A Democratic lawmaker said on Tuesday he is introducing the “Stable Genius Act,” which would require presidential candidates to take a mental health examination.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Penn.), comes just days after President Donald Trump claimed on Twitter that he was a “very stable genius” in response to questions about his fitness to be in office.
“The President believes he is a “stable genius.” I do not. Today, I introduced the Standardizing Testing and Accountability Before Large Elections Giving Electors Necessary Information for Unobstructed Selection Act to ensure that Presidential candidates are fit to lead,” Boyle wrote on Twitter.
The President believes he is a “stable genius.” I do not. Today, I introduced the
— Rep. Brendan Boyle (@CongBoyle) January 9, 2018
Standardizing
Testing and
Accountability
Before
Large
Elections
Giving
Electors
Necessary
Information for
Unobstructed
Selection
Act to ensure that Presidential candidates are fit to lead. pic.twitter.com/ZalCqySlo8
Boyle’s bill would require presidential candidates to file a report with the Federal Election Commission that certifies “that he or she has undergone medical examination by the medical office under jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy,” the Hill reports.
“Before voting for the highest office in the land, Americans have a right to know whether an individual has the physical and mental fitness to serve as President,” Boyle said, according to the news outlet.
The bill comes on the heels of a Washington Post report that says the president “resents” discussion of his mental health.
Trump privately resents the now-regular chatter on cable television news shows about his mental health and views the issue as “an invented fact” and “a joke,” much like the Russia probe, according to one person who recently discussed it with him.
On Saturday, Trump tweeted that two of his “greatest assets” in life have been his “mental stability and being, like, really smart.” During the tweetstorm, Trump also said that he would qualify not only as “smart,” but rather a “very stable genius.”
The tweetstorm appeared to be in reference to the newly-released book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, in which aides to the president are said to question Trump’s fitness to serve in office.
