Trump’s Lies vs Trump’s Mental Illness (A Most Critical Distinction)

This is a vision of what could happen to Donald Trump but stops a tiny bit short of being a prediction. I could not calculate the probability this will be the actual outcome.

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Donald Trump is a well-known pathological liar. That alone should disqualify him from being the official Republican nominee for president of the United States in 2024, but that is not all. Many of his statements are so transparently preposterous that it is hard to imagine anyone in “right mind” (= sane) would present them in public.

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For instance, his recent claim that he takes credit for capping insulin cost at $35.00, or his denial that he ever demanded “lock her up” with reference to his opponent Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. The instances of these “lies” are too numerous to specifically mention all of them, but official fact checkers number them in the tens of thousands. Some are more and others less transparently preposterous, but all of them are lies, either intentional or caused by mental illness.

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My inference is that these “lies,” certainly the most preposterous unambiguously false ones (based upon fact checks with reference to public records like audio and video recordings, congressional records, executive orders, passed legislation, etc.), are not only lies they are clear evidence of profound mental illness and cognitive decline. I defer to medical professionals with the proper credentials to put names to the mental illness(es) Trump is suffering from.

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It seems rather obvious that Trump cannot sort reality from his internal confusions, delusions, and hallucinations, and that results in his childish tantrums, which should be embarrassing not to mention disqualifying from holding any public office let alone the presidency of the USA. In spite of all of that, he remains popular with his Republican base fueled to hysterical fervor by right wing white supremacist Christo-fascist media, most prominently including the Fox Network, which presents a steady stream of propaganda, certainly not news, certainly not journalism, including actually repeating Trump’s most blatant lies, like denial of “lock her up.”

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The 25th amendment to the constitution of the USA not only permits, it requires removal of a serving president from office if “…the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office…”. Removal would be justified based upon clear evidence that the sitting president is incapacitated.

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This is the first time in history of the United States where some equivalence to the 25th amendment is required to remove an official candidate of an official party in a presidential election. If no such process exists, it is necessary to immediately create one according to sound legal principles and best practices.

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In Trump’s case he must be immediately removed as an official candidate in the 2024 presidential election because he is mentally unfit to “discharge the powers and duties” of that office, for instance authorize a nuclear strike against another country.

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Under current law a parole officer has the right, authority, and clear responsibility at least in Trump’s case, to order mental health testing for a convicted felon because there is sufficient reason to suspect the presence of mental illness.

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Furthermore, I suggest Trump’s attorneys have a responsibility to appeal Trump’s felony convictions on the grounds of insanity, but of course that would require that Trump voluntarily withdraws from the 2024 presidential election, and if Trump’s plea of insanity is confirmed in a court of law, that would likely mean he would be forcibly incarcerated in a mental asylum (behind locked doors) because he does present a clear and present danger to the public’s safety, unambiguously determined by documented instances of inciting violence against his imagined enemies, including prosecutors, judges, families of prosecutors and judges, trial witnesses, former colleagues, political opponents, and inciting the violent insurrection upon the US capital, Jan. 6, 2021, which resulted in multiple deaths and injuries of police officers and civilians.

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Furthermore, it would also almost surely be wise to place Trump on a suicide watch if he is institutionalized in a mental asylum, for his own safety. If things go that badly for him, it seems quite reasonable to infer he would pose a danger to himself, possibly requiring some physical restraint, or prescription of some tranquilizing cocktail of drugs as an alternative to physical restraint.