J.D. Vance for president?
To the editor:
Former President Trump’s bedtime reading might be “Mein Kampf,” but for J.D. Vance, I would put my money on the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Why? The 25th Amendment addresses issues related to presidential succession and disability, J.D. Vance’s ticket to the 48th presidency of the U.S.A.
Section 4 of the 25th, to paraphrase, allows the vice president and a majority of the executive cabinet to declare to the leaders of the House and Senate that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the vice president immediately assuming the powers and duties of the office as acting president. This was reportedly considered in light of Mr. Trump’s support of the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, but dismissed with insufficient support. But, day by day, we see evidence mounting of his decline, cognitively, emotionally and temperamentally.
How likely is it that Donald J. Trump will be able to complete a four-year presidential term? Campaign insiders have said he seems exhausted. We will never see his promised medical records. But his age, his weight, his diet and his lack of exercise all put him at high risk for a stroke or heart attack.
So, J.D. Vance might just wait for a disabling medical event. But how long does he need to pretend the changes in Mr. Trump’s cognitive status can be ignored. Eight years ago, Mr. Trump could articulate his positions clearly and consistently, with calculated efficiency. He could make you believe nearly anything and convincingly rationalize positions that might clearly harm you or the nation. He could “kill someone on the street” and talk his way out of it. Today he has trouble stringing sentences together. He mixes up the names of countries and their leaders, confuses Biden with Obama, doesn’t know what state he is in during rallies, and trashes Detroit when he’s in Detroit. He mispronounces or slurs words. He substitutes nonsense words or changes direction. He repeats himself, going on and on about sharks, washing machines, Hannibal Lector and disproven allegations of immigrants eating pets. He no longer seems to consider what he is saying or its impact. He has lost the normal judgment and inhibition of a person who is all there.
The Trump campaign can no longer hide the obvious. The Donald J. Trump of 2024 is not the Donald J. Trump of 2016 or 2020. Love him or hate him, today’s Donald J. Trump is cognitively and emotionally unfit to fulfill the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America.
Grandpa’s losing it. J.D. Vance knows this better than anyone. J.D. Vance is smart, calculating, shrewd, and ruthless, if nothing else. And you can be sure that there are more than enough conventional Republican politicians that would love to get out from under the yoke of Donald J. Trump to line up in support of J.D. Vance invoking the 25th Amendment.
So, before you pull that lever for Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, Nov. 5, get to know J.D. Vance, the 48th president of the United States.
Steven Sonnenberg MD
Saranac Lake