When historians look back on this period of time, I think they will generally agree on two things. First, that Joe Biden’s mental facilities had declined during his presidency, but that there was little in his actions as a chief executive that negatively reflected on his personal situation. Second, that Donald Trump was totally out of his mind during his second term (partially out of his mind during his first), and that most Americans at the time either didn’t recognize it, or were psychologically unable to believe it or act upon it even if they recognized it at the time.

There are, of course, many of Trump’s actions and proclamations that can be named to evidence his mental decline, but the one that should make it clear to everyone is his latest diatribe against Leonard Leo, the long time employee and chair of the Federalist Society, and its public face for much of that period. Wikipedia defines the 70,000 member Federalist Society as “an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.” It was founded in 1982 in part to check federal power and protect individual liberty (according to its description of itself), and to counter liberal thinking at American law schools. It now has chapters at most of those law schools, and has been relied upon by Trump in choosing candidates for federal judgeships. Again, according to Wikipedia, 43 of the 51 Trump nominees to the federal courts of appeal during his first term were members of the Federalist Society, and six of the nine Supreme Court justices have been members of, or have had other connections with, the organization. During the first Trump term, Trump acknowledged that he was no longer going to rely upon the reviews and recommendations of the American Bar Association for his judicial nominees, but was going to rely on lists provided to him by the Federalist Society, which would do much of the vetting for him. At least, this is what I recall.

I don’t have the statistics before me, but the positions taken by Trump during his second term have been widely knocked down by the courts at all levels, frustrating the president to no end. Trump’s reaction to losing cases in court has (even in his first term) been to badmouth the judges who issued the opinions. And, as you know, his badmouthing seems to have no limits. During his second term, he has continued and increased this practice, which of course does him no good. Within the past few days, he has started on a new tactic, which will also provide him with no benefit, by badmouthing, of all people, Leonard Leo.

Now, it is easy to badmouth Leonard Leo if you are someone whose philosophy differs from that of the Federalist Society. You can badmouth him by challenging his positions, the choices he makes in making recommendations to the president, his ways he has wielded and honed his influence. But of course, this is not what Trump is talking about. Trump is taking a different position; he seems to be blaming Leo for the positions taken by judges recommended by the Federalist Society who have issued opinions which are against Trump’s positions in cases brought before them. It is not only to blame the judges; he is now blaming Leo.

In 2016, Trump said “We’re going to have great judges, conservative, all picked by the Federalist Society”. Last week, Trump said: “I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use the Federalist Society as a recommending source for judges. I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real “sleazebag” named Leonard Leo, a bad person, who in his own way probably hates America.”

What, other than a form of mental collapse, would induce Donald Trump to say this?

There are other signs of mental collapse. How can a president in his right mind tell Maine and California that, unless they change their positions on the ability of a very few trans athletes to participate in certain competitions, that they will cut off all federal aid to the state? How can a president in his right mind be involved in all of the family self-dealing that the Trumps find themselves in now? How can a president in his right mind believe he can simply have people, including citizens, picked up off the street and, even though they have never been convicted of a crime, have them indefinitely imprisoned in third party countries out of American supervision? How can a president in his right mind, simply on his own whim, decide to destroy Harvard University, decide to upset the lives of hundreds of thousands of foreign students in this country, and so forth? How can a president, again on an apparent whim, state that tariffs on foreign steel are going to be doubled to 50%?

Donald Trump is 78 years old, an age when some mental changes can be expected, perhaps, although not as serious as the ones he is experiencing. But there is another fellow, whose mental health is just as suspect and that, of course, is Elon Musk, who is only 53. Musk has clearly accomplished a lot in his short life (although some of those accomplishments seem like they have peaked already and that decline has set in), but he leads a strange life, sleeping in his offices, having children with multiple women and wives, and so forth. But now we see what the problem is for Elon Musk, as he ends his tenure as the not-head of the non-agency DOGE, which has destroyed so many government programs and government employees in so short a time. We now see that Elon Musk is a druggie, presumably always high on something – with ketamine being his drug of choice, but not the only stimulant or hallucinogen that he seems to take on a regular basis. At this rate, you would assume that Musk may never make it to 78.

So, for the past four months, the United States has been under the sway of a charismatic narcissist with declining mental capacity, and a brash non-charismatic narcissist entrepreneur who is constantly on drugs. One of them may be gone for now, but the other is still riding high, Icarus-like, with thousands of followers in all branches of government, and millions of other Americans who have been fooled, are themselves a bit out of balance, or who just don’t pay attention.

And guess what? Our problems are just beginning, and the light at the end of the tunnel is rather dim. We don’t know what the future will bring us as the mind of our president continues to decline. What happens if he loses it altogether?

But……hang on.