POTUS | The Professor's Convatorium

As this once great nation called the United States of America celebrates its upcoming 250^th birthday, over the last decade our country has been struggling and fighting within itself to hold fast to its core values as engineered by its famed 18^th-century Core Founding Fathers and its treasured Charters of Freedom were spelled out on parchment.

But this weekend with Monday, May 25th, 2026, bookends the Memorial Weekend, we remember all of our fallen soldiers since 1776 to the present-day who made the ultimate sacrifice for this land, its citizens, their families, and everything this country is supposed to stand for… we face an uncertain, tumultuous next two years and beyond. We Americans are not only memorializing our fallen heroes this weekend and Monday, but we are also literally fighting for this democracy’s survival against an unprecedented, tyrannical King and his regime of sycophants!

*The proposed Arch de Trump on Columbia Island off the Potomac River will stand 250-feet tall and 165-feet wide*

During Memorial Day weekend up until July 4^th, Independence Day, ironically celebrating the break-away 250-years ago from another King and empire abusing its power and authority without representation from its colonists in the “New World,” we should also be remembering today the sacrifices so many soldiers, men then women, their families and closest friends as well as their fellow soldiers gave when it counted most. But very soon this will all be diminished, tainted, and obscured by a gross and gaudy monstrosity blocking the view of Arlington Memorial Cemetery as seen from the Lincoln Memorial and all other war memorials surrounding the National Mall. This construction of a self-imposed triumphal arch known as Arch de Trump will be a classless eye-sore and slap in the face for all veterans living and deceased by nothing less than a sitting President.

*A rendering of the planned arch as seen from Arlington National Cemetery toward Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, and Washington Monument*

Does this hideous, self-aggrandizing, Caesar-esque waste of taxpayer dollars demonstrate any level of reverence, patriotism, gratitude, and symbolism of a people’s democracy protected and won by our nation’s soldiers in blood? No, not even close. It is pure and simple one man’s deluded self-perception of unproven, empty greatness. Nothing more. It demonstrates the exact same arrogance all dictators, emperors, and kings throughout history built in their own image and a man’s disregard for his subjects, his people, and the enormous, selfless sacrifices made in their own lives and those to follow. Nothing about this repulsive arch speaks to any of those core values this nation has stood for and fought for in blood. This current mentally-ill president is and has been a shameful disgrace to us, to our foreign allies, and to true American history.

Therefore, let us remember what this Memorial Day weekend is really about: the true heroes who gave the highest price for our freedom, liberty, equality for one and all (E Pluribus Unum) and generations to follow, and who didn’t need or want Roman statues of gold, large glittering pools, flashy currency and coins, an Apian Way, museums and coliseums named after them, massive gold ballrooms, or worse, their face carved into Mount Rushmore. No, all these past, ordinary American men and women wanted was to be remembered for their sacrifice. That’s it.

Today, May 24th on CNN.com and again May 25th at 8pm EST/7pm CST, on normal CNN they are airing a special documentary called Why We Dream. It will be a vivid and intimate reflection by living WWII veterans exploring the power of memory and the quiet persistence of trauma and hope experienced in combat. It blends in rare wartime footage, 16mm home movies, cinematic portraiture, and classic film excerpts all directed by Meredith Danluck who created this emotionally driven examination of war’s lasting imprint. Here is a short trailer:

That is what celebrating 250-years means, or should mean. That is what a spectacular, sobering, unobstructed view of Arlington National Cemetery from the National Mall means to all this country’s veterans, living and passed, and their descendants. Let us not forget them and how humble, willing, and honored they fought and died to win, and then protect what it means to be one of many. I repeat, one of many. As the famous U.S. Army Major Richard “Dick” Winters of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles told his grandson who had asked him if he was a hero in the war, Winters answered:

“No… but I served in a company of heroes.”

That answer is what most great ~~Commander-in-Chiefs~~ leaders give. They do not take all the credit and glory for themselves. They fully realize that in order to lead a platoon, a company, a regiment, a division… a nation, a true leader takes little to no credit for himself and humbly gives praise to those around him and the people he serves.

Remember Our “True” Heroes

There is really not much for me to say that hasn’t already been said by the world’s most sane, by the most reasonable, by the most stoic and diplomatic in foreign affairs, by most unbiased news reporters and journalists, and frankly, most good-hearted, authentically patriotic Americans. But now it has become glaringly obvious that our POTUS is, if he hasn’t already, has lost his marbles, his mind, sanity, and any remaining human decency (if there was any) for We the People of the United States and this nation’s good will. And the dissent now includes lawmakers, on both sides of the congressional political aisles.

Miranda Jeyaretnam of Time Magazine and Time.com perfectly sums up in her article what has gone very, very wrong for our POTUS and his MAGA Republican cabinet, as well as for our entire nation:

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump posted on Easter Sunday, threatening once again to bomb Iran’s civilian power plants and bridges. “There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!”

In his childish tirade early, early this past Easter Sunday morning on his social-media platform for kids, the tantrum-throwing toddler of the United States presidency let loose an ultimatum rant of profanity upon Iran’s ruling regime that would have made Sam Kinison cower in shock. And with each passing day and passing week, as Iran keeps demonstrating repeatedly to U.S. White House officials, Iran’s military leadership, missiles, and will to fight to the bitter end has not wavered, has not been “obliterated back into the stone age,” and certainly shows no signs of further weakening. Those press releases and speeches from the administration are merely half-truths, largely ambiguous, or flat out lies. The bottom-line is that Trump’s war is failing. Period. Time Magazine’s Jeyaretnam continues:

“President Donald Trump’s decision to jointly bomb Iran on Feb. 28 despite internal warnings of retaliation and without a clearly articulated rationale surprised the American public and lawmakers. So have his decisions to rail against American allies, offer varying timelines for American withdrawal, and assassinate dozens of the country’s leaders as well as seemingly target civilians and civilian sites, to which Iran has retaliated by choking off the world’s most important energy corridor, dramatically raising prices around the world. Trump’s possible next move, which he has threatened will come Tuesday, has led some to deem him unfit for office.

Trump set Tuesday at 8 p.m. E.T. as the deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face U.S. bombs, despite what he has called “productive” talks towards a cease-fire. Israel has already attacked Iranian civil energy infrastructure, including Iran’s South Pars gas field and oil depots across Tehran, potentially violating international humanitarian law. Trump’s open threat of what could also constitute war crimes has led some lawmakers and critics to call for his Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D, Conn.) posted, “If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment. This is completely, utterly unhinged. He’s already killed thousands. He’s going to kill thousands more.”

Therefore America and Americans, including congressional lawmakers, it is now time to seriously examine removing our acting, yet mentally and emotionally unstable Commander-in-Chief, from office. If the U.S. congress members, both parties, do not proceed with preparations for invoking the 25th Amendment on Trump, the consequences come Wednesday, April 8, 2026, could be so devastating that the United States economy, along with the rest of the free world’s economies may not recover for decades. This is no joke people! This is no joke federal lawmakers!

President Donald Trump addresses the nation about the Iran War from the White House on April 1, 2026. *Alex Brandon—AP/Bloomberg/Getty Images*

“Several Republicans and former Trump allies have also called on lawmakers and Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, especially as Trump previously described Vice President J.D. Vance as having a “less enthusiastic” view of waging war on Iran.

Former Congressman and prominent Never Trump Republican Joe Walsh posted, alongside a screenshot of Trump’s threat, “His Easter morning post. And just 2 days ago, one of his ‘religious advisors’ compared him to Jesus Christ. He will forever be a stain on this country. And the world. 25th Amendment. Now.

Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as the White House communications director during Trump’s first term but has since become a vocal critic, posted, “It was at this point that our Founders thought the best thing to do would be to remove a mad man who has the executive office. It became more formalized with the 25th amendment, but more people now should be calling for this man’s removal.”

I strongly suggest reading Miranda Jeyaretnam’s excellent article, if for no other reason than to be prepared, to be in the know of what seems likely to happen after Wednesday, April 8th. It will be infamous and history making, no doubt. If what should happen does happen, then there is a very apropos poem president tRump should learn and stick to memory, if that’s even possible for him today. Since he likely has never heard of it (Dunne) or understood its poignant and powerful imagery and meaning, then the school-yard bully should’ve learned it and memorized it by high school…

“No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.”

— John Donne