Trump is stark raving mad — and this proves it

I need to inform you of a very serious matter.

Trump is threatening the Center for American Progress, a prominent liberal think tank, with a $5 billion defamation lawsuit over a report concluding that his deployment of the National Guard to cities across the country has had little effect on reducing violent crime.

This is nuts, for several reasons.

First and most obviously, his lawsuit violates the First Amendment. Even if the Center for American Progress’s report is factually wrong — and all the studies I’ve seen on the subject suggest that it’s accurate — the Center has a constitutional right to publish it.

It’s bad enough for a sitting president to file defamation lawsuits against news organizations like the BBC and The New York Times, as Trump has done. It’s utterly absurd for him to file a defamation lawsuit against a research organization that’s come up with an analysis and conclusion he dislikes.

If this lawsuit ever reaches a federal court — and I hope it does — the court should not only throw it out but impose a fine on Trump for filing such a completely frivolous complaint.

Second, for a president of the United States to employ a personal lawyer to make such a legal threat takes Trump’s rage to a new and bizarre level.

It’s also irresponsible for any lawyer to agree to carry out this threat. This alone is grounds for disbarring the lawyer in question, Alejandro Brito. Brito has filed multiple failed suits on Trump’s behalf. Last month, a federal judge in Florida referred Brito for potential disciplinary proceedings after ruling that a suit he filed for the president against the IRS amounted to an improper exercise in self-dealing.

Third, if anyone wanted evidence that Trump has lost it — I mean, truly lost it, as in totally nuts — this is the smoking gun. Trump’s rage at opponents has now morphed into an attack on a group for merely trying to issue a report, the conclusions of which he finds offensive. No sane president would do this.

I’m going to say this as clearly as I can: Trump’s mind has gone. He is capable of doing almost anything, and evidently the people around him are unable to control him. His continuation in the presidency constitutes a clear and present danger to the United States. The 25th amendment must be invoked, or he needs to be impeached and convicted of high crimes and misdemeanors. Now.

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/