“Would you let me walk down your street / Naked if I want to / Can I stop by your work on the Fourth of July / Can I buy an amplifier on time / I ain’t got no money / But I will pay you before I die.” – Naked If I Want To, written by Jerry Miller, performed by Moby Grape, 1967

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he does not believe Russia is still targeting the United States, contradicting U.S. intelligence assessments that Moscow was continuing its attempts to meddle in American elections…. Asked by reporters on Wednesday if Russia was still targeting the United States, Trump shook his head and said, “No.” U.S. intelligence officials have said Russian election interference efforts are continuing and now target the upcoming congressional elections in November. – Reuters, July 18 2018

Well, now it’s official. The President of the United States has the mental and emotional capabilities of a four-year-old. And not even a smart four-year-old.

We make fun of the guy even more than we did his predecessors, and that’s because we’re afraid. We’re afraid he will do – or he already has done – something that will get us all killed. We use humor to mock him as if that will somehow lessen or trivialize the risk, and in so doing we might get some relief from the pressure of his having his tiny fingers on the metaphorical button.

We seek to put some sense to his actions because we habitually seek order and reason. Sometimes people say he’s got a master plan, but they know better. Sometimes people say he’s pursuing an agenda, but by the time those words pass their lips he’s already contradicted his words and his actions. We read his latest tweaked polemic and think he’s preparing something nefarious. We look at how he’s gone to great lengths to alienate us from our allies and to form relationships with the worlds’ monsters and dictators and think, well, damn, he’s axis-building. 

None of this is true. Absolutely none of it.

There is a phrase for what he’s doing and what he is. 

“Donald Trump.”

And he’s got the mental and emotional capabilities of a four-year-old. That’s the beginning, the middle and the end of it all. Anybody who trusts him – and I think it would be hard to find a rational person who does, even among his supporters – simply is not paying attention. 

But… we are not doomed. He’s destroyed the Republican Party, he’s alienated the so-called tea party, and he’s pissed off the Objectivists. Astonishingly, each week brings us another prominent Republican who tells us that, in order to save our country we need to vote Democratic this November.

In a democracy, and even in a legislative republic such as ours, nations are nothing more than large collections of individuals. When we stop our political mitosis and unite in common cause, we have power.

We have great power.

And, this November, we damn well better exercise it.

Enough is enough.