No therapy for Trump, but defeat could work

I think I’ve found a genetic anomaly in the Trump family worth noting. She is rational, and someone you’d enjoy as a dinner companion, in your book club, or just chatting in the lobby waiting for the elevator.

I obviously don’t know Mary Trump, but I hail Mary and wish I did. She is a trained and published psychologist. As the cliche has it, she is a “respected professional.” She speaks to us about her uncle Donald with professional distance and personal lifetime connection. Here’s what she said in a recent email message: Listen to Mary.

“I often talk about how important it is to laugh at my Uncle Donald. He’s not somebody to fear on his own — he’s a weak, fragile man who is deeply weird and deeply disturbed. But the harm that his second term office would cause should he make it back to the White House is no joking matter. By now, we’ve all heard of Project 2025 — the GOP’s plan to restructure the federal government to fill it with Donald Trump loyalists who will do whatever he wants.”

She’s been trained and practices as a psychologist, representing more than a few hours with a patient. She grew up in the asylum, close to Uncle Donald, probably victim of his bizarre behavior and certainly witness to it. She has seen it in his adult behavior in the White House and has looked not just to his nutty past, but his dangerous future if elected again. Dr. Trump has probably been a Democrat for a long time, but she has been a niece even longer. Please listen to her.

“There are a thousand reasons why we can’t let that happen. Here are just FIVE of the stated goals of Project 2025 that would have devastating consequences for everyday Americans:

• Defund and dismantle the public education system.

• Gut the Environmental Protection Agency and do nothing to address the climate crisis.

• Abandon Dreamers by getting rid of DACA.

• Roll back protections for the LGBTQ+ community.

• Further restrict access to abortion care.

That description may not be new, but it is clear, concise, and frightening. Mary Trump is presumably a Democrat, but there are widespread indications that Republicans and Independents who see our political world as she does.

There is hope in Iowa for change. It is unlikely that Kamala Harris will beat Trump here, but pollsters with great records of accuracy predict that one, and quite possibly two, congressional seats will slip. Christina Bohannan looks like a winner in her rematch with Miller Meeks. She is ahead and will flip the seat.

In the Des Moines area congressional race Democrat Lanon Baccam is neck and neck with the Republican incumbent and looks to be moving up.

I’m encouraged to believe that Dr. Trump is being heard by knee-jerk Democrats like me, but also by some Republicans as well. Even here in Iowa there are those in both parties who don’t laugh at Uncle Donald, but abhor him enough to vote for some Democrats, including Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

One congressional victory, or even two, don’t make it a landslide, but it would be a great way to begin.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary, and authored a memoir “From Nowhere to Somewhere.”