GENIUS AT WORK

Mr. Trump seems to have missed the point again.

In replying to reports he is mentally unfit to perform the duties of president, he maintains he has always been smart, even some kind of genius.

So what?

The situation at hand involves a kind of mental degradation that most frequently occurs late in life. Folks are talking about pre-dementia or even dementia itself. It matters little how much mental prowess a fellow possessed back in the day.

This is now.

At 72, Trump has already lived past the point when it might be said he is experiencing early-onset dementia. He's well into the prime time for things to break loose and float around in his mental wheelhouse. (Picture that kid's bedroom in Poltergeist.)

His inability to confront this possibility is what we've come to expect from an egomaniac of his exalted quality. The last thing that could be happening to him—as far as he's concerned—is that something bad has taken hold in his brain.

That's where he lives!

It's not that he is in any way an intellectual fellow. Rather, Trump relies on his brain to remind him of who he is: the greatest president this country has ever seen.

Some folks, faced with the possibility of mental decline, might be able to react with honesty and humility. But these traits are utterly missing in Mr. Trump.

(He may realize he ought to possess these traits, so expect him to claim to have them, even if he is unable to act like a person who has them.)

Since there is little likelihood Trump would agree to step down, as prescribed by the 25th Amendment, it would take a 2/3 majority of both houses to force a removal. I think most of the Democrats could be counted on to do their part, but it would still take a substantial number of Republicans to get the job done.

Many from Trump's party have criticized the man in the past, and now that tax cuts for the rich have gone through and been signed, it could be said those guys could afford to cut the president loose. It remains to be seen if they would take such a step.

Maybe after he's incinerated half of North Korea.