Trump barely playing checkers let alone three-dimensional chess
Vice-chair of the Jan. 6 committee Liz Cheney attempted to reboot sanity and reality when she rejected any suggestion that Donald Trump is too stupid or ignorant to be held responsible for his actions. “This, of course, is nonsense,” Cheney said at a recent hearing. “President Trump is a 76-year-old man. He is not an impressionable child. Just like everyone else in our country, he is responsible for his own actions and his own choices.”
A strong principle of criminal law Is that to find someone guilty of a crime one must prove intent. There is a theory afloat when it comes to Trump’s actions before and during the Jan. 6 insurrection that he is too crazy and deluded to form intent (i.e., because he actually believes the election was stolen from him, his attempts to corrupt the electoral process don’t quality as a crime). An alternate theory used to explain Trump’s ability to continuously escape accountability is that he’s an evil genius. While it’s difficult to argue that Trump is sound of mind, it’s easy to dispel the idea that he is genius material. His mental illness (most often pinned as malignant narcissist and sociopath) deprives him of the perspective and analytical ability to make smart decisions.
Vox writer David Roberts explained it this way. “What authoritarian regimes do is blunder forward, grasping and grabbing power whenever and wherever they can, building secretive inner circles, surrounding themselves with supplicant state media, demonizing dissenting voices, and punishing enemies. They do this not because of some 12-dimensional chess analysis of the political landscape, but because that’s what narcissism and zero-sum thinking does. They are more like animals driven by instinct than chess masters driven by strategy.”
Whether or not Trump is sound of mind, he is dangerous and should be sent away, whether to prison or in a secure psychiatric hospital.
AK