After a year of investigation by the FBI and various media outfits, no one has turned up one shred of evidence that Trump colluded with Russia to affect the 2016 election. As a result, the left has decided to focus on a new narrative: That Trump is mentally unfit for office. CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and virtually every mainstream media outlet have been busy featuring pundits or “mental health” experts who are making absurd claims that Trump is mentally unfit to serve as President.
For example, on CNN, Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier (CA) made the claim that Trump is mentally unstable and called for him to be removed from office based by way of the 25th Amendment. Speier claimed there’s “a growing mountain of evidence that the president has been very erratic” and “has shown a mental instability.” Her main evidence was Trump’s use of the words “fire and fury” when describing what the USA could do militarily to North Korea should they threatened our national security. She also claimed that that Trump’s discription of the violence in Charlottesville was yet another example.
Another Democrat congressman, Freshman Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD), made the claim that some of Trump’s controversial tweets are an indication of mental instability and is introducing a bill to oust the President if he is found to be mentally or physically unfit. The bill creates an 11-member commission made up of mostly physicians and psychiatrists to be called the “Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity.” This commission would be empowered to examine Trump and make a determination of his mental fitness.
Former Obama appointees have also piled on. Obama’s director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told CNN’s Don Lemon, “I really question his…fitness to be in this office.” This is the same Clapper who lied to Congress when he told them as “far as he knows” no spying on the Trump campaign ever occurred.
Not surprisingly, the very liberal mental health profession has gotten into the act. A prominent psychotherapist, Dr. John Gartner, has started a group called “Duty to Warn,” which has created a petition signed by nearly 60,000 mental health professionals that calls for the removal of Donald Trump due to “serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States.”
There is little doubt that Trump does make statements, both in his public remarks and on social media, that can be petty and controversial, but the idea these statements are evidence of mental instability is outrageous. Presidential biographies and books by former White House staffers are full of statements made by Presidents such as Kennedy, Nixon, and Clinton that are far more petty and incendiary than anything Trump has ever tweeted or said in public. The difference is that these former Presidents made these statements in private while Trump shares his views in public. More seriously, some presidents engaged in actions that were not only morally outrageous but put our national security at risk and were, indeed, well beyond anything Trump has ever done while in the White House. I’m referring to both Clinton’s and JFK’s affairs with numerous women while in office. But most of the media either ignored these affairs or minimized them.
It is clear that Trump believes that much of the problem with politics today is the secrecy that goes on behind closed doors in Washington, D.C. And he clearly believes one of the ways to drain the swamp is to be as transparent as possible. And so he is. But just because Trump says controversial things in public similar to what many presidents have uttered in private does not make him mentally unstable.
Moreover, we should consider the sources of such allegations. The mental health profession is notorious for its liberal tendencies. Indeed, the two main mental health organizations, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association, have for the last few decades been busy re-defining aberrant behaviors as normal without a shred of evidence. For example, they now considered transgenderism as normal behavior and both of their journals have published articles advocating the normalization of pedophilia.
Indeed, the leadership of America’s mental health profession has been drenched in politically correct psychobabble for many years and has little credibility. As for the media and Democrat party leaders, well, they’re all looking for campaign issues to take Trump down in 2020. Regarding Speier, whom I served with in the California State Assembly, she used to deliver such over-the-top, screeching speeches on the floor that I always considered her to be unstable.
But more importantly, if these people consider their accusations to be serious and really believe in the truth of what they are saying, then we need to ask where were they during the Obama era. One can easily argue that Obama had, and still has, some serious personality and behavioral issues that affects his judgment.
For example, let’s not forget he negotiated a treaty with Iran — the world’s foremost supporter of terrorism — that gave them permission to produce a nuclear weapon within a decade. What person in their right mind would negotiate a treaty that ultimately jeopardizes the security of America? Indeed, Iran has already violated numerous provisions of that treaty, confirming the insanity of this accord. Obama’s likely motivation for this treaty was his extreme vanity, driven by his obsession for leaving some kind of legacy.
Obama’s compulsive quest for a legacy has led to other reckless decisions such as commenting, off-mike (or so he thought) to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, “Tell Vladimir I can be more flexible after the election.” This amazing statement sent a signal of weakness to the Russians which was confirmed a short time later when Obama withdrew an American offer to assist our NATO allies Poland and Czech Republic in setting up a missile defense system to defend against Russian and Iranian aggression. Again, such appeasement of Russia can only be ascribed to Obama’s drive to accomplish something on the foreign policy front, even if the policy goes against America’s national security interest. One can easily argue that such a reckless quest for a legacy is indicative of an obsessive and vain personality.
Or how about when Obama funded the opposition in Syria when everyone knew it was dominated by al Qaeda affiliates? Or when he gave covert support to radical Islamic movements in Egypt and Libya? Again, these actions were absolutely contrary to American security interests, but he went ahead with these reckless policies and ordered his appointees to spin statements about them to make it appear such policies were in our national interest when they weren’t. These insane policies were more about creating a phony legacy of accomplishment than any national security goal.
Let’s also not forget Obama’s paranoia, which can be considered a form of mental instability. Indeed, his IRS monitored and harassed an entire political movement — the Tea Party movement — in order to freeze their political activity so as to not threaten his reelection. The idea that some low level appointees undertook perhaps the worst abuse of the IRS in its history is hard to believe. Obama had to authorize this. His paranoia about his reelection caused him to take a massive risk that so far has paid off, thanks to timid and inept congressional Republicans who failed to uncover all the nefarious details of this illegal scheme.
Lastly, there’s Obama’s extreme arrogance, which borders on the delusional. Remember when Obama said during his campaign that, if elected, “this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and out planet began to heal.” Or when he said, “In five days we will fundamentally transform the United States of America”? Or when he repeated over and over during his campaign that “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for?” He also told voters that “… a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany … and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama.”
These statements indicate that Obama actually believed he had messiah-like qualities. Indeed, these are probably among the most delusional statements ever uttered by a presidential candidate. Trump is clearly cocky and confident, but even he never made statements such as these. If such extreme arrogance is not a sign of mental instability, then I don’t know what is.
But where was the media then? Obama’s vanity, recklessness, paranoia and arrogance was obvious from the beginning of his 2008 presidential campaign but the mainstream media never said a negative word about these traits or questioned his fitness for office. Where was the mental health profession? Or Congresswoman Jackie Speier? Why did no one suggest forming a congressional committee to examine Obama’s mental fitness? Well, the answer is easy. Obama was a leftist and no matter how paranoid, vain, arrogant, or reckless he was, as long as he was pushing the hard left agenda, the media not only ignored his strange behavior, but tried to portray him as a conquering hero at every opportunity. Frankly, they all need help.
