Is Donald Trump Mentally Ill?

stumbler · Apr 10, 2019

‘We need to know if he has dementia’: Psychologist breaks down Trump’s alarming ‘cognitive deficits’

Psychologist John Gartner has written an op-ed for USA Today in which he breaks down the signs that President Donald Trump is undergoing significant cognitive decline and must be tested for dementia.

In his essay, Gartner says that he’s been alarmed for several months about Trump’s mental condition, and he said that his concerns have only grown while following the continued decay of the president’s speech patterns.

“In Alzheimer’s, as language skills deteriorate, we see two types of tell-tale speech disorders, or paraphasias,” he writes. “Semantic paraphasia involves choosing the incorrect words… Phonemic paraphasia, which is linked to the moderate to severe stages of Alzheimer’s, is described as ‘the substitution of a word with a nonword that preserves at least half of the segments and/or number of syllables of the intended word.'”

As examples of these disorders, Gartner recalls the president demanding to know the “oranges” of the Mueller probe, as well as references to “midtowm” and “midturn” elections.

While these slip-ups could be excused as harmless gaffes, Gartner says they’re only one sign that Trump’s mental faculties are failing.

“Trump’s speech patterns appear even more disordered when you go beyond the sound bite and look at a whole speech. He careens from one thought to the next in a parade of non sequiturs, frequently interrupting himself in the middle of a sentence to veer into another free association,” he writes. “When commentators described his two-hour speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month as ‘unhinged,’ they were referring in large part to this quality.”

Read the whole op-ed here.
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https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/ne...st-breaks-trumps-alarming-cognitive-deficits/

stumbler · Apr 12, 2019

‘It represents sociopathy’: This ‘damning clip’ of Trump made a former GOP congressman visibly disgusted

Former Florida Republican congressman David Jolly told MSNBC on Friday that President Donald Trump’s proposal to release immigrants into so-called sanctuary cities was more than just “petty and cruel” — it showed he was a true “sociopath.”

“That’s a damning clip you just played there and the reason why is it represents a sociopathy,” said Jolly after host Stephanie Ruhle played a clip of Trump telling an audience that immigrants will steal their homes and cars before shooting them. “I hate to use the term, because of what it conjures up.”

“If Donald Trump truly believes that, that these caravans are full of gangs and thugs and criminals,” said Jolly, “and then at the same time his administration is suggesting releasing these people into cities run by his political adversaries, that is suggesting the president, Steven Miller, and his administration is willing to increase the likelihood of crime in communities run by Democrats.”

“That’s an element of sociopathy that has to be discussed,” he continued. “The president either doesn’t believe his own rhetoric or if he does, he is considering a plan that truly represents a new low.”

“This story has legs,” Jolly added, saying the speed with which it was “independently confirmed” and the timeline of “turnovers at DHS” demonstrated it was true.

“The president truly believes that he has an opportunity to deploy people that he believes are not heartbroken families seeking opportunity, but are gangs of criminals into cities across the country,” he said.
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https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/it...e-a-former-gop-congressman-visibly-disgusted/

Distant Lover · Apr 13, 2019

Truthful 1 said: ↑

Have you ever saught help yourself Stumbles?
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@Truthful 1,

stumbler could benefit by over coming his anger management problems, but he is quite sane, and much better informed than you are.

stumbler · Apr 15, 2019

Terrified Trump takes deep dive in Monday morning manic meltdown ahead of Mueller report release

President Donald Trump, clearly terrified of the impending release of the Mueller report to Congress, turned into a madman Monday morning, taking a deep dive into a manic tweetstorm.

After being excoriated for his claim that all Boeing needed to do to fix the problem with its 737 Max jets was rename and rebrand them – even though hundreds of people have already died, Trump appeared to try another rebranding effort.

The President of the United States is now using the phrase so many Americans and people around the world used after 9/11, and after the Holocaust, and after other historic, tragic events involving mass murder, to describe the Mueller investigation:

*Trump tweet--THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN (We will never forget)!

Trump came under fire on Friday for using the same terminology when he falsely accused Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in this highly-edited, highly controversial clip:

Trump tweet--WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

Monday morning, Trump accused Rep. Omar of having taken control of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelsoi (D-CA), which is false. Also false are Trump’s claims the Speaker has “lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done.”

Trump tweet--Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made. She is out of control, except for her control of Nancy!

Earlier Monday morning Trump again attempted to discredit the Mueller investigation. Many believe Attorney General William Barr will send a redacted version of the Mueller report to Congress today. Many also believe it will reveal far worse results for the president.

Trump tweet--Mueller, and the A.G. based on Mueller findings (and great intelligence), have already ruled No Collusion, No Obstruction. These were crimes committed by Crooked Hillary, the DNC, Dirty Cops and others! INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!

UPDATE –

Terrified, the tweets keep coming:

Trump tweet--The Radical Left Democrats will never be satisfied with anything we give them. They will always Resist and Obstruct!
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*Since Trump is mentally ill and cannot grasp the consequences of his own actions he cannot see that using the phrase "Never Forget" for his own political gain is just scum pond low and far worse than anything he is accusing Rep Omar of.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/te...-manic-meltdown-ahead-mueller-report-release/

shootersa · Apr 16, 2019

Hes right about one thing:
No matter what happens it will be the despicable position that trump colluded with russia, obstructed justice, is mentally ill, and is destroying America.

No matter that the economy is stronger than it has been in decades, Americans (other than butt hurt despicables) are happier than they have been in over a decade and the only cloud in the sky is despicable hate.

But carry on, despicables. 2020 approaches and still despicables ignore the warnings.

shootersa · Apr 16, 2019

Well, shooter can't fix stupid. He can only do so much.

stumbler · Apr 16, 2019

It is amazing to me with all the signs and symptoms of Trump's obvious mental illness his supporters want to talk about the economy. Which was already strong and growing when Trump came into office and the first thing he did was throw trillion dollar deficits at it in a time of prosperity. "Conservatives" can make up excuses for anything. Because Trump.

But now we are entering even more dangerous territory where Trump is trying to spread his insanity to his followers. Which is hazard, and danger, and casting dice for death.

Trump clobbered by ex-White House staffer for ramping up increasingly dangerous rhetoric: ‘Rank religious bigotry’

In a column for the Washington Post, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush harshly shamed Donald Trump for his attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) saying the president’s rhetoric has moved into dangerous territory.

According to conservative Michael Gerson, who frequently bases his columns from the perspective of his Christian faith, Trump has declared war on people of faith because he is, deep down, a religious bigot.

Saying Trump’s inflammatory linking of the Muslim congresswoman to the 9/11 terrorist attack is “cruel, frightening and dangerous,” Gerson said the assault on her faith is an attack on all religious freedom.

“It is cruel because Trump essentially delivered his political rant while standing on desecrated graves,” Gerson charged. “The images he employed not only included burning buildings but burning human beings, drafted into a sad and sordid political ploy. Is nothing sacred to Trump? When said aloud, the question sounds like an absurdity.”

“Trump has never given the slightest indication of propriety, respect or reverence. His narcissism leaves no room to honor other people or to honor other gods. Both the living and the dead matter only as servants to the cause of Trump himself,” he continued.

Gerson then got down to the basic truth about the president.

“By all the evidence, Trump is an anti-Muslim bigot,” he wrote. “Trump has a long history of animus — raw animus — against one of the Abrahamic faiths. By all the evidence, Trump believes that Islam is incompatible with American ideals and that Muslims are, as a group, threatening to American security.”

He then warned, “This is not only rank religious bigotry; it is the attitude most likely to alienate some Muslims from American ideals and turn a dangerous few toward radicalism and violence.”

Admitting that he doesn’t condone everything that that lawmaker Omar says, Gerson said her faith should not be questioned and said her treatment by Trump should be cause for concern.

“Trump’s perception of religious liberty as freedom only for the faiths he prefers is a potential threat to every religious group. What if some future leader views Mormonism as incompatible with American democracy, or evangelical Protestantism?” he suggested. “By what principle would Trump supporters be able to criticize discrimination against such groups?”

The former speechwriter then served up a dire warning.

“Religious freedom is either rigorously equal, or it becomes an instrument of those in power to favor or disfavor religions of their choice. And those believers who are currently in favor may someday discover what disfavor is like,” he concluded.

You can read the whole piece here.
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https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/tr...ly-dangerous-rhetoric-rank-religious-bigotry/

stumbler · Apr 16, 2019

Conspiracy theory scholars explain why Trump’s paranoid rants are historically unprecedented

From rants about former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate to paranoid ramblings about the “Deep State,” to fact-free declarations about “illegal votes” costing him the popular vote in the 2016 election, President Donald Trump has publicly spouted conspiracy theories in a way that is unprecedented for an American president.

Russell Muirhead, a professor of government at Dartmouth, and Nancy Rosenblum, a professor of government at Harvard, have now written a new book on Trump’s embrace of conspiracy theories titled “A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy.”

In a review of the book in The New Yorker, staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert says the authors do an exception job of documenting just how strange it is to hear the most powerful person in the world talking like an InfoWars listener.

“Historically, Muirhead and Rosenblum maintain, it’s been out-of-power groups that have been drawn to tales of secret plots,” Kolbert writes. “Today, it’s those in power who insist the game is rigged, and no one more insistently than the so-called leader of the free world.”

Additionally, conspiracy theories have traditionally popped up to explain real-world events, such as JFK’s assassination or the 9/11 terror attacks. However, Trumpian conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate and QAnon are literally fiction that have no basis in reality whatsoever.

“There is often nothing to explain,” the professors argue. “The new conspiracism sometimes seems to arise out of thin air.”

Read the entire review here.
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https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/co...ps-paranoid-rants-historically-unprecedented/

freethinker · Apr 17, 2019

stumbler · Apr 19, 2019

Trump facing ‘psychic collapse’ after Mueller’s report puts more pressure on his unstable mind: Psychoanalyst

On Friday, as the full weight of the Mueller report sunk in, proving far more damning that Attorney General William Barr’s memo, Trump dismissed the findings as “total bullish*t.”

That statement seems at odds with Trump’s earlier claim that the Mueller report exonerates him of all wrong-doing.

Raw Story spoke with Howard H. Covitz, Ph.D., a psychologist-psychoanalyst, about the President’s likely state of mind.

Covitz was for many years Director and Training Faculty of the Psychoanalytic Studies Institute and the Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies in Philadelphia, and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. His Oedipal Paradigms in Collision was nominated for the Gradiva Psychoanalytic Book of the Year.

He’s also taught university-level mathematics and psychology in the past. His connectedness to his wife, grown children, and grandchildren motivates his activism.

He contributed his wide-ranging insights to “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Professionals Assess a President,” edited by Bandy X. Lee, which was re-released last month alongside a major Washington conference on presidential fitness (dangerouscase.org).

Raw Story: How did you come, as a psychoanalyst to enter public discussion about a public figure? Isn’t there a rule against professionals speaking in psychiatric terms about public figures?

Howard H. Covitz: I am a staunch advocate of that rule in all situations when there is no risk of catastrophic danger to others. I have chosen to speak out because a man was elected President (and given unimaginable powers to do good and evil) who shows the signs of those people who are prone to doing others harm.

For him, if I take his words seriously, life is a zero-sum game, and he must win all the time. The Psalmist said not about Trump but about the God that so many of his followers devoutly worship: “To God belongs the Earth and all that it contains” (Psalm 24). That’s not the way God-complex Trump sees it…. Furthermore, I must say, that any armed person who is not President and who is doing and saying what Donald Trump says often and openly would be whisked off by the gendarmes to a psychiatric facility for testing.

Raw Story: The Mueller report appears to at least legally clear Trump of collusion with Russia, although obstruction is still an open question. How do you explain Trump’s extreme negative reaction?

Howard H. Covitz: Since Donald Trump was a presidential candidate, we in the mental health community noted in him, one, an inability to see others as people in their own right (subjects with their own needs and intentions) but rather to see them as instruments for his use. Two, a splitting of the world into with-me and against-me camps, and three, an apparent lack of impulse control. He also appears to have no respect for extant organizations, laws or accepted wisdom. He’s shown an absence of nuanced thought (in addition to any question of cognitive decline). He’s demonstrated having only one truth, namely what he wishes to be true. The fact that he has nearly unlimited powers that are not being checked by the Senate or anyone else leaves the values of the Republic and the welfare of the world arguably in grave danger.

Raw Story: How do you think this information will land on the President’s supporters, given Trump’s unique relationship with his base?

Howard H. Covitz: We know the power of the mob and its allegiances to tribal beliefs. But beyond this, we know that the Fourth Estate, to a significant extent, has been wittingly or unwittingly complicit in treating many of Trump’s positions AS IF they were reasonable … they have been complicit, that is, in normalizing the pathological as during the rise of authoritarian regimes.

Having said that, it is difficult to believe that there will not be defections from the Trump cult, if room is made for these people who saw in Trump hope for a better day. I expect there to be efforts (either from the Right or from Russian bots) to paint the progressive camp as seeing half or more in the MAGA camp as “deplorables.”

Speaking not as a psychoanalyst but as a citizen, father and grandfather, it is absolutely necessary for us to avoid any further alienation of the right, including the Religious Right.

Raw Story: Do you envision the President doubling down on his agenda, including severely restricting immigration? Plus, today the President called the report “total bullshit” even though he also claimed it exonerated him. Why can’t the President stop while he’s ahead?

Howard H. Covitz: If, indeed, the elected President’s publicly displayed behaviors are indicative of severe pathology (and I have no reason to believe otherwise), the likelihood of his responding to the pressure of being exposed in any constructive manner is essentially zero.

We have made inroads into treating some such people with success, but this is a lengthy process and is not accomplished under the type of duress that the President is being exposed to with the damning pictures in Mueller’s report. We see from even the redacted report that, without the likes of John Kelly and teams of legal consultants, the six characteristics mentioned above would have moved him to even more dangerous and illegal positions.

He is being portrayed in the report as one who can be controlled – the Emperor, in the report, does indeed have small hands, so to speak. How someone like he will be able to integrate the public shaming that this brings forth for him is not predictable but should be a source for grave concern.

That having been said and, again, assuming again that his pathological behaviors are not all a show, we may presume either an increase in these disturbing behaviors (pulling out of NATO, declaring national emergencies for whatever he chooses to do, ramping up tensions with Iran, using the full-force of the executive branch to leash friends and whip foes, … ), or a psychic collapse.

We saw a notable change in his behavior when he left the White House on Thursday for Mar-a-Lago and refused to take any questions. The next days and weeks should clarify which of these paths he chooses and how much and what kind of violence he chooses to promote. It is impossible to precisely predict the future actions of someone who apparently lives under the belief that après moi le deluge.

These are, in my estimation, the most dangerous times thus far in Trump’s presidency … Dangerous for the republic with dangers for the world and dangerous for my grandchildren.
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https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/tr...rt-puts-pressure-unstable-mind-psychoanalyst/

stumbler · Apr 22, 2019

And once again we can see just how detached from reality Trump is as he just babbles along like a happy little brook to children.

WATCH: Trump delivers bizarre address to lawn full of Easter egg-hunting children

Speaking to children and families from the balcony at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, President Donald Trump delivered a truly bizarre address, touting his own popularity with the nation’s egg producers and bragging about his handling of the economy at an event for people not yet old enough to recite the alphabet without assistance.

“This is 141 years that we’ve been doing this. I don’t remember the first one,” said Trump, who hadn’t yet been born in 1878.

With First Lady Melania Trump by his side, ramrod straight and expressionless, the president went on to thank the White House Historical Association and the Marine Corps Band, but had special praise for “a group of people that do a wonderful job.”

“I love them, I know they like me, too,” said the president ratcheting up the excitement. “It’s the egg farmers of this country, the egg farmers. And they brought thousands and thousands of eggs. I don’t know if you can use them all, but I have a feeling with these young, very ambitious children, they’re going to find a reason.”

“Maybe most importantly, I want to wish everybody a very happy Easter,” Trump said, celebrating one of the most holy days in the Christian religion -the resurrection of Jesus Christ- by touting his handling of the economy. “Our country is doing fantastically well. Probably the best its ever done economically. We’re setting records on stock markets, we’re setting records with jobs, and unemployment numbers are the lowest they’ve ever been.”

“And do we love our military? Our military’s building, is literally being completely rebuilt,” Trump continued, commemorating Easter with boasts about the nation’s ability to prosecute wars against its enemies. “All with great product, the best product in the world, and you know where it’s made? In the USA.”

“So, again, happy Easter,” the president said. “Enjoy yourselves, and I’m coming down right now to be with you.”

“Well, there you have it,” deadpanned MSNBC’s Craig Melvin as cameras cut back to the studio. “The whole scene actually a bit surreal.”
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https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/wa...-to-lawn-full-of-easter-egg-hunting-children/

stumbler · Apr 23, 2019

Trump supporters will try to tell you this is normal behavior for a president. This is someone who is obsessed and so detached from reality he can't even grasp the consequences of his own actions.

Trump self-destructs on Twitter with retweets of far-right group

President Donald Trump went on a retweet rampage Monday evening, flooding his feed with accusations against every Democrat or Democratic appointee he and his allies could come up with.

Trump’s allied organization, Judicial Watch, listed out any former associates of President Barack Obama who may have known about the FISA warrant that allowed monitoring of Paul Manafort and Carter Page.

In the series of tweets, Trump demanded the FBI and CIA “handling” of Christopher Steele’s dossier. Many of the things found in the dossier were found to be true, but Trump seems fixated on the more salacious aspects of the report that have not yet been substantiated.

Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch claimed incorrectly that Donald Trump was the target of a spying operation by the Department of Justice, FBI, NSA, CIA and State Department.

Trump then promoted a convoluted tweet from conspiracy theorist and Texas Republican Louie Gohmert.

“What I have accumulated here is absolutely shocking upon the realization that #Mueller’s disreputable, twisted history speaks to the character of the man placed in a position to attempt to legalize a coup against a lawfully-elected President,” Gohmert said, tweeting a link from Sean Hannity’s website.

The president then closed with photos of the first lady at the White House Easter Egg Hunt.

You can examine the insanity closer at @RealDonaldTrump.
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https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/trump-self-destructs-twitter-retweets-far-right-group/

stumbler · Apr 23, 2019

Trump's panic and desperation is still glaring.

Trump spent the morning in a white-hot Twitter meltdown — here are the 6 most unhinged moments

President Donald Trump evidently woke up angry Tuesday morning, and spent the first hours of his day airing his grievances on Twitter.

The president fired off 11 tweets before 8 a.m. attacking specific members of the media, while praising “Fox & Friends” and a friendly Fox Business reporter, and urging the U.S. Congress to get involved in monitoring Twitter for political content.

Here are the six most bizarre tweets Trump posted — in just one morning.

Trump inadvertently called attention to a scathing New York Times column by Paul Krugman, whom he called “stupid” and “obsessed with hatred.”

Trump followed that up with an attack on Krugman’s employer, which he denounced as “the enemy of the people,” and repeated his false claim that the newspaper apologized to him for its 2016 election coverage.

Next he moved on to an attack on his Democratic opponents and the news media, in general, which he claimed had been driven *“totally insane” by the Republican agenda, and Trump promised more of that.

Less than 10 minutes later, Trump whined that he should be “immune from criticism” because the economy was doing well, and apparently forgot that President Bill Clinton was impeached during an economic boom 20 years ago.

Trump next **roared at MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who he derided as *“dumb and sick” for pointing out the president’s poll numbers had sunk after the Mueller report to levels he hadn’t plumbed since he had praised neo-Nazi supporters following the deadly Charlottesville rally.

The president then turned his attention to Twitter itself, quoting a Fox Business host he likes and threatening congressional oversight of the social media service in an apparent effort to boost conservative content.
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*Examples of psychological projection.

**Now this literally did make me laugh this morning because I was sitting there watching Morning Joe wondering if Trump was watching too because if he was he wouldn't like it. And Trump quickly proved he was watching.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/trump-spent-morning-white-hot-twitter-meltdown-6-unhinged-moments/

stumbler · Apr 24, 2019

And once again Trump takes to twitter to show just how delusional and detached from reality he really is.

Trump threatens Supreme Court fight in rage tweet against impeachment: ‘No crimes by me at all!’

President Donald Trump threatened to seek relief from the U.S. Supreme Court if he’s impeached by Congress — even though, as he insisted in capital letters, he “did nothing wrong.”

Trump again spent the morning tweeting, focusing for a bit on possible military action at the U.S.-Mexico border, before turning his attention to the prospect of impeachment.

“The Mueller Report, despite being written by Angry Democrats and Trump Haters, and with unlimited money behind it ($35,000,000), didn’t lay a glove on me,” Trump tweeted. “I DID NOTHING WRONG.* If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-month investigation cost taxpayers more than $25 million, about $10 million less than the figure Trump cited, and it’s not clear how Trump is justifying his threat to fight impeachment in the Supreme Court.

Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, a staunch Trump defender, has argued the Supreme Court could overturn impeachment, although the court has previously ruled that it should not review impeachment.

“Not only are there no ‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors,'” Trump tweeted, “there are no Crimes by me at all. All of the Crimes were committed by Crooked Hillary, the Dems, the DNC and Dirty Cops – and we caught them in the act! We waited for Mueller and WON, so now the Dems look to Congress as last hope!”
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*The Supreme Court has no control over impeachment because its already written into the Constitution that Trump does not believe applies to him.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/tr...court-fight-rage-tweet-impeachment-no-crimes/

stumbler · Apr 26, 2019

Mueller report raises fears that Trump’s ‘mental capacity’ is lacking — and getting worse: psychiatrists

A group of psychiatrists has combed through special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and have concluded that it raises several questions about President Donald Trump’s “mental capacity.”

The report, which is titled “Mental Health Analysis of the Special Counsel’s Report on the Investigation Into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,” says that the 400-plus pages of the Mueller report provide “a wealth of relevant information regarding the President’s mental capacity,” which they say is necessary for the president to perform the complex tasks that his job requires.

The psychiatrists then run down how the Mueller report documents a series of disturbing behavior patterns by the president that indicate his mental capacity seems to be severely lacking.

Among other things, they argue, the report highlights Trump’s patterns of serial mendacity, his frequent loss of emotional control, his poor memory, and his inability to consider the consequences of his actions, such as when he ordered former White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller and then ordered him to lie about this order when it was revealed by the New York Times.

Yale University professor Bandy Lee, the lead author of the report, tells the Huffington Post that Trump ought to submit himself to an independent psychological evaluation to ensure he has the mental capacity to be president.

“If he believes he is fit, he should agree to submit to one,” she said.

Read the whole report here.
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https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/mu...capacity-lacking-getting-worse-psychiatrists/

stumbler · Apr 26, 2019

Harvard psychiatrist explains the ‘irritable, pessimistic, angry’ mental disorder that drives Donald Trump to embrace hate

President Donald Trump continued deriding the Mueller report as a witch hunt this week.

He has both argued that the report fully cleared him of wrongdoing and called it politically motivated and wrong.

Trump also said he would refuse to comply with any subpoenas that might come from other investigations into the administration.

Raw Story spoke Nassir Ghaemi, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of psychiatry at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, about Trump’s reaction to the Mueller probe and other investigations of the Trump White House.

He is the author of A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links between Leadership and Mental Illness¸ a New York Times bestseller, about a half dozen other books, and over 200 scientific articles or book chapters.

Since October 2017, he also has been employed as Director of Early Drug Discovery Research in Translational Medicine and Neuroscience at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The views expressed here are solely his own, and do not reflect those of his employers.

Raw Story: First, the Barr memo seemed to mostly clear Trump of wrongdoing and the President seemed to celebrate it. But then, the full Mueller report showed the president had participated in multiple instances of wrongdoing, even if they didn’t meet the standard of prosecutorial action.

Nassir Ghaemi: The President is furious, deriding the probe as a Witch hunt. Can you explain the President’s reaction?

I’ve seen Trump as having manic symptoms as part of his personality (what we call “hyperthymic” temperament). I believe Bill Clinton had the same, as did other effective presidents (Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy). But there is a “sunny” and a “dark” hyperthymia: The sunny individuals are happier than the average person, and tend to be optimistic, bright, and expansive people.

Clinton was like that; so was Franklin Roosevelt. The “happy warrior” phrase captures this kind of leader.

The dark hyperthymic person is always irritable, pessimistic, angry, and has a half-empty view of the world. Such a person reacts angrily to failure, and unhappily to success. I would say Trump fits that description.

Raw Story: How do you compare the President’s reaction to past leaders, like when Bill Clinton was impeached?

Nassir Ghaemi: Again, both Clinton and Trump likely had hyperthymic temperaments, but one was sunny and the other dark; hence the differences in their reactions. The sunny hyperthymic is resilient to stress, and “moves on.” The dark type doesn’t.

Raw Story: Where do you see this going?

Nassir Ghaemi: People with hyperthymia tend to be impulsive, and thus are unpredictable. Hence we can’t predict anything except unpredictability.

Raw Story: What’s the role of mental health experts?

Nassir Ghaemi: Mental health professionals need to avoid two extremes: one is the current standard (the “Goldwater Rule”) of complete silence about public figures. This itself contradicts the ethics of science, which involves the free discussion of competing hypotheses with the confidence that eventually the truth— which is corrected error—will emerge. Science involves refutation of false hypotheses, not censorship of them.

The other is making politically-motivated statements hidden under the guise of professional expertise.

In between, we need to discuss scientifically sound psychiatric concepts, such as mania and depression, as applied to publicly obvious or proven behaviors or traits. What we know about those scientifically sound psychiatric concepts can provide a context to help understand political leadership, but they provide just a context, with other non-psychiatric factors also being important, not a complete or definitive explanation.

I emphasize that public figures give up some privacy rights if they seek to be elected officials, such as presidents. In a democracy, a leader is elected based on the consent of the governed. The governed cannot consent fully if they are uninformed or if key information about their leaders is hidden from them. This is accepted widely now regarding all medical diseases, except psychiatric conditions, because the Goldwater Rule is stigmatizing and contradicts the claims of wishing parity between medical and psychiatric illnesses. Woodrow Wilson had a stroke in office; it is accepted now that the public had a right to know, instead of the knowledge being hidden, leading to de facto governance by the first lady.

A solution could begin as follows: All political leaders would be required to give full financial and medical disclosure during their campaigns. They should reveal their taxes in full and submit to an independent medical board, including psychiatrists, which will review their medical records, examine the candidate, and release a full medical and psychiatric report to the voters.

Privacy claims are misplaced. These leaders can order thousands to their deaths. They should make themselves known to those who they wish to command. In a democracy, this is a fair request. Any psychiatric diagnoses obtained should be open to fair-minded, scientifically based discussion by experts on those conditions.

These changes will avoid the pitfalls that led to the Goldwater Rule and will protect American society from leaders who have something to hide. Further, it will allow for psychiatric conditions to come out from the shadows of prejudice, to be appreciated in the light of day for their benefits, and not just their risks. If it fails to drop its current quietist self-censorship, American psychiatry runs the risk of following the lead of Soviet psychiatry. In the USSR, dissidents were hospitalized psychiatrically, diagnosed with schizophrenia (after all, it was delusional to reject communism), and even treated with antipsychotic medications. This approach isn’t likely in a democracy. The errors in America will be of omission.

American psychiatry stays on the sidelines, while a president criticizes his opponents as “crazy” and “nuts,” fleeing from the professional obligation to fight prejudice against mental illness, even if—especially if—it comes from the president of the United States. American psychiatry stays on the sidelines, while a leader with an authoritarian bent shows empathy to his political base and enmity to those who are different.

Neo-Nazi demonstrations occur and aren’t condemned. Nonwhite nations are ridiculed with profanity, Muslims are denigrated, Hispanic immigrants are vilified. Allegations of sexual infidelity and harassment are ignored or discredited. Some nations and leaders are embraced, and others rejected and isolated, with questionable rationale. The risk of military conflict in some affected regions, like the Middle East, rises. Still, the psychiatric profession—which has much to offer to public discussion about xenophobia, the social psychology of sexism, and the harms of war and violence—remains silent. It needs to speak.
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https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/ha...al-disorder-drives-donald-trump-embrace-hate/

stumbler · Apr 27, 2019

And this is just one instance of delusion in the speech. Trump also had trouble just trying to read his teleprompter.

Trump Acts Out Paris Terror Attacks on NRA Stage, Complete With Shooting Gestures and Sound Effects

President Trump appeared to re-enact the 2015 Paris terror attacks in his speech at the National Rifle Association's conference Friday, claiming the country's strict gun laws were to blame for the attack's high death toll. Trump said that if “there was one gun being carried by one person on the other side” who had “aimed at the opposite direction,” there “very well could’ve been a whole different result.” *He then started making shooting gestures with his hands, complete with sound effects, while saying, “Get over here! Boom. Get over here! Boom. And then they left.” The terror attacks killed 130 and injured 350, making it the deadliest attack in France since World War II.
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*And why would Trump use a terrorist attack in France? We have way more mass shootings right here. You know America first.And the answer is because he is mentally ill and detached from reality.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump...lete-with-shooting-gestures-and-sound-effects

Distant Lover · Apr 28, 2019

stumbler said: ↑

And this is just one instance of delusion in the speech. Trump also had trouble just trying to read his teleprompter.

Trump Acts Out Paris Terror Attacks on NRA Stage, Complete With Shooting Gestures and Sound Effects

*And why would Trump use a terrorist attack in France? We have way more mass shootings right here. You know America first.And the answer is because he is mentally ill and detached from reality.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump...lete-with-shooting-gestures-and-sound-effects
Click to expand...

Trump's real problem, and ours, is that he is morally inferior.

shootersa · Apr 28, 2019

The ongoing butt hurt dispicables feel is because Trump is not a likable fellow.

stumbler · Apr 28, 2019

Trump rambles incoherently in border interview: Dems should ‘get off their ass’ and ‘solve’ my wall problem

President Donald Trump on Sunday accused Democratic lawmakers of sitting “on their ass” instead of capitulating to his demand to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The president made the remarks during an appearance on Sunday Futures with Maria Bartiromo, who was broadcasting from the border area.

“What we need is new laws that don’t allow this so when somebody comes in, we say sorry you’ve got to go out,” Trump opined. “We don’t need a court system. We have a court system that has 900,000 cases behind it. In other words they have a court which needs to hear 900,000 cases.”

“How ridiculous is this?” he added. “This has been building up for many years and it’s just a system that Congress can fix, Maria, and they don’t get off their ass and it’s the Democrats that can solve it so quickly because we have all of the infrastructure and I’ll have the wall up, by the end of next year, most of the wall will be up.”

“Do you see that happening in 2019?” Bartiromo asked, referring to bipartisan legislation.

*“Yeah, Lindsey [Graham] has been great,” Trump opined. “We have a package of things that we’re asking for, and we’re actually going for a much bigger package than rather than those little things which are not little at all in terms of their importance, but we’re making a plan where we’re really talking about immigration laws at a much larger scale and we also have a plan for people coming in because we have so many companies coming into the United States because of my plan and because of our tax cuts and the tax plan, it’s really tax cut and jobs plan, we have so many companies — you know it better than anybody.”

Watch the video below from Fox News.
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*Just babbling right along like a happy little brook.

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Is Donald Trump Mentally Ill?

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