27 Psychiatrists and Experts Assess a President
by Dr. Bandy Lee
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Does the Donald Trump presidency pose a clear danger to all Americans and to the world? |
The book arose out of a conference hosted by the book's author, Dr. Bandy Lee, called The Duty to Warn Conference, held on April 20, 2017 at Yale University. Dr. Lee disagreed with the "gag order" of her professional organization, the American Psychiatric Association, against members speaking publicly about Trump's perceived mental health status. She felt the organization went beyond the "Goldwater Rule" against publicly diagnosing someone who you have not seen professionally. She felt that mental health professionals also have a responsibility to the public to speak out about what they see as behavior and traits that are dangerous in a public official and could bring considerable harm to society. In the case of a president with access to nuclear weapons, the results could be deadly for millions of people. Increasing instances of what appeared to be unstable actions and a history of bullying behavior convinced Dr. Lee to "do something" about Donald Trump. So she began arranging for the conference.
Dr. Lee found many of her colleagues agreed with her assessment of Trump as dangerous, but most, in the beginning, were reluctant to go public with their professional opinion. They feared retaliation from the Trump people or being ostracized in their profession. She states that "only two dozen physically attended the conference in an atmosphere of fear, about a hundred tuned in online, and hundreds more got in touch with me for recordings or in a show of support" when the conference was over.
When Dr. Lee got around to requesting papers for a book, she found herself swamped with submissions, and several publishers immediately wanted the book. The finished book benefits from the ultimate decision by so many to come forward with their views on Trump, and Dr. Lee's wise choice of the final contents; I found all the essays to be interesting and well-written.
The book takes on the problem of the Trump presidency in three parts:
John D Gartner, in his essay (Donald Trump is: A) Bad B) Mad C) All of the Above) states:
"Donald Trump is so visibly psychologically impaired that it is obvious even to a layman that 'something is wrong with him'."
This seemed to be the thinking of many of the writers. They felt Trump's history of selfish behavior, lying, cheating his subcontractors, lewd comments and inappropriate behavior toward women, impulsive actions and speech, vengeance and cruelty towards others, denial of readily provable facts and lack of remorse and empathy were obvious traits of the man. In their lives as mental health professionals, they recognized symptoms of a personality disorder, potentially dangerous in a president. They came to the conclusion that they indeed to have a "duty to warn."
The psychiatrists/psychologists who weighed in on exactly what's wrong with Donald Trump used a number of different labels to describe his deficiency. Authors Sword and Zimbardo called him an Extreme, Present Hedonist. This is someone who is always in the present moment without a thought to the future impact of his words or deeds. Many mentioned "narcissism," explaining different levels of this personality trait which is basically an inflated sense of one's importance coupled with selfishness and lack of empathy for others. Narcissists need constant reassurance of their greatness and feed on the adulation of an audience. Narcissism can become a diagnosis when it becomes so pronounced that professionals use the label Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).
But even worse is the label Malignant Narcissist, which Erich Fromm, who first defined it in 1964, called "the quintessence of evil." Fromm was a refugee and holocaust survivor from Nazi Germany who had a lifelong obsession with "the psychology of evil." He came up with this term to describe Adolph Hitler. Many of the essay writers see the same traits in Donald Trump and label him a malignant narcissist. Others use the terms "sociopath" or "personality disorder" or "delusional disorder" or "cognitive impairment" or "severe character pathology."
Especially concerning is the label Sociopath. A sociopath is always a threat to society. This is an individual who reacts to disappointment with rage, blames others, holds delusional beliefs and is capable of criminal behavior. Sociopaths "project" their own faults onto others they attack. Consider that Trump claimed Hillary Clinton is "the most corrupt person to ever seek the presidency" when evidence coming to light every day seems to indicate that description would fit Donald Trump. He claimed SHE misused funds in the Clinton Foundation when he used funds in his OWN foundation to fund a giant portrait of himself. Donald Trump consistently accuses those he doesn't like of faults that he himself exhibits.
Do these essay writers have a point? I couldn't argue with their descriptions of Donald Trump and their contention that these kinds of personality disorders are a danger to all of us. I find other things, some not mentioned, also distressing, like Trump's inability to inspire or lift us up as other eloquent presidents have done (think Kennedy, Reagan, Obama); his inability to provide basic comfort and sympathy to families of victims of military attacks, terrorist attacks, cononavirus or other disease, or just crazy killers; his childish and limited vocabulary that depends on repeating superlatives like "great" "tremendous" or "wonderful" and multiple use of "very" in badly-put-together sentences or non-sentences (he does not appear to be educated); his bloviated descriptions of himself as "smart," "genius" and "I know more about Isis than the generals." It is difficulty to see how voters could have failed to notice all these deficiencies.
In the section of essays on the mental health professionals' view of speaking out vs. not speaking out, one essayist tries to explain how the public could have misunderstood some of the qualities they saw in Trump and like what they perceived as his going against "political correctness" or thinking the rough comments showed he is "authentic" or "tells it like it is." But this essayist felt this heightens the need for mental health professionals to offer a personal opinion informed by their professional experience, discussing openly the malignant nature of Trump's narcissism, that he is a person who does not learn from his mistakes or grow into the office.
Another essayist writes about Trump's paranoia and compares him to totalitarian heads of state and says such people "consistently produce ideas and responses that find exaggerated danger and malevolent intention in others and in the situations he encounters." This essayist accepts the comparison with Hitler. He says Trumps has not shut down the free press and killed his opponents only because he cannot get away with it in our democracy. Mental health professionals need to point this out. This essayist writes:
"While it is true that the restraints operating in our country have prevented Trump from moving as swiftly as Hitler did, this can be attributed to the balance of powers and the greater strength of our democratic traditions rather than to any sense that Trump's patterns of emotional thinking are greatly different from those that motivated Hitler."
Another one of the essayists tried to bring the discussion away from mental health diagnoses or labels and simply look at Trump's dangerous tendencies. Do you want a president who had to ask "If we have nuclear weapons, why can't we use them?" Or, one that advocates using torture on our enemies? Or one who maintains an insidious lie even when the lie is exposed? (Obama's birthplace, the Central Park jogger case, his response to coronavirus, etc.) One who encourages his supporters to punch and beat protesters? One who believes he can get away with anything? ("I could stand in the middle of 5th Ave and shoot someone and I wouldn't lose any support.") Think about it!
Another essayist affirms the negative response by large numbers of Americans and even people in other nations to the election of Donald Trump. The Women's March on Washington following the election was the largest protest gathering in the history of the United States. There were marches all around the country and in some foreign countries protesting the choice of Trump as president. This writer also makes the following observation:
"Unable to tolerate criticism and perceived threats to his ego, and with a documented obsessive need to be admired, he (Trump) has notably selected as his advisors either family members or people who, in clinical jargon,' enable' his illness."
The last section of the book is essays dealing with how America reacted to the election of Donald Trump. With all the polls showing Clinton had a sizable lead, few people thought Trump would be our president. And yet, it happened.
I know I felt total despair and disbelief on election night 2016. The next morning, after a restless night of worry, I wrote in an email to my family members "... the sun still rose this morning ... " I could hardly believe the world was still intact after such a devastating event. I did not know how I, or we as a nation, would or could go on with a man who is a pathological liar, who treats women like disposable objects, who bullies his way through life, disregarding the rights and feelings of others, who cheats on his wives, avoids paying taxes, cheats employees and people attracted to his phony Trump University, who couldn't make money running a casino but claims to be a big business success, who advocates torture, who threatens his opponents with jail and even murder, who appears to not understand how our government works and who, along with his sons, has expressed total contempt for the US government, who admires the tyrants of the world like Putin, Kim Jong Un, Erdogan, and Duterte... HOW such a man could become our president??? How could ANYONE have voted for this man?
These final essays show me that I was not alone in responding with gloom and despair to the election. These therapists saw a lot of patients suffering from trauma after the election. Trump will continue to claim that our opposition to him is just us not liking that we lost. But this level of alarm and despair at the outcome goes beyond that. Yes, I voted for Hillary Clinton, but my vote was more about not wanting Trump than it was about wanting Clinton. Following the election, there was a wave of hate crimes as bigots and bullies (even school children) felt empowered to publicly insult and threaten those "others" they didn't like, immigrant communities were seized with fear and alt-right propagandists ramped up their anti-minority rhetoric. It felt like an attack on our country, a country of diversity held together by shared American values. At least it was, until we elected Donald Trump President of the United States.
I was left full of anger, at the unexpected result and at all those people who voted for Trump. And I actually knew some people who DID vote for him. They seemed to have bought into some of what Trump said and that, combined with their not liking Clinton, accounts for their vote. Some Trump votes were reluctant votes (they would have liked a better choice of candidates) and no doubt some who voted for him must have regrets.
But I think the reason he won is complicated and cannot be reduced to the standard "a bunch of disaffected old white men who lost their factory or coal mine jobs voted for him." That is too simple an explanation and goes against the actual findings of who his voters were. Many were employed at good jobs with above-average income. We have to admit that Trump's despicable qualities actually look good to some people. Maybe some people would like to be as rich and powerful as he is and don't mind that he is contemptuous of our system of government and threatens anyone who disagrees with him. Perhaps they would be ok with an authoritarian government led by a tyrant who can issue orders that go unquestioned. Have we created a lot of citizens with vapid materialistic goals, no conscience and a lack of understanding of basic American values as expressed in the Bill of Rights and inherent in our three-branch government system (judicial, legislative, executive) ?
One essayist comments:
"Is Trump the end product of our culture of narcissism? Is he what we get and deserve because he epitomizes the god or gods we currently worship in our mindless, consumerist, hyperindulgent cult of continuous stimulation and entertainment? "
The same essayist compares the Trump victory to words from George Orwell's futurist book, 1984, which says the people in Orwell's frightening vision of an authoritarian takeover could be "made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality..." That is what Donald Trump is intent on doing to all of us.
In my own case, as the year moved forward and I tried to adjust, I found myself getting physically ill. I spent most of the month of June, 2017 in the hospital with a life-threatening condition. I came to believe that my anger at having to live in a world where Donald Trump is President of the United States had caused my illness. If I wanted to go on with my life, I had to get my anger under control and begin to believe that this too shall pass. History is cyclical and we have had bad times before (how would it have been to live during the Civil War, for example?) and have come through them. The outpouring of resistance to the Trump agenda (the Women's March happened right after the election, an immediate incredibly strong reaction) is encouraging and the inability he has shown to actually accomplish anything has limited the damage.
However, in the year 2020 we are experiencing a once-in-a-century crisis with the covid-19 pandemic. At a time when we desperately need leadership from our president we are stuck with an ignorant, selfish man in that role. Governors, mayors and other leaders are working to help us, but Trump is as vacant and belligerent as always, blaming others, lashing out at the media and denying reality. God help us all!
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I'll end this too-long review with these words from essayist Howard Covitz: "He (Trump) displays all the signs of a seriously personality-disordered person and has repeatedly spoken of using violence. And the outcome? The outcome, if he is indeed as ill as some sizable portion of the mental health community suspects, could well be potentially devastating to a significant percentage of humanity." |
Buy The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump at amazon.com. |
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