Presidential Mental Health: Checks or Illusions?

0:00On March 30, presidential decisions can literally mean life or death for millions, so the U.S. has constitutional checks to handle any leaders, mental slip-ups, but do they really hold up? Donald Trump recently boasted again about asing what he calls a tough cognitive test meant for spotting issues in older folks. Still, polls show 61% of Americans think he's gotten more erratic with age and 56% doubt his mental sharpness for big, challenges. These worries hit hard when you think about the stakes, like sending troops to the Middle East, or disrupting gulf gas that farmers need for, fertilizer. That could leave 45 million people facing starvation if food production tanks. Folks have long since problems through TV screens, just like with Joe Biden before he dropped his rerun bid. His team hid warnings about maybe needing a wheelchair, and history's full of secrets too, from John F. Kennedy, popping amphetamines, and steroids. Given the Cuban Missile Crisis to Winston Churchill's heavy drinking noted by allies,

1:01safeguards exist, like Congress needing to approve war declarations, or the 25th amendment letting the vice president and cabinet suspend. Powers as someone's unfit, but in reality, these rarely kick in without the president's okay. Like George W. Bush's quick medical handoff, because inner circles stay loyal. At the end of the day, these protections only work if those closest to power put country over boss, keeping us all from riding shotgun and asswerving. Superpowered truck, headed for a disaster.