President Trump spends a lot of time on Twitter, as we all know. But Trump’s Sunday Twitter bender, which included an astounding 29 Tweets and Re-Tweets on a dizzying array of subjects, was a bit concerning for a number of reasons.
As conservative political analyst Bill Kristol asked on Sunday:
To Republicans who’ve been inclined to acquiesce in a Trump re-nomination in 2020: Read his tweets this morning. Think seriously about his mental condition and psychological state. Then tell me you’re fine with him as president of the United States for an additional four years.
— Bill “Slightly Dangerous” Kristol (@BillKristol) March 17, 2019
While White House adviser Kellyanne Conway continues to defend President Trump at every turn, her husband, George Conway, doesn’t share that confidence. From CNN:
This weekend, as Trump was lobbing his own Twitter invective in all directions, George Conway responded with screengrabs showing the medical definitions of narcissistic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
“*All* Americans should be thinking seriously *now* about Trump’s mental condition and psychological state, including and especially the media, Congress—and the Vice President and Cabinet,” he wrote.
On Sunday, he stated simply: “His condition is getting worse.”
Before you try to argue against that point, make sure you have an explanation for…whatever this means:
What the Democrats have done in trying to steal a Presidential Election, first at the “ballot box” and then, after that failed, with the “Insurance Policy,” is the biggest Scandal in the history of our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2019
CNN’s Chris Cillizza lists out the smorgasbord of topics that caught Trump’s fancy on St. Patrick’s Day and tries to find the proper perspective to understand these rants:
Twitter — I’ve long argued — is where the truest form of Trump comes out. It’s his Twitter feed — not official White House statements or signing ceremonies — where we find out what is on Trump’s mind and what he really thinks about his presidency and the world.
When you think of it that way, what we witnessed on Sunday is somewhere between concerning and absolutely terrifying. The most powerful man in the country — and maybe the world — spent his day touting unproven conspiracy theories about stolen elections, suggesting collusion between Democrats and comedians, attacking a military hero and Republican senator, and trying to program his favorite cable network’s broadcasts. And he did all of this while failing to send even a single tweet about the tragic mass shooting in New Zealand.
As conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin writes for the Washington Post, there’s no hope in sight that Republicans — like Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) — might actually push back a little:
There is no moral or intellectual reason that will persuade them. There is no respectful conversation to be had with people who argue in bad faith. The only solution is to defeat Trump and his party so thoroughly that Trumpism is permanently discredited. A party that continues to defend this president is simply beyond redemption.
We’ll leave you with this note from political scientist Brian Klaas:
We have a seriously dangerous normalcy bias, where we move on because we desperately want to pretend it’s okay. Trump’s Twitter meltdown today—which shows a deranged and unhinged person—will just be forgotten by Monday afternoon. But the deranged man will still control the nukes.
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) March 17, 2019
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I voted for him. Might do it again depending on who Dimocrats put up.
That said, even I can admit that Trump ain't right
Ok.
Hmmmm . . .
. . . Coincidence???
Can we not speculate about Trump's mental health? He's bad because he's a white supremacist who's either a fascist or uses fascists to gain power, not because of some speculative mental illness. Let's not throw mentally ill people under the bus while critiquing Trump, thanks.
You may have missed this, dp. This is beyond speculative.
They were entirely out of line in that.
There is a higher standard for people in positions of authority – or should be. It's all part of the terrifying Trump package of unfitness for the Presidency.
There's certainly a double standard for determining "sanity" – as Dickinson pointed out, it's all about whether one agrees with the majority. And the majority of Americans (not Republican loyalists) think Trump is fucking nuts, and dangerous as hell because of all of those other factors you mentioned.
I frankly don't give a shit about any supposed mental illnesses Trump may or may not have. Mental illness doesn't make someone "unfit". He's bad for the things he says or does. This sort of crass speculation only serves to hurt people with mental illness, not Trump. What you say when you do this is that mentally ill people are worse than """sane""" people are and that is incredibly harmful to us.
They’re mostly conflating “mental state” with “mental illness.” It probably shouldn’t happen, but, as you know, it’s not uncommon, especially in everday, non-clinical language among non-professionals. It’s not meant to be an indictment of those with an illness.
It really isn’t necessary, nor probably even beneficial, to take everything said by anyone about anybody or any situation in the most personal way possible? It makes every communication unnecessarily uneasy.
The mental state of the occupier of the most powerful position in the world is extremely important. And, it is a discussion that very obviously in this case needs to be had.
I'm not taking things personally. I'm pointing out that the things people are saying about Trump's mental state have real, material harm to people who are not Trump much more than they effect Trump. It isn't helpful to make these sorts of speculations about Trump. It just helps to stigmatize people with mental illness.
Did Reagan have Alzheimer's when he was in office? Did it diminish his capacity to lead? And should we have known about that?
As part of my fluoroquinolone associated disability, I had increasing brain fog and decreasing decision-making capacity. It affected my job, and I went on disability – was pretty much forced in to it. It was the right thing for my workplace, and for me – I found a treatment that worked, and I'm working on getting back to the former me. When someone is President and their reasoning capacity goes south, it affects the country. We deserve to know, and the people capable of making a 25th Amendment decision deserve to have that knowledge.
There should be no more stigma surrounding a mental health exam than there is for diagnosis of diabetes or hypertension or osteoporosis. You shouldn't be doing certain types of work if you have those conditions, and you shouldn't be leading this country if you are prone to aggressive delusion or vastly decreased decision-making capacity.
Reagan shouldn't've been in office regardless of if he had Alzheimer's and I don't honestly care about if any president has it. Reagan shouldn't've been in office because of the things he did and the things he said which materially hurt people. Before his presidency, his involvement in Bloody Thursday was enough to be disqualifying, and he absolutely did not have Alzheimer's in 1969. Which is indicative of how "mental instability" doesn't create bad presidents.
When someone is President and they're an open fascist, they should be removed from office. Speculation about their mental state is irrelevant to this. We don't even need that to remove him from the presidency. There's a ton of things Trump can be impeached over which have nothing to do with his mental state or reasoning capability and making it about those things helps to reinforce the stigma surrounding mental health.
Having been elected though, shouldn't he be removed – using constitutionally defined paths aka being unfit for office, and shouldn't that be a criterion for remaining in office?
I hear you on the sensitivity to mental health stigma, but at some point stigma has to be replaced with evaluation of facts on the ground. I was hoping by sharing my own story to point that out.
He can be gotten rid of using the emoluments clause. Or impeachment. Those are easier to do than the 25th amendment, too, b/c the 25th amendment requires him or people in the executive (so members of his cabinet) to initiate and they likely don't want him gone while the emoluments clause can be pursued through the courts (and currently is) and impeachment is done through Congress.
So, no A25 action regardless of his health, then.
Right. It's a pipe dream. Honestly, emoluments is the best bet since it's going through the courts. Impeachment needs to go through the senate which it won't.
There's no prescribed penalty for an emoluments violation. The most a court is likely to do is find him in violation and force him to disgorge any profits. Beyond that you're back to impeachment.
+20 for the burning bird.
What I'm trying to point out here is that mental health is health.
It's not stigmatizing to point out that FDR was paralyzed from the waist down. His condition did not prevent him from being the most effective President of the last century. Were he to have been an NFL player when he became paralyed, there is no doubt about deciding to let him go from the team, and no stigma attached to his condition.
The same goes with Trump – or with me when I was sick. The employer deserves a functional employee, and avoidance of that evaluation serves no-one no matter how public the call for diagnosis or the announcement of the results.
Avoiding asking whether Trump's mental faculties are declining is like avoiding asking a teacher if she has measles when she's showing a rash in the middle of an outbreak.
No one is speculating on if Trump is """unstable""" because neutrally. It's not stigmatization to say that FDR was paralyzed from the waist down. It absolutely would've been to bring it up as a reason to remove him from office.
…and you completely missed the comparison.
Per Jennifer Rubin's comments..
It appears the good people of the Bluegrass State may just agree.
McConnell has always had shitty approval numbers but come Election Day, he has no problem winning easily. Best chance of replacing him is in a primary. Matt Bevan, your time has come!
Shudder. Thinking of Bevin in the Senate, ugh.
But Bevin wouldn't be majority leader.
Precisely my point. Although I’m there is some other up and coming GOP asshole who would fill the void as leader. I never thought I’d say it but I miss Bob Dole.
I'm with you. Bob Dole and all the things he's been selling since retiring are preferable to Senator McTurtle.
"Some other up and coming GOP asshole" <cough>Cory Gardner <cough>
Not if we vote him out.