OFFENSIVE – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:  This sounds like the old Soviet technique of declaring opponents mentally ill.  It was first tried against Senator Barry Goldwater in 1964.  From the Daily Mail:

A Democratic congressman has proposed convening a special committee of psychiatrists and other doctors whose job would be to determine if President Donald Trump is fit to serve in the Oval Office.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who also teaches constitutional law at American University, has predictably failed to attract any Republicans to his banner.

But the U.S. Constitution's 25th Amendment does allow for a majority of the president's cabinet, or 'such other body as Congress may by law provide,' to decide if an Oval Office occupant is unable to carry out his duties – and then to put it to a full congressional vote.

Vice President Mike Pence would also have to agree, which could slow down the process – or speed it up if he wanted the levers of power for himself.

The 25th Amendment has been around since shortly after the John F. Kennedy assassination, but Congress has never formed its own committee in case it's needed to judge a president's mental health.

Raskin's bill would allow the four Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to each choose a psychiatrist and another doctor. Then each party would add a former statesman – like a retired president or vice president. 

The final group of 10 would meet and choose an 11th member, who would become the committee's chairman.

Once the group is officially seated, the House and Senate could direct it through a joint resolution to conduct an actual examination of the president 'to determine whether the president is incapacitated, either mentally or physically,' according to the Raskin bill.

COMMENT:  In 1964 a group of psychiatrists ran an ad declaring the Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater, mentally unfit for the presidency.  The backlash against the ad within the medical profession led to new rules barring psychiatrists from making evaluations without direct, medical examination of the individual involved.

I doubt if this new Democratic gimmick will get anywhere.  Trump is eccentric, but he isn't sending nuclear bombers over foreign targets.  I would rather depend on a president's cabinet, those who know the president's actions best, to make these decisions. 

Once again the Democrats are tempted by the idea of government by non-Democratic means.

July 2,  2017