# Should Trump be put on suicide watch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 7, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975 "2020-11-07T14:01:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/21 "2020-11-07T15:27:56Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > That’s not “deep state” either; we’re talking about trained career professionals doing what they are supposed to be doing on behalf of the American people. What they are “supposed to be doing” is upholding their oaths to the Constitution, which includes following lawful orders from the elected civilian Commander-in-Chief. _If_ he gives them an unlawful order, they absolutely should disobey it. But when “career professionals” decide to act “on behalf of the people” against the elected civilian leadership of the country, that is literally a Deep State dictatorship. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/22 "2020-11-07T15:35:39Z")
No, it isn’t. The president is not a god or a king. If he’s a foreign intelligence asset and they know it, everyone from cabinet officials to career public servants have a duty to intervene. That’s precisely why we had impeachment proceedings last year, and it was the total refusal by republican senators to abide by _their_ oath that prevented his removal. Oath to the Constitution doesn’t mean simply following orders and minding your own business like little Nazi death camp guards. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/23 "2020-11-07T15:44:40Z")
“Should Trump be put on suicide watch?” I dunno–I gues if you wanted to _prevent_ it… 👿 ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/24 "2020-11-07T15:45:20Z")
At this point, we’re talking in circles (and Discourse is scolding me for posting too much). _Of course_ the President isn’t a god or king. _Of course_ he’s bound by U.S. laws. But the same is true of members of the intelligence community. There is a Constitutional method of removing a President. Elected civilian officials declined to do so. The fact that you disagree with a verdict doesn’t mean that verdict didn’t happen. Again, _if_ the President actually does something illegal, _of course_ officers of the government should do something about it. But nothing has changed since November 3. Whatever the intelligence community should have been doing on November 3 is what they should be doing now. (And just by the way, I apparently missed the part of the impeachment hearings where President Trump was shown to be “a foreign intelligence asset.” What I remember is that he was shown to have attempted to pressure a foreign government to provide dirt on a political opponent.) ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/25 "2020-11-07T15:46:47Z")
I think pay-for-view is a terrible idea. It should be livestreamed and free for everybody. He owes us at least that much. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/26 "2020-11-07T15:56:04Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Donald Trump is the President of the United States. Period. The fact that he has probably lost the election makes absolutely no difference. There is no actual official position of “President-elect”, and there is only one Commander-in-Chief. The intelligence community “effectively” still works for him, and will up until January 20th. This. > [@gdave](#): > > The intelligence community is exactly the same position vis a vis Donald Trump as they were a week ago, whether you want to phrase that as “working for him” or “reporting to him”. and this. > [@gdave](#): > > But they cannot unilaterally decide that they don’t _really_ work for the sitting President anymore. _Nothing_ has changed since November 3rd. Well… something has changed. We are now expecting Biden to be the president come late November. And Trump might act even less appropriately as a result. And yes, the intelligence community ought to be on the lookout for actual illegal actions of the president. But “giving state secrets to Russia” isn’t an illegal action, when done by the president. Launching nuclear missiles at China when Congress hasn’t declared war probably IS, and that’s the sort of thing where the administration and military ought to disobey orders because they owe a higher allegiance to the country and the constitution than to the president. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/27 "2020-11-07T16:01:33Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > We are now expecting Biden to be the president come late November. This might seem like a nitpick, but it’s actually a key point. We _aren’t_ expecting Biden to the President come late November. We are expecting Biden to be confirmed as the winner of the 2020 election come late November. He won’t actually be the President until January 20, 2021. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/28 "2020-11-07T16:02:54Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But “giving state secrets to Russia” isn’t an illegal action, when done by the president. Launching nuclear missiles at China when Congress hasn’t declared war probably IS, and that’s the sort of thing where the administration and military ought to disobey orders because they owe a higher allegiance to the country and the constitution than to the president. This, back atcha. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/29 "2020-11-07T16:03:51Z")
I don’t feel Donald Trump will seek to harm himself (beyond the usual way he harms himself by talking). I feel he will direct his frustrations outwards towards other people. On the side issue that’s developed, I believe employees of the federal government work for the United States not for the President. Their ultimate loyalty is to the country not the individual. CIA agents, for example, take this oath: _"I, [name], do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”_ No mention of the President (who takes a similar oath). Federal employees are supposed to obey the law not obey the President. The degree to which they follow Presidential orders is only up to the limit that those orders are lawful. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/30 "2020-11-07T16:08:02Z")
Re the OP: Narcissists express their feelings of despair and anger by projecting them outward onto others, because narcissists can never be at fault. Everything that happens in their lives happens to them, not because of them. That’s why personal grievance figures so big into how they conduct themselves. I’m more worried Trump will nuke Pennsylvania than kill himself. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/31 "2020-11-07T16:09:42Z")
Not a nitpick at all. That’s a typo!! (Or a brain fart, I guess.) I meant to write January. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/32 "2020-11-07T16:18:21Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I’m more worried Trump will nuke Pennsylvania than kill himself. - Fortunately, he can’t launch them himself. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975/33 "2020-11-07T16:24:03Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Fortunately, he can’t launch them himself. Yup, He’s not going to kill himself, unless he can take everyone else with him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-trump-be-put-on-suicide-watch/924975.md?page=1)