During my lifetime, I have lived through the presidencies of Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. I am now living through Donald J. Trump’s second, nonconsecutive term as president, the first having preceded Joe Biden’s presidency and the second beginning immediately after it. Trump was sworn in for his second term on January 20, 2025.
At various points throughout my adult life, I have agreed and disagreed with presidents I voted for, as well as with presidents I opposed at the ballot box.
For a long time, my objection to Donald Trump was political. I disagreed with his policies, his rhetoric, and his priorities, just as any citizen may disagree with a president from the other side of the political spectrum. But that is not what this is about anymore.
Looking honestly at what I see before me, not one isolated incident or one bad day, but what I perceive as a sustained pattern, I have reached a different and more serious conclusion.
This is no longer simply a matter of disliking a president or disagreeing with his politics. I believe we are dealing with a president who is no longer capable of effectively discharging the duties of the office and who, in my view, has lost focus on the domestic problems actually facing this country: the economy, healthcare, infrastructure, global stability, and the everyday concerns of the people who elected him.
Under Trump, personal grievances have replaced governance and loyalty tests have replaced policy. In my judgment, incompetence has become the norm, while instability has become both a domestic and foreign-policy strategy.
I want to be clear: this is not simply my gut reaction. Over the past several years, mental-health professionals, including psychiatrists and psychologists with clinical training, have publicly raised concerns about what they perceive as erratic judgment, grandiosity, and an inability to separate personal grievance from the responsibilities of the presidency.
I recognize that the professional community is divided on these questions. I also understand and respect the ethical concerns many clinicians have about diagnosing a person they have never personally examined. Nevertheless, when informed professional voices repeatedly express concerns that correspond with what many ordinary citizens say they are seeing and experiencing, I believe those concerns deserve serious consideration. And the consequences, as I see them, are not merely abstract.
Markets can react sharply to unexpected presidential announcements. Allies that have relied on Washington for decades may reconsider how much they can depend on the United States. Adversaries may view unpredictability from an American president as an opportunity rather than a deterrent.
An ideological struggle driven by personal grievance rather than coherent strategy can do more than dominate a news cycle. It can undermine alliances, institutions, and international stability that have been built over generations and sustained through enormous sacrifice.
I do not see tangible benefits that, in my judgment, adequately offset the risks posed by Trump. That is why I now believe the 25th Amendment should be invoked.
I do not say that as a partisan weapon or as an attempt to relitigate an election. I say it because I believe the amendment was created as a constitutional mechanism for addressing presidential inability. Section 4 provides a specific process through which the vice president and a majority of the principal officers of the executive departments can declare that a president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office, with Congress ultimately deciding the matter if the president contests that declaration.
From my perspective, I no longer see this as a close call. I believe those entrusted with examining presidential capacity should look honestly at the pattern before them and determine whether it demonstrates an inability to discharge the duties of the presidency.
I do not put forth any of this out of hatred for Donald Trump. I put this forth out of respect for the country in which I have spent nearly eight decades of my life, and out of concern for what I perceive this pattern could mean for my children and grandchildren in the years to come.
Stability is not a partisan value. Neither is responsible leadership in the exercise of presidential power. After nearly eight decades of watching American presidents come and go, I have never felt more compelled to say that a President of the United States is mentally unstable, totally inept, and unfit to remain in office.
Donald Trump is mentally deranged and is far too dangerous to remain as the President of the United States of America. The 25th Amendment must be invoked, now. Donald Trump must be removed from office!
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