1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

There are a few things Americans can agree on—besides hating the Dallas Cowboys. (Okay, I’m a NY Giants fan!) But in terms of politics, there truly are very few big issues that we can agree on. That is why it says so much that there is a growing coalition of voices on the left, center, and right who all agree that Donald Trump is mentally unfit to serve as President. If it were only Democrats saying this, then we could chalk it up to partisanship. But that is not the case. In recent days we’ve seen people from Alex Jones to Senator Chris Murphy to the usually reserved Dr. Vin Gupta all raised red flags about Trump’s alarming cognitive decline. While Trump has been mentally sliding since returning to office, this current situation is different. We are not dealing with Trump just posting online outrageous lies or making threats. We are at war because of Trump’s dementia. Many were stunned when Trump on Easter Sunday posted online a threat to commit large scale war crimes by destroying Iran’s power plants. And to be clear, this is 100% a war crime. Add to that Trump—who had just stated last Wednesday that “we don’t need” the Strait of Hormuz--frantically wrote, “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell--JUST WATCH!” And come Tuesday morning, a deranged Trump is openly threatening a genocide of the Iranian people, writing, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Trump is putting our military service members in the position of having to either follow his orders to commit war crimes or disobey orders and risk punishment. There is little doubt that Trump and Hegseth would call for a firing squad for any member of the military who disobeyed Trump’s orders. Adding to the concerns is that Trump held a rambling press conference on Monday, where he peddled so many lies that at this point, we should only have fact-checkers tell us what is true. One of the more unhinged lies was Trump’s claims that the people of Iran are literally begging for Trump to commit war crimes against them and destroy the nation’s infrastructure. That is when he told the press, “We’ve had numerous intercepts: ‘Please keep bombing’ — bombs that are dropping near their homes — ‘Please keep bombing. Do it.’” He added that after US jets drop bombs, they say, “Please come back, come back, come back!” For starters, how exactly did the US “intercept” communications from Iranians, given the total internet blackout? Did people run out of rubble and yell at our jets? And who would want to lose all basic services needed to keep a civil society intact when the regime is still in control?! All of this is why, over the past few days, we’ve seen more voices than ever call for Trump to be removed from office, given his mental incompetence. For starters, MSNOW medical expert Dr. Vin Gupta laid it out clinically for us on Sunday, writing about Trump’s symptoms: “Erratic. Can’t finish sentences. Often confused. Illogical train of thought. Word-finding difficulties. Developing and worsening gradually over time.” He then added this diagnosis: “The President is exhibiting all the signs of dementia.” Reacting to Trump’s unhinged Easter Sunday post, Sen. Chris Murphy wrote on Twitter, “If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment. This is completely, utterly unhinged.” Murphy is referring to Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, which demands the cabinet remove the President when he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Two other Democrats in Congress also cited that very provision of the Constitution calling for Trump’s removal, as did others. Former Trump supporter Alex Jones on his show Monday noted Trump’s “erratic” conduct and incoherent comments, asking, “How do we 25th Amendment his ass?” Former Trump top ally Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote Sunday, calling on people in his administration to “intervene in Trump’s madness.” And on Tuesday morning, after Trump’s threat to exterminate the people of Iran, she upped her demands, writing, “25TH AMENDMENT!!!” adding, “We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness.” The reality is that even before Trump’s surprise Iran war, polls found an increasing number of Americans believed Trump now lacked the mental functioning to be President. The only reason you may not have heard about these polls is that corporate media barely reported on them out of fear of angering Trump and losing access. But polls taken last month paint a clear picture of what our fellow Americans are seeing. One of the most telling is a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll in February before the war, which found 56% of Americans said Trump didn’t have the mental sharpness to serve as President. It’s rare that nearly 60% of Americans agree on anything about Trump. Backing that up is a Reuters/Ipsos poll that found 61 percent of respondents described Trump as having “become erratic.” And in that poll, only 45% believe he “is mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges,” while 49% disagreed. (In 2023, 54% believe he was mentally sharp enough.) Even Republicans are telling us in polls that they are seeing Trump’s mental decline. The recent Reuters-Ipsos poll found among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents that those who are “very confident” in Trump’s mental fitness has dropped in past year from 75% to 66%. On physical fitness, Trump dropped from 65% to 55%. The stakes are no longer about “mean tweets” or “owning the libs.” The stakes are literally life and death. I spoke to Dr. John Gartner of Duty To Warn, and I asked him if Trump’s cognitive decline is a national security concern. He responded passionately: “It’s a national security nightmare. It’s a national security 50-alarm fire!” He then added this bone-chilling line, “We’re on the precipice of what could be a world war, and the person who has all the decision-making power is demented and evil.” Potentially worse is what Dr. Gartner then stated, “Look at Donald Trump today. That’s the best Donald Trump you’re ever gonna see, because his dementia is only gonna get worse.” That means every single day, Trump’s cognitive decline will get worse. But the problem for our nation and the world is that Trump has 1,019 days left in his term. Given Trump’s decline in just the first 14 months, how much worse will it be in six months? A year? Now think about how about two years and seven months from now, which is how much longer Trump has in his term. Democrats need to make this issue a visible part of the midterm election to make the case for a check on Trump’s power. Obviously, the GOP in Congress will never do it. But leaning into this issue will help make the case that Democrats need to control BOTH the House and the Senate. We—and the world-- need a real check on Trump’s power as he further descends into madness while serving as commander in chief of the most lethal military the world has ever known.