Tester, Twitter and the 'stable genius'

Montana Sen. Jon Tester said last week that President Trump would be better off staying away from Twitter.

“I kind of wish he’d put the phone away,” Tester, a Democrat, said during an hour-long question and answer session with a group of Glacier High School students. “The last one on foreign policy stuff is kind of scary.”

Trump has been a big user of the social media platform since his campaign and continues to fire off tweets as president, oftentimes early in the morning and rarely filtered like most Washington, D.C. communications.

Tester was referring to this Trump tweet in particular, in which the President said, “North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’ Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”

Tester claimed the tweets were “counter productive” and that the best way to handle North Korea was through sanctions from all countries and diplomacy, calling for a “coalition of pressure.”

But Trump’s North Korea tweet led some Democrats to question Trump’s sanity altogether. Some Democrats have openly called for invoking the 25th Amendment of Constitution, which sets the parameters for removing a president who is unable to perform his duties as president.

Congress passed the amendment in 1967 after the assassination of former President John Kennedy to clarify who holds power after a president’s death or extended illness.

Tester said he didn’t think Trump’s cabinet would ever use the amendment against Trump.

“I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” he said.

Trump spoke to the matter later in the week in another early morning tweet later in the week.

“...throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star ... to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius ... and a very stable genius at that!”