Finian Cunningham: Trump is Completely Delusional.
The 25th Amendment was written and ratified to clarify procedures for presidential succession and to establish a process for handling situations where the president is temporarily or permanently unable to perform the duties of office.
Article republished by Jerry Alatalo | November 14, 2026
[Editor’s note: For those who still haven’t become familiar with the 25th Amendment (Passed – 1965, ratified – 1967) to United States Constitution, here is the full amendment as written:
Passed by Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 1967.
Section 1.
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2.
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3.
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4.
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
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America’s Gambler-in-Chief Is Staking Global Disaster
By Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture
November 14, 2026
Christmas is coming early, with Trump promising good news of peace soon, not just in Ukraine but also with Iran.
So, Christmas is coming early, with Trump promising good news of peace soon, not just in Ukraine but also with Iran. Ho, Ho, Ho, pull the other one.
“You’ll be seeing a lot of things over the next week,” said the U.S. president, citing a “big beautiful agreement” in Ukraine and with Iran.
Trump, by now, we should realize, is completely delusional. Nothing he utters can be taken remotely seriously. If there is any logic to be gleaned, it is more likely to be a desperate attempt to create the illusion of good news and rig the financial markets one more time for his clique of speculators.
Yes, there were talks in Abu Dhabi this week between Russian and Ukrainian delegates, supposedly to explore a peace settlement to the largest land war in Europe since WWII. The meeting was described in Western media reports as “brokered by the U.S.” Don’t you just love how a proxy war that was instigated by Washington and its NATO vassals is now supposedly being mediated by the same instigators for a peace deal?
In any case, there is no sign that these talks will yield anything substantive because the Ukrainian regime is being coddled by European leaders who have no intention of letting diplomacy succeed. And this US president likes selling weapons to Ukraine subsidized by European taxpayers.
As for Trump’s braggadocio regarding Iran. Here, we can say for sure that he is certified cuckoo.
He told C-SPAN on Monday, “We won Iran,” and he claimed that the Iranian leadership “wants a deal”. During the same rant, Trump also reiterated that “we’re locked and loaded” and ready to “knock it [Iran] out fast… if reasons change.” Hardly the spirit of a peacemaker.
The White House is claiming that talks are underway with Iran, and that Qatar is acting as a mediator.
This is while multiple oil tankers are on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, and no shipping is permitted to pass out of the Persian Gulf without Iranian approval, as has been the case since Trump launched his illegal war nine months ago. Even U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted this week – laughably – that Washington has failed to gain control over the critical oil shipping route. Rubio pleaded with Western states to help salvage the impasse on his way to the G7 summit in Paris.
Major General Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s top national security chief, dismissed Trump’s claims about “control” and peace talks as “pure lies.”
Rezaei said Trump is flailing like a “desperate gambler” who is “manufacturing fake news” in a bid to lower crippling oil prices that are wrecking the U.S. economy.
Iran has consistently repeated that there will be no talks with the United States until Iran’s conditions are met. Those conditions include: ending all war fronts against Iran, Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen; lifting historic sanctions off Iran; releasing Iran’s frozen assets; and for Washington to accept a new security reality for the region involving withdrawal of its military.
Tehran has warned that if the U.S. chooses to resume hostilities, the next phase of war will be without geographic limits, implying that Iran’s targets would include American bases in Europe and elsewhere. Unlike Trump, Iran appears not to be bluffing.
Iran unveiled a new “missile city” this week, safely protected under its vast mountain ranges. In the Iranian arsenal are ballistic missiles like the Khorramshahr that can hit targets 4,000 kilometers away. It doesn’t seem a coincidence that the Pentagon reportedly began removing aircraft from bases in England.
American geopolitical analyst Mike Adams contends that Trump is cynically talking up peace talks with Iran as a cover for a “surprise kinetic attack.”
He points out Trump’s track record of boasting about diplomatic outreach with Iranian officials only to turn around and launch the murderous aggression on February 28, in which Iran’s religious leader, Seyed Ali Khamenei, was assassinated by a US-Israeli air strike.
Adams notes that a third aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, is en route from Singapore to the Persian Gulf region. It joins the USS Washington and USS George HW Bush strike groups already present.
“Why would a third carrier group be going to the Persian Gulf if Trump planned to end the war? Until the U.S. Navy leaves the region, this war is not over.”
Adams adds: “Trump has completely lost his mind, so anything is possible.”
Trump’s egoism and narcissism cannot accept the reality that his reckless war against Iran has cost his Republican Party a humiliating defeat in the mid-term elections and turned him into a lame-duck loser. American citizens voted en masse against war amid an economic disaster unleashed by that criminal war.
That’s why Trump, the gambler-in-chief, is likely to double down and bet the house on trying to salvage something that resembles a “good news win,” not based on reality, but based on gratifying his ego.
But in betting the house and escalating war on Iran, the repercussions for the global economy will make the turmoil so far look like a picnic. Iran has warned that if it is attacked, it will effectively sink the global economy by shutting down the Persian Gulf as an energy and fertilizer source for decades to come. And who could blame Iran for such retaliation as it faces repeated psychopathic threats of “wiping out a nation”?
It says something about the state of U.S. politics and Trump as an individual when a president is boasting about making peace while hovering his hand over a global detonation.
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.
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(Source/credit: LewRockwell.com)
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