Ever since 1928 there has been a full time physician attached to the White House (not the same one, of course). These medical professionals perform routine check-ups, prescribe medication, and monitor the President’s overall health. Presumably the White House doctor would also help to determine if the President has become physically incapacitated and is, therefore, unable to serve. But what if the Commander in Chief was “mentally” incapacitated?
Lately that question has been raised by reporters and members of Congress alike, so much so that, earlier this month, Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) proposed a bill that would require a psychiatrist to be attached to the White House. He also called for the current President to undergo a mental evaluation. The bill stands little chance of advancing, but that won’t deter the chatter around D.C.
On the February 10 edition of Real Time, Senator Al Franken told Bill Maher that he had spoken with members of Congress, including some Republicans, who feel that President Trump is mentally ill. Franken, a former comedian, wasn’t joking. In fact he repeated his claim on a network morning show later that week. Meanwhile, Lieu himself told the Washington Post that he had become “increasingly alarmed at Trump’s erratic behavior.” But such behavior is not a recent phenomena.
During the campaign Trump mocked a disabled reporter, implied that Megyn Kelly was hostile to him because she was on her menstrual cycle, referred to a Black man at a rally as “My African American”, claimed that P.O.W.s are not heroes, and said the world would be safer if more countries had nuclear weapons. He also advised women who are sexually harassed in the workplace to change jobs, and when asked what sacrifice he had made in comparison to a dead soldier, Trump said, “I’ve made sacrifices. I’ve hired thousands of people.” These and other remarks led then President Obama to say that Trump was “unfit to be Commander in Chief”, and Libertarian VP candidate Bill Weld to conclude that Trump “has a screw loose.”
Not surprisingly, these same kinds of offensive remarks have continued now that candidate Trump is President Trump. Shortly after taking office, Mr. Trump visited CIA headquarters and held court in front of the agency’s memorial wall which honors fallen agents. But instead of praising their sacrifice, Trump went on a rant about his electoral victory and the size of the crowd at his inauguration. So much for sensitivity. He also recently claimed that 5 million illegal aliens voted for Hillary, he boasted that his cabinet nominees had the highest IQ of any Cabinet in history, and he said he had been on the cover of TIME more than anyone else. All false statements. Ed Rollins, co-chair of Trump’s Great America PAC, said, “I don’t think he’s deliberately lying. I think he actually believes this stuff.” Alternative facts aside, Trump has also spent his first month in office attacking judges, Congressmen, and members of the news media. And that brings me to last Thursday’s bizarre press conference.
Having been criticized for not taking questions from CNN and other hostile news outlets, Trump went head to head with his detractors, and did so for over an hour. At one point he displayed a sarcastic sense of humor, referring to his private phone conversation with Putin. “It was classified so I’m sure you all know what was said.” But for the most part, his presentation can only be described as a disjointed stream of consciousness. He spoke in sentence fragments and rarely answered the question being asked. He interrupted his own thoughts with other thoughts, and, as always, he bragged about things that just weren’t true. He said he had high approval ratings, when every major poll says just the opposite. He said his roll-out of the travel ban was flawless, even though members of his own party said it was botched. And he repeated his claim that his was the biggest electoral college margin since Reagan. When a reporter pointed out that Obama and Clinton had higher totals, Trump said, “I was referring to Republicans.” To which the reporter said, “George H.W. Bush had 426 electoral votes.” Trump said, “That was what I was told.” But he KNEW his figures were wrong because he’s cited them repeatedly and been corrected repeatedly.
Following the press conference, a number of pundits weighed in. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta commented that, “He wanders between the real world, and the world of Donald Trump.” Meanwhile, iconic investigative journalist Carl Bernstein said, “What we saw was a road map of his mind, and it’s a very disturbing road map,” Former White House advisor David Gergen said, “We got a look inside the head and heart of Donald Trump, and what we saw was very murky. It showed us a President who is frequently unhinged. He’s living in a different reality.” Bernstein also referred to Trump’s performance at the press conference as “free association”, where he said whatever popped into his head, whether it made sense, or was even appropriate. It’s a performance that led one Republican Senator to tell CNN’s John King, “He (Trump) should do that with a therapist, not on live television.” And that brings us back to Lieu’s proposal for a full time psychiatrist to be assigned to the White House.
Last August I wrote a column about how Donald Trump displays all of the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) as defined by the Mayor Clinic. Some of those symptoms include:
- Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
- Expecting to be recognized as superior without achievements that warrant it
- Being unable to recognize the feelings of others
If Trump truly suffers from NPD, he cannot be cured, only counseled, which is all the more reason to give serious consideration to Congressman Lieu’s proposal. And while the bill is backed by over thirty leading psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric Association warns its members against making an armchair diagnosis of anyone, least of all the President of the United States. After all, it’s not crazy to want to protect our borders and thwart terrorist attacks. It’s not crazy to want to bring jobs back to America. It’s not crazy to want to rid our inner cities of crime and poverty. And in this unstable nuclear age, it’s not crazy to want to try and get along with Russia.
We can all use some counseling from time to time, and we all need someone to talk with about our innermost fears and concerns. And so, having a psychiatrist in the White House might not be a bad idea. I find it ironic, however, that the very week Congressmen were calling Trump mentally ill, they also voted to allow mentally ill persons to purchase guns. In a world where Republicans and Democrats are always going off half cocked, I guess it makes perfect sense.
A Shrink in the White House?
Ever since 1928 there has been a full time physician attached to the White House (not the same one, of course). These medical professionals perform routine check-ups, prescribe medication, and monitor the President’s overall health. Presumably the White House doctor would also help to determine if the President has become physically incapacitated and is, therefore, unable to serve. But what if the Commander in Chief was “mentally” incapacitated?
Lately that question has been raised by reporters and members of Congress alike, so much so that, earlier this month, Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) proposed a bill that would require a psychiatrist to be attached to the White House. He also called for the current President to undergo a mental evaluation. The bill stands little chance of advancing, but that won’t deter the chatter around D.C.
On the February 10 edition of Real Time, Senator Al Franken told Bill Maher that he had spoken with members of Congress, including some Republicans, who feel that President Trump is mentally ill. Franken, a former comedian, wasn’t joking. In fact he repeated his claim on a network morning show later that week. Meanwhile, Lieu himself told the Washington Post that he had become “increasingly alarmed at Trump’s erratic behavior.” But such behavior is not a recent phenomena.
During the campaign Trump mocked a disabled reporter, implied that Megyn Kelly was hostile to him because she was on her menstrual cycle, referred to a Black man at a rally as “My African American”, claimed that P.O.W.s are not heroes, and said the world would be safer if more countries had nuclear weapons. He also advised women who are sexually harassed in the workplace to change jobs, and when asked what sacrifice he had made in comparison to a dead soldier, Trump said, “I’ve made sacrifices. I’ve hired thousands of people.” These and other remarks led then President Obama to say that Trump was “unfit to be Commander in Chief”, and Libertarian VP candidate Bill Weld to conclude that Trump “has a screw loose.”
Not surprisingly, these same kinds of offensive remarks have continued now that candidate Trump is President Trump. Shortly after taking office, Mr. Trump visited CIA headquarters and held court in front of the agency’s memorial wall which honors fallen agents. But instead of praising their sacrifice, Trump went on a rant about his electoral victory and the size of the crowd at his inauguration. So much for sensitivity. He also recently claimed that 5 million illegal aliens voted for Hillary, he boasted that his cabinet nominees had the highest IQ of any Cabinet in history, and he said he had been on the cover of TIME more than anyone else. All false statements. Ed Rollins, co-chair of Trump’s Great America PAC, said, “I don’t think he’s deliberately lying. I think he actually believes this stuff.” Alternative facts aside, Trump has also spent his first month in office attacking judges, Congressmen, and members of the news media. And that brings me to last Thursday’s bizarre press conference.
Having been criticized for not taking questions from CNN and other hostile news outlets, Trump went head to head with his detractors, and did so for over an hour. At one point he displayed a sarcastic sense of humor, referring to his private phone conversation with Putin. “It was classified so I’m sure you all know what was said.” But for the most part, his presentation can only be described as a disjointed stream of consciousness. He spoke in sentence fragments and rarely answered the question being asked. He interrupted his own thoughts with other thoughts, and, as always, he bragged about things that just weren’t true. He said he had high approval ratings, when every major poll says just the opposite. He said his roll-out of the travel ban was flawless, even though members of his own party said it was botched. And he repeated his claim that his was the biggest electoral college margin since Reagan. When a reporter pointed out that Obama and Clinton had higher totals, Trump said, “I was referring to Republicans.” To which the reporter said, “George H.W. Bush had 426 electoral votes.” Trump said, “That was what I was told.” But he KNEW his figures were wrong because he’s cited them repeatedly and been corrected repeatedly.
Following the press conference, a number of pundits weighed in. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta commented that, “He wanders between the real world, and the world of Donald Trump.” Meanwhile, iconic investigative journalist Carl Bernstein said, “What we saw was a road map of his mind, and it’s a very disturbing road map,” Former White House advisor David Gergen said, “We got a look inside the head and heart of Donald Trump, and what we saw was very murky. It showed us a President who is frequently unhinged. He’s living in a different reality.” Bernstein also referred to Trump’s performance at the press conference as “free association”, where he said whatever popped into his head, whether it made sense, or was even appropriate. It’s a performance that led one Republican Senator to tell CNN’s John King, “He (Trump) should do that with a therapist, not on live television.” And that brings us back to Lieu’s proposal for a full time psychiatrist to be assigned to the White House.
Last August I wrote a column about how Donald Trump displays all of the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) as defined by the Mayor Clinic. Some of those symptoms include:
If Trump truly suffers from NPD, he cannot be cured, only counseled, which is all the more reason to give serious consideration to Congressman Lieu’s proposal. And while the bill is backed by over thirty leading psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric Association warns its members against making an armchair diagnosis of anyone, least of all the President of the United States. After all, it’s not crazy to want to protect our borders and thwart terrorist attacks. It’s not crazy to want to bring jobs back to America. It’s not crazy to want to rid our inner cities of crime and poverty. And in this unstable nuclear age, it’s not crazy to want to try and get along with Russia.
We can all use some counseling from time to time, and we all need someone to talk with about our innermost fears and concerns. And so, having a psychiatrist in the White House might not be a bad idea. I find it ironic, however, that the very week Congressmen were calling Trump mentally ill, they also voted to allow mentally ill persons to purchase guns. In a world where Republicans and Democrats are always going off half cocked, I guess it makes perfect sense.