Pols go mental
Trump’s psych health doubted by Dems, GOPers
PRESIDENT TRUMP once called his former FBI chief a “nutjob.” Now some members of Congress are saying the same thing about him.
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday said his colleagues are getting worried about Trump’s mental health — amplifying growing concerns from the past week that the President isn’t fit for his job.
“I certainly think that there’s an issue with the President’s capability,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“There’s some attribute of his character that makes him seemingly incapable of introspection and a broad understanding of what the country really needs.”
Schiff said he expects “the pressures of the job” would only make Trump’s mental stability “get worse” — and that the President needs “some more adults in the room” to help him focus.
After Trump’s erratic response to a deadly hate group rally in Charlottesville, Va. — in which he repeatedly backtracked on his comments and refused to explicitly condemn the far-right marchers — members of Congress on both sides of the aisle questioned whether he’s stable enough to remain in the Oval Office.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Trump “has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence” for a successful presidency.
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said Trump has been “showing signs of erratic behavior and mental instability that place the country in grave danger,” and she called for him to be removed through the 25th Amendment, which says a President can be dismissed if he “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) even introduced a bill Friday that would require Trump to undergo a psychiatric exam to see whether he “suffers from mental disorder.” But she acknowledged that the bill is unlikely to gain traction.
Schiff said Sunday he thinks it’s too soon to discuss a 25th Amendment discharge because Congress is “far from concluding” whether Trump is truly unable to fulfill his duties.
The 25th Amendment would require Vice President Pence and Congress to sign off on Trump’s exit, which would lead to Pence immediately becoming President.
The amendment does not specifically say if mental health can be a cause for a President’s removal, and the law has never been used for that reason.
After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May, he bragged about the dismissal during a meeting with Russian diplomats.
“I just fired the head of the FBI,” the President told the envoys, according to The New York Times. “He was crazy, a real nutjob.”
But it is Trump who has faced unprecedented scrutiny for his mental health. The American Psychoanalytic Association in July broke decades of tradition by saying its 3,700 members could “responsibly” comment on the President’s mental fitness.
That marked a departure from the so-called “Goldwater rule,” dating to Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential run, which prevented the association’s mental health experts from speculating about public figures they have not personally examined.
Some psychologists have said Trump is also a danger to the mental health of his citizens, and they have started treatments for “President Trump Stress Disorder.”