Donald Trump

BMJ - As the oldest person to be elected president of the United States, Donald Trump has faced questions about his health throughout his presidential career. But in addition to general concerns about the health risks that increase with age, some doctors have been asking broader questions about Trump’s mental health.

Such questions have only escalated in the rollercoaster 15 months of his second presidency,1 including a full scale war in the Middle East that, at the time of writing, was still having political and economic consequences.

Concerns about Trump’s mental health were raised during his first presidency (2017-2021). In April 2017, a conference was held at Yale University at which a group of psychiatrists discussed Trump’s mental health and the “duty to warn” others about the risks his health posed.

The following month Bandy Lee, then assistant clinical professor at the Yale School of Medicine and conference organiser, declared: “We have an obligation to speak about Donald Trump’s mental health issues because many lives and our survival as a species may be at stake.”

She said that Trump displayed symptoms of mental issues. “He has a great need for adulation. He is angry if reality does not meet his needs. People have been expecting him to settle into his role and become normal or more ‘presidential,’ but that does not ordinarily happen among those with such personality traits. In fact, what we’re seeing is a creation of his own reality, a reality that will meet Trump’s own emotional needs and the need to impose that reality on others.  

Independent, UK -  Former FBI Director James Comey has questioned Donald Trump’s mental fitness, arguing that both the president and Department of Justice are operating at a level of chaos and disregard for the rule of law that exceeds even his first term.  “He doesn’t seem okay to me,” Comey, who was fired by Trump as FBI chief in 2017, told CNN Tuesday. “There was always something wrong with the man in that he lacks a moral center, but this seems off. This middle of the night obsessive truth after truth…retruthing and retruthing on his platform, seems crazy to me.”

Newsworthy News -  President Trump praised Senator J.D. Vance and Senator Marco Rubio as a “dream team” and “perfect ticket” for 2028.... The claim resonated quickly across social media among Trump supporters, who have long viewed Vance and Rubio as strong, younger standard-bearers for the movement.
 

Heather Cox Richardson --  This morning, [Trump] started in again with a long screed attacking the New York Times for its coverage of his alterations to the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and insisting that Democratic presidents Obama and Joe Biden had “botched” renovations that he was now fixing for “a ‘tiny’ fraction of the cost!” He posted an AI image of Obama, Biden, and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) apparently swimming in a filthy version of the reflecting pool with the caption: “Dumacrats Love Sewage.” Then he posted an image of himself on the $100 bill. And then he was back to calling House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) “Low IQ.”

After posting a number of AI images showing the U.S. military destroying the Iranian military, Trump posted: “When the Fake News says that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it’s virtual TREASON in that it is such a false, and even preposterous, statement. They are aiding and abetting the enemy!”

Then he posted an image of a map with Venezuela overlaid with the U.S. flag. The caption read: “51st State.”

Trump seems to be comforting himself by lashing out at his perceived enemies and insisting he is competent and popular. Before he left for China today, he claimed: “We have Iran very much under control. We’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated. One way or the other, we win.”