Trump and the Wacky Baccy.

I gather D Trump has promised to destroy a whole civilisation in one night if the Iranians don’t do as he tells them. Should we take that seriously, or should we remember his earlier claim to be able to end the war in Ukraine in one day? (And it’s interesting to also remember that Putin said he could ‘take Kyiv in one day’ at the start of those shenanigans.) Certain types of people just can’t help dribbling foolish babble, can they? Sometimes they don’t seem to be in control of their own mouths.

So here’s the point. Does Trump’s incessant blathering constitute evidence of mental instability? I’m no qualified psychologist but I do seriously wonder whether there’s any machinery in the US establishment or constitution which could force Trump to undergo psychiatric assessment. It strikes me as being an urgent imperative now.

(And wouldn’t it be a refreshing change to have sympathy for a poor ex-President when we see him strapped into a straightjacket and confined to a secure facility. Maybe Alcatraz could be reopened just for him and his acolytes. That would be nicely ironic.)

Failing that, we’re back to the military having the balls to say: ‘Democracy is to be temporarily suspended while we remove Mr Trump and his entourage to a small rock in the Atlantic approximately a thousand miles south of the Azores with no means of escape. Americans are advised to carry on as usual and normal service will be resumed in about six months.’

It’s unlikely though, isn’t it? As I understand it, Americans are brainwashed from the cradle to believe that patriotism – which includes unthinking and unstinting allegiance to the President – is the one absolute and inviolate requirement for claiming American citizenship. And so that might give the military personnel a bit of a dilemma:

‘If I remove my Commander-in-Chief from office – even if he is an utter loony about to set the hay barn on fire – wouldn’t that be unpatriotic and consign me to the centre of perdition’s flame for all eternity?’

‘That depends,’ I offer.

‘On what?’

‘On the single question: for whose benefit you are performing the act, yours or the American people. The latter, surely.’

‘Oh I see. In that case…’

Still not going to happen, though, is it?

And I’m concerned that this post might be guilty of trivialising what might turn out to be a very serious situation. It’s just that Trump has become such a comic book character now that it’s difficult to know how to react to statements and actions so absurd that they feel like drug-induced illusions.