Using demagogue and con man
Donald "The Chosen One" Trump's
bizarre 6-page rant to
Speaker Nancy Pelosi this past Tuesday against the impeachment process, several psychiatrists and mental health professionals
analyzed his mental health as exhibited in the letter. Spoiler alert: have the straightjacket ready (our emphasis):
"The president is quite conscious of his ability to generate mass hysteria, which is the purpose of the letter. The book I edited, 'The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,' contained three warnings: that the president was more dangerous than people suspected; that he would grow more dangerous with time; and that ultimately, he would become "uncontainable." We are entering the “uncontainable” stage because of shared psychosis." Dr. Bandy Lee, Assistant Clinical Professor, Yale University School of Medicine.
"Venomous and vitriolic, obsessively focused on the self and nothing else, this letter is what we have come to know as vintage Trump. Had we been handed this document just three years ago and told it was once written by a president of the United States, we would have been aghast, and we would have considered it to be one of the most remarkable texts ever unearthed — worthy to be remembered as the antithesis of, say, the Gettysburg Address." Dr. Dan McAdams, chair and professor, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University.
"Whoever actually wrote the letter, it accurately reflects Trump's immaturity that has been obvious in public as long as he has been a public figure: insisting that his needs be met in a child-like manner; having very poor problem-solving ability; having an inability to take responsibility for anything and projecting his own negative attributes onto others; an inability to look at consequences of his statements or actions." Dr. David Reiss, psychiatrist.
"As he always does, he accuses others of precisely what he has done, in precisely the same language. When confronted with violating the Constitution he says his accusers are violating the Constitution. When others point out that he undermines democracy, he says they undermine democracy. Through these very simpleminded projections he deletes others' selfhood and replaces who they are with what is unacceptable in himself." Dr. Lance Dodes, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry (retired), Harvard Medical School.
"When you read excerpts of the Trump letter to Pelosi it doesn't do justice to how unhinged, paranoid and manic it is in its entirety. It shows the usual formal properties of a Trump rant: proclaiming himself the victim of an evil conspiracy, while projecting onto his critics everything bad he is actually doing." Dr. John Gartner, psychoanalyst, formerly affiliated with Johns Hopkins University Medical School.
"...the letter is a treasure trove for psychiatric residents who want to study the psychotic mind. Trump’s paradoxical sleight of hand makes him think he can hide in plain sight. But he can’t anymore." Dr. Justin Frank, former clinical professor of psychiatry, George Washington University.
Rome had its Nero and Caligula; we have the mentally ill "Chosen One."
