Should Presidential candidates be psychologically tested?

Donald Trump mocking handicapped

Maybe it goes without saying that Americans would prefer their President to be psychologically healthy.  But how do we know if our nominees are sane for sure?


One could postulate that anyone running for President is by definition psychologically healthy.  After all, being in front of the public exposes all of your abilities and frailties. It should be easy to spot someone who lives in a fantasy world or by their actions has other psychological problems deserving of a trip to the insane asylum.  How could a psychologically unfit candidate ever get by that scrutiny?

Perhaps there is a type of person who can pass that scrutiny even though they are not truly psychologically healthy.  If there is one such type of person in this election year, my guess is that is Donald Trump.  Now, I am not a psychologist or mental health worker, so my observations are based on my own bias on what I think normal is.

But it is also based on the findings of a group of seventy Republicans who have petitioned the RNC to discontinue funding for their Presidential nominee.  The members of this group have worked with Republicans throughout previous administrations and they enumerate a number of observations they have made about the statements of the candidate that seem to give credence to the questionable state of his psychological health.

Their letter includes the observations below:

• Attacking Gold Star families of soldiers who died serving their country. 
• Urging a hostile country to intervene in a U.S. election.
• Suggesting that gun owners take action against his opponent if she is elected.
• Repudiating our NATO treaty obligations to protect our allies.
• Reportedly expressing interest in the preemptive use of nuclear weapons.
• Exposing his total ignorance of basic foreign policy matters.
• Stating his admiration for violent foreign autocrats.
• Refusing to release any of his past income taxes including those not under audit.
• Deliberately and repeatedly lying about scores of issues, large and small
• His campaign is built on anger and exclusion where he has mocked and offended millions of voters including the disabled, women, Muslims, immigrants and minorities.
• He has shown dangerous authoritative tendencies including threats to ban an entire religion from the country, ordering the military to break the law by torturing prisoners, killing families of suspected terrorists, tracking law abiding Muslim citizens in a database, and using executive orders to commit other illegal and unconstitutional acts.
• Waging battle with other Republicans with his own super PAC and openly refusing to support Republican candidates.

It is also based on the opinion of 50 former Republican administration security experts that say Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the safety and security of Americans.

If you believe that Donald Trump would be a good President, ask yourself why you are supporting him.  Could it be that he appeals to the skeletons in your own closet?  Perhaps he appeals to your secretly hidden worst nature.  Many of his supporters say he is just like one of them.  Does this mean that you are OK with the above list?  If not, then perhaps you are supporting the wrong candidate.

But I digress.  Perhaps it is time for Congress to enact legislation that requires all Presidential candidates to pass a psychological test before we allow them to run for office.  It appears that in this election, if we leave it up to the people to decide, it is quite possible that a person who should be in a mental hospital could wind up being President.

Then again, maybe we should just not vote for Republicans for any office.

Hillary, Paul and Donald and the Further Decline of American Democracy

The GOP has led the attack on Democracy in so many ways, it is surprising that their voting base has not noticed.  Perhaps they are too ignorant to notice or maybe in their deepest, darkest thoughts, they knowingly go along with it.

A few of the many examples of GOP actions against Democracy exist such as legislating unnecessary voting rights restrictions,  eliminating discussion of gun control legislation, preventing the staffing of the Supreme Court and other judge appointments, legislating against the civil rights act, violating citizen protections of the constitution, preventing certain minorities from getting health insurance and the obstruction of the normal functioning of the federal government.  The GOP fight with the government has been a fight against the rights of ordinary American citizens and against Democracy.

Hillary Clinton

Some may think that Hillary Clinton is not an ordinary citizen, and in many ways she is not, but she is also protected by those same rights found in our constitution as any other American.  Today, after a long and controversial investigation regarding her handling of a private server and classified emails, the FBI has found that there was no "intent" to commit a crime.  In such cases, the FBI considers not only the act that occurred, but also the element of "intent.  Without both of these clearly identified, there is no possibility of charges being brought against her.

Paul Ryan

In a statement he presented after the announcement by the FBI Director James Comey, Paul Ryan advocated for prosecution of citizens without just cause.  Ryan stated that not prosecuting Clinton would set a "terrible precedent."  In reality, what Ryan calls for would set the terrible precedent.  Imagine a government official calling for the prosecution of a person based on Republican suspicion.  This eliminates the rule of law which Comey describes and instead institutes a lynch mob mentality based on suspicion.

Donald Drumpf

Someone else in the Republican party has previously mentioned a similar thing when it comes to capturing and killing the family of ISIS terrorists.  That person is the presumptive Presidential nominee and leader of the Republican party, Donald Trump.  Needless to say, Republican leaders everywhere agree with Paul Ryan, and although many secretly also agree with Donald Trump, are not so stupid as to show their true colors to the American people as Donald Trump seems to be.  I don't have to tell you how Donald Trump reacted to Comey's statement, but it was just as self-serving as Ryan's, albeit with more third grade words and aggression.

No one in the Republican leadership has called out Paul Ryan for encouraging a lynch mob mentality because his attitude towards Hillary Clinton is shared by them.  This should give us concern since it shows that the current Republican leadership is willing to turn against our constitution and bend law to their own view of it.  This likely means that they will be willing to support a President Trump's view of Democracy and may set us up for the re-incarnation of an American Hitler President.

It's time for the Republican citizenry to begin to see their leaders for who they really are.  They are no longer the Republicans of the past.  They are no longer reasonable.  They are no longer trustworthy.  Only the base of the Republican party can bring Republicanism back to reality since the leadership and Donald Trump has failed you.