Letter: Evaluating Trump's mental acuity

The President of the United States needs to be level-headed, highly organized, and a problem-solver. As the leader of a country with 340 million people, this person needs to be able to convey thoughts in a very cogent and understandable manner.

Donald Trump has not displayed these characteristics. For example, when he was recently asked, “If you win in November, can you commit to prioritizing legislation to make child care affordable, and if so, what specific piece of legislation will you advance?"

Trump’s answer in part was:

“Well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down — you know, I was, uh, somebody, we had Sen. Marco Rubio and my daughter, Ivanka, was so, uh, impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue.

"But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that — because child care is child care. It’s, couldn’t — you know, it’s something, you have to have it. In this country, you have to have it.

"But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to, but they’ll get used to it very quickly. And it’s not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country.”

An answer like this one does not inspire confidence that 78-year-old Donald Trump has the mental acuity to be president.

JOHN PIEPHO, Cape Girardeau