Funny story: in the run-up to our wedding, about three of the combined five adult children along with some of their children, were all over at the house one evening. It was busy, chaotic, and everyone was more than a little distracted. There may have been some merry-making in the form of cocktails. But with so many adults, you’d think someone would have eyes on the toddler in the room.

At the very last minute my daughter, Charlotte, caught Paul’s three-year-old granddaughter, Jackie, approaching an electrical outlet, curiosity in her eyes and a bright, shiny penny in her hand. Charlotte, veteran of years of church nursery babysitting, with one swift movement quite literally caught Jackie by the back of her clothing, swooped her up, and handed her to her grateful mother with the apology, “Hey, sorry, don’t want to step on your toes but really didn’t want to see her fry”. This is what an adult in the room does.

In September, this editorial ran in the New York Times, and I wasn’t really reassured then (seemed a wee bit like an un-elected, self-appointed coup d’etat to me) and I am most definitely not reassured now. I could go through a long list of his ignorant assaults on our government, the Free Press, basic human decency, and his direct influence on the coarsening of our national discourse but, let’s not. Let’s just look at the shiny penny in Trump’s tiny toddler hand today: The US Constitution. Specifically, the 14th Amendment which he proposes to alter with a stroke of the presidential pen to deny birthright citizenship to any baby born on US soil to immigrant parents.

Let’s not forget this is the amendment, passed at incredible cost, which granted citizenship to black Americans born to slave parents.

General Kelly? General Mattis? Jared? Ivanka? Anyone… ? An adult in the room would tell him not to go to Pennsylvania now, to have the good taste to let the Jews bury their dead without having to see the person who incited the violence which claimed their loved ones. An adult in the room would explain to the Ignoramus in Chief that the US Constitution, while a living document designed to be changed with the times, still requires a Constitutional Amendment and ratification by 2/3 of both Houses of Congress and 3/4 of the States to pass; it cannot be altered through presidential fiat.

An adult in the room would have taken away his cellphone by now, an adult in the room would have his statements cleared through themselves first. Clearly, no one is in control of BOTUS (Boor of the United States) nor is likely to be so anytime soon, he’s not going to get “presidential”, and he’ll never, ever respond to crisis with meaningful solutions or even a whiff of compassion, empathy, or simple dignity.

Ivanka, if you love your daddy (and I imagine you do) get him out of there while he can go on something like his own terms – it’s gonna be ugly if he’s forcibly removed and the splatter will stain all of you. Where are you General Kelly? Secretary of Defense Mattis? It’s time to grab the Toddler of the United States by the back of his shirt collar, take away his Twittering toy, sit his butt in the corner, and safeguard our democracy. Threaten to resign, and go to the press with detailed explanations of whatever is wrong with him if he accepts. The blood he’s shedding by proxy is on your hands, too, and no one is reassured.

Prove to us that there are, in fact, some adults in the room.