Since he's a Florida resident, could Donald Trump be Baker Acted?
News and commentary for all Americans from a Florida perspective
By J.C. Bruce
Do you know someone who may be having mental health issues—perhaps a friend, or family member, or elected official?
If so, are you curious how you can get them the help they may need?
Well, if you are in Florida where I live, you may be in luck. We have this law called the Baker Act, and it allows cops or judges, or medical professionals to detain individuals who show evidence of mental infirmity under certain circumstances.
For instance, what if you knew of someone who was prone to murdering people on the high seas, sneaking into foreign countries and kidnapping their leaders, threatening to invade his neighbors, or who hallucinated that he was being applauded at a Knicks game when, in reality, he was being booed by thousands of people?
Would that be enough to Baker Act him?
Let’s see if we can sort this out. According to the law, a person who claims Florida as his official residence can be detained if:
There is reason to believe the person has a mental illness.
The person with a mental illness refuses to be examined so his illness can be diagnosed.
Without care or treatment, the person is likely to suffer from severe neglect or pose a serious threat of harm to themselves or others.
Of course, we’re talking about Donald Trump. This rumination is prompted by a letter from a reader this week suggesting that the president’s displays of derangement are becoming so severe—while he’s awake, anyway—that he needs to be Baker Acted.
Snatching someone from their home—unless they are, say, the president of Venezuela—requires that those previously mentioned criteria be met. It’s a high bar.
Trump certainly qualifies as a Florida resident.
He is unquestionably a threat to others. Remember, this is the guy who just launched a war in the Mideast in which the first round of attacks killed more than 100 schoolchildren. And he’s bragged about the big red button on his desk that would allow him to launch the nation’s more than 3,000 nuclear warheads, likely ending all life on Earth.
His own niece, Mary Trump, a psychologist, says her uncle meets all nine diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder and that his condition goes “far beyond garden-variety narcissism.”
That said, she hasn’t actually examined him.
Has anyone? Well, yes.
Trump claims to have aced the Montreal Cognitive Assessment by being able to repeat the words: Person. Woman, Man. Camera. TV. However, the Montreal test is not a test for sanity, or IQ, for that matter, even if Trump asserts that he is a “stable genius.” It’s a test for early signs of Alzheimer’s.
But going back to our criteria for being Baker Acted, it appears that Trump has, indeed, volunteered to at least be seen by physicians who have administered some tests, so that alone would likely disqualify him for detainment, even though there is reason to believe he may have personality disorders and is clearly threatening.
Clever idea. But just too easy.
No, for his own sake and the sake of the country, and to ensure that he is no longer a danger to others, he needs to be removed through impeachment or the implementation of the 25th Amendment.
That latter approach requires the cooperation of his sycophantic Cabinet. So, it is unlikely.
Impeachment is certainly possible. After all, he was impeached twice in his previous term of office, although never convicted.
That won’t happen this term either unless Democrats regain the House and Senate.
And that is in all of our hands. Forget the Baker Act.
Vote.
J.C. Bruce, the founder of Tropic Press, is an award-winning author and journalist who holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida.
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J.C. Bruce
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November is coming. (Deliberate nod to Game of Thrones). My personal view is that if Byron Donalds wins the governorship, Florida is lost. Every single one of us should be throwing ourselves into winning that race. My favorite activity is canvassing. I love talking to voters.