at such short notice.’
‘All right.’ Translation: Don’t waste my time with pleasantries. Kassian remembered that one of the very few groups of people who had as high an opinion of themselves as politicians were doctors. They were very seldom overawed.
Now Bruton spoke. ‘Doctor, we wouldn’t be here unless we had one helluva big problem.’
‘I’m sure. But why is your problem my problem, Mr Bruton?’
‘Because we need your help.’
Kassian tried to make amends by adding swiftly, ‘We need your judgement.’
‘Enough with the riddles. Tell me what’s going on.’
Bruton led, as always. He proceeded to describe what had happened during the night. He dropped in the odd military term, always useful when trying to strong-arm a civilian, but otherwise kept it straight. At the end, the Defense Secretary looked over at Kassian. His eyes said: Close the deal.
Kassian swallowed, then said, ‘Dr Frankel. The United States constitution allows for this situation. The Twenty-fifth Amendment says—’
‘I know what it says. I’m the Chief Physician at the White House. Of course I know what it says.’
‘So now you know why we’re here.’
‘Have you spoken to the Vice President and the other cabinet secretaries? The amendment is very clear that any declaration that the President is unfit “to discharge the powers and duties of his office” has to come from the Vice President and a majority of the heads of those departments of the federal government. They’re the ones you should be talking to.’
Kassian shot a look at Bruton. The Vice President was all but an unknown quantity, to them and to the rest of Washington. A former mayor plucked from obscurity by the President, he had cannily allowed himself to become a blank screen on which every faction could project their fantasies. The op-ed pages, along with a cluster of House liberals, imagined him to be the moderate on a white charger who would ride to the republic’s rescue. Meanwhile the party’s ideologically pure wing nurtured the hope that he was a conservative true believer, just waiting for the right moment to emerge. Neither camp had much to go on besides its own wishful thinking.
‘Sir, with all due respect,’ said Kassian. ‘I think those individuals’ first response would be to ask for an expert medical opinion.’
‘That’s what I’d ask for,’ Bruton said, before adding, ‘So this ball is going to come bouncing back to you, one way or another.’
‘Especially,’ Kassian said by way of reinforcement, ‘because you weren’t his personal physician, before January. You’re seen as fair. Impartial.’
Frankel hauled himself out of his chair and walked the short distance to the door. Bruton shot a look at Kassian: Is he about to walk out? Is he about to call the President?
But it appeared the doctor just wanted to pace around the room. He stopped to look at one of the photographs, showing what Kassian guessed was a son’s graduation.
‘I will respect the confidence of this meeting,’ Frankel said finally. ‘I respect your offices, just as I respect the office of the presidency. And I also believe you’ve come to me in good faith. The events you describe are indeed alarming.’
Bruton let out a noisy sigh. ‘Well, that’s good to hear. People said you were a good man and—’
‘But this is not straightforward.’
‘We understand.’
‘I also swore an oath. You understand that, hmm? I’m a doctor. I can’t make up a diagnosis, no matter how expedient – politically expedient – it might be. The minute I do that, I stop being a doctor. I become one of you.’
‘Dr Frankel, when did you last examine the President?’ Kassian hoped to prevent Bruton coming in too hard.
‘I see him once a week. I saw him on Tuesday.’
‘Tuesday? So before the current …’ Kassian hesitated before lighting on the appropriate word, ‘… situation with North Korea. And how would you describe his health?’
‘He’s not young. He’s overweight. He has some diabetes, which he manages with—’
‘What about his mental health, Dr Frankel? How would you describe his state of mind?’
At this, the doctor paused. Then he paced a little more, before returning to his chair. ‘Look, he’s not like you and me. He’s … unpredictable. He’s volatile. He can have strong … moods.’
Bruton jumped on that. ‘And what if those mood swings made him unable to—’
The doctor overrode him. ‘But to declare that a pathology, that’s something quite different. To declare that that makes him unable—’
Kassian tried to find a way through. ‘We’ve seen the evidence of it, Dr Frankel. We’ve seen how his violent temper, his mood, has led him to act directly at odds with his oath to protect and defend the United States.’
‘Are you sure you haven’t seen him merely discharge the powers and duties of his office in a way that you – and I perhaps – do not like? That does not make him unable to discharge those duties. There is a difference.’
‘For Christ’s sake, doctor.’ Bruton was now on his feet. ‘This is not medical school. This is not debate camp. This is not a drill. You’ve got to see that there’s more at stake here.’
‘I do see that.’
‘This is a life and death situation. But not just one or two lives. This is about the life of the whole fucking human race.’
‘I understand. More, perhaps than you realize. But you must see that I cannot make my decision on that basis.’ He looked down at his fingers. ‘You don’t need to tell me how high the stakes are. This cannot be a political judgement. If it is, it’s worthless. It has to be a medical one. They’re not the same thing.’
‘So what would—’
‘I’ve seen some signs of what you describe. It is undeniable that there are signs of … erratic behaviour. But the same could be said of many men, especially of his age.’
‘But we’re not talking about “many men”,’ said Bruton, his patience thinning and his voice rising. ‘We’re talking about the President of the United States, the man with his finger on the trigger of an arsenal that could destroy the entire goddamn world!’
The doctor ignored Bruton. His gaze remained fixed on his fingers. To Kassian, he seemed like a man locked in his own thoughts, wrestling with the dilemma. Now he spoke, but less to them than to himself.
‘The medical question is: what symptoms would have to be present for this to constitute an inability to fulfil his duties? Would we need to establish mental impairment? Is a tendency to ignore evidence, or to act rashly, sufficient? Or must there be clear proof of an unwillingness, or inability, to think through the consequences of one’s actions?
