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Donald Trump is mentally ill,\u201d California Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> told TIME and other media outlets in a statement after the President<\/a> made remarks Monday suggesting an attack by Iran<\/a> on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego would be \u201ca small price to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cTIME FOR THE 25TH!\u201d Newsom added, in apparent reference to the 25th Amendment<\/a>, a constitutional provision that establishes procedures for presidential succession and for replacing or declaring a President unable to perform their duties. Newsom has referred to the 25th Amendment before<\/a>, alongside other lawmakers and critics, who have suggested that, among other things, Trump\u2019s struggle to find an off-ramp for the war<\/a> he started with Iran in February\u2014and his expressions of willingness to let civilians in Iran<\/a> and the U.S. die en masse\u2014suggest that he is unfit to hold office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n The California politician, serving his last term as governor, is widely seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate<\/a> in the 2028 election. Newsom and Trump have clashed over a host of issues, including immigration enforcement<\/a>, environmental and climate policy<\/a>, and state funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Trump made his recent scrutinized remarks at a rally in Nebraska<\/a>, as he sought understanding from voters grumbling about the costs of the war<\/a>. Trump initially promised to end it in weeks, and Democrats, including Newsom, have criticized him for prolonging the conflict.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,\u201d Trump said of letting the conflict rage a few more weeks until after the U.S. midterms, after which he has vowed the war will come to an end<\/a>. \u201cThey can take out a city. Let them take\u2014let it\u2014let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. That\u2019s\u2014this is a very small price to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In separate posts across multiple social media accounts following Trump\u2019s Monday remark, Newsom warned<\/a> that the President\u2019s comment was not only \u201cmadness\u201d but also \u201cdangerous\u201d and \u201cderanged.\u201d Speaking to journalist Jim Acosta<\/a>, Newsom argued<\/a> that the statement puts over 130,000 active-duty military personnel stationed in San Diego at risk: \u201cDon\u2019t think for a second our adversaries aren\u2019t listening to that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Newsom also claimed that Trump\u2019s remark could be \u201ctreasonous.\u201d He posted<\/a> that the President\u2019s statements make one of the U.S.\u2019s largest naval hubs<\/a> a potential target and that he directed California\u2019s State Threat Assessment Center \u201cto actively monitor the situation in the event that foreign actors interpret the President\u2019s remarks as an invitation to target\u201d the state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The White House has defended Trump\u2019s remark on the California cities and claimed that it\u2019s being misinterpreted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe media freakout over President Trump\u2019s comments is not rooted in reality,\u201d White House Communications Director Steven Cheung posted on social media<\/a>. \u201cHe was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped. America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Trump\u2019s statement on Los Angeles and San Diego has since become fodder for California\u2019s Democratic politicians ahead of the November general elections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThirteen million Californians call LA and San Diego counties home,\u201d Democratic gubernatorial candidate<\/a> Xavier Becerra posted<\/a> on social media. \u201cTheir lives are not a \u2018small price to pay\u2019 or a punchline for Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Democratic mayors of those cities also rebuked Trump. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called<\/a> the President\u2019s remark \u201ccompletely irresponsible,\u201d adding<\/a> that the \u201crole of a President is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives.\u201d Todd Gloria, San Diego\u2019s mayor, posted<\/a> that his city was \u201cnot collateral damage\u201d in the war with Iran, and exclaimed: \u201cKeep our city out of your reckless war talk.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n More than 40 Democratic members of U.S. Congress representing California, including Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, also signed a statement<\/a> demanding that Trump apologize to more than 16 million Americans living in the cities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n And it\u2019s not just Democrats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jim Desmond, a Republican candidate for a U.S. House seat in the state\u2019s 48th congressional district, disagreed<\/a> with Trump\u2019s remark. \u201cAs a Navy veteran, I served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war,\u201d Desmond posted on X. \u201cOur job is to keep Americans safe, stand up to our enemies, and make sure a threat like that never becomes reality. No American city is expendable, and no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Speaking to a local Fox affiliate<\/a>, Rep. Kevin Kiley, a former Republican running for reelection as an independent in California\u2019s 6th congressional district, said that while there is \u201cno evidence\u201d Iran could strike a city in the state, \u201csuch rhetoric is unhelpful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Trump\u2019s \u201csmall price to pay\u201d phrasing isn\u2019t new\u2014he made a similar comment about fuel costs during a rally in Mobile, Ala.<\/a>, last week: \u201cRemember about the oil: You\u2019re paying a price, but boy, is that a small price than what it would be if these lunatics were allowed to have a nuclear weapon and used it on Mobile, Alabama.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Observers, however, say his comment on the California cities may not be malicious but does signal increasing incoherence<\/a>, adding to questions that have swirled for years<\/a> about Trump\u2019s mental acuity and fitness for the presidency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Those concerns gained renewed attention following Trump\u2019s recent interview with TIME<\/a>. The interview showed \u201cmoments of confusion, incoherence, and paranoia that look like windows into Trump\u2019s mental state,\u201d a politics writer for Slate<\/em> summarized<\/a>. \u201cSuffice it to say that if any other president\u2014or person\u2014spoke the way Trump does, you\u2019d probably worry about their psychological and perhaps medical well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Read More:<\/strong> What Trump Has Built<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Critics have long questioned Trump\u2019s mental and cognitive health, though his Administration has repeatedly argued that the President remains fit to carry out presidential duties, citing regular checkups.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lawyer George Conway<\/a>, a Republican-turned-Democrat and a vocal Trump critic who has called for his removal from office since 2019<\/a>, posted on X<\/a>: \u201cYou can reasonably dispute the meaning of a lot Trump says because he\u2019s so incoherent and inarticulate. But what you can\u2019t reasonably dispute is that he is a sadistic and delusional narcissistic sociopath, at once both psychopathic and psychotic, who is lacking in morality, conscience, empathy, remorse, and impulse control, and whose only concern if a city (in any country, including ours) were to be wiped off the face of the Earth, would be how it affects him.\u201d<\/p>\nOther California politicians hit back<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
Is Trump becoming incoherent?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n