criticize him, he’s even recorded to say, “grab [women] by the pu**y.” He quickly calls the media dishonest, telling his supporters that “we have to win” despite a “rigged system”. He repeatedly tells the media to “shut up”, even openly mocking reporter who disagree with him. He tells his followers that our country is “going to hell”. Trump is a false prophet. But he is our President-elect. Of course, the white men whom Trump has recently selected as top advisors worries me even more.
Trump’s current White House advisors include his Vice-President Mike Pence, who represents moral conservatives, Steve Bannon, who represents the alt-right/tea party, Michael Flynn, who represents the war hawks, and Reince Priebus, who represents the G.O.P. establishment. How will these men influence Trump’s foreign and domestic policy?
As President, Trump will have access to the nuclear codes, an ability to send our military and our reservists into combat. He will nominate men (and women) to the highest courts, and attempt to curb globalism. He will give power back to the fossil fuel industry and restore trickle down economics. He will negatively label Muslims (terrorists), immigrants (3 million of them are criminals who must be deported). He will raise our debt, raise our pride; ready us for war, all in an effort to make America great again.
What Trump cannot do to make America great is to replace machines, computers or technology with human workers. This is the big lie of his election victory. Those white Americans who voted for him to get back to work, simply will not find the type of work and employment they once had. Those type of jobs are gone. Certainly, Trump will not concentrate on vocational training or education, no: he’s a business mogul, whose fraudulent university just settled a $25 million dollar lawsuit. He’ll tear our country apart to walk it back 20 years.
To me, Trump’s win has the weight of the North’s victory over the South in the Civil War. In this instance, America chose regression over progress – electing a short-term income fix to a long-term economic problem.
When America was founded it put in place a system of checks and balances to ensure the efficacious running of the country. Over time various Amendments to the U.S. Constitution have helped the country run effectively, to include more people in our democracy, to safeguard against the rule of a tyrannical, unstable demagogue. (Hopefully a new amendment will end the electoral college.)
Since ratification, the 25th Amendment was invoked six times. What will happen if Trump is pushed to a breaking point? Already he has demonstrated such an impulsive and negative temperament, one with little room for discernment, strength and poise. He is not intellectually savvy, though cunning for sure. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it best about the real Donald Trump: “Imagine—if you dare, imagine—imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
Our children and our children's children should never expect their President to threaten someone or anyone with physical or emotional violence. Trump tells us that he is a Presbyterian, a Christian. Christians are taught to put their swords back in their place. Further, one Proverb goes like this, "Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways." Thankfully, the 25th Amendment to the Constitution will allow for a legitimate (legal) remedy to remove Trump from office if his cabinet discerns him incapable of carrying out the duties of his office.
I do not envy Trump; I do not support his lack of vision for America, or that his proposals lack measure or detail. I, like all Americans, must now transition to a Trump Presidency. I, like all Americans must get to know the 25th Amendment better, and quickly. I, like all Americans must hope that Trump’s cabinet and party have the grit to enact the 25th Amendment in a moment’s notice.