Almost Seven Years Later, the New York Times Reverses to Our Position

Live Session Today at 12 noon EDT—Zoom Link Far Below

I had many topics planned for this Substack, but it is impossible to ignore a New York Times article entitled: “Donald Trump is Unfit to Lead.”

I first remarked in November 2023 that, after years of siding with the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in condemning psychiatrists and other mental health experts for speaking out, the New York Times allowed for its first article to be published on the dangerous psychology of Donald Trump.

This was a remarkable shift because, in January 2018, the New York Times decisively and permanently banished us from the major media, after the following article by the Editorial Board:

Is Donald Trump mentally fit to be president of the United States?...

It’s beside the point not because a president’s mental capacity doesn’t matter, [but] we don’t need a medical degree or a psychiatric diagnosis to tell us what is wrong with Mr. Trump.  It’s obvious to anyone who listens to him speak, reads his tweets and sees the effects of his behavior….

Unfortunately, a number of psychiatrists … who should know better have increasingly taken up the Trump-is-crazy line.  In “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” released last October, more than two dozen contributors, mostly mental-health professionals, concluded that Mr. Trump presents a grave and immediate danger to the safety of America and the world.  No argument there, but why do we need to hear it from psychiatrists relying on their professional credentials?  Dr. Bandy Lee … said the authors are “assessing dangerousness, not making a diagnosis.”  Anyone with access to newspapers or Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed can do the same…. There’s a good reason the profession established an ethical guideline in 1973, known as the Goldwater Rule….

It was a decisive position that, among other factors, caused us to go from being “the number one topic of national conversation” and my being called to interview with major network and cable programs fifteen hours a day, to within two or three weeks almost no broadcasts at all (many after the programs were recorded). Top-level decisions were made to delete my quotes from at least a dozen New York Times articles, so that none would get out to the public (after the articles were written and submitted, sometimes by top reporters).

Now, almost seven years later, the New York Times Editorial Board itself is echoing our exact words, “dangerous” and “unfit”, in a substantial 4300-word article, as excerpted below:

He is dangerous in word, deed and action….

He is, quite simply, unfit to lead.

The Democrats are rightly engaged in their own debate about whether President Biden is the right person to carry the party’s nomination into the election….  This debate is so intense because of legitimate concerns that Mr. Trump may present a danger to the country … and that a compelling Democratic alternative is the only thing that would prevent his return….

On Jan. 6, 2021, Mr. Trump incited a mob to violence with hateful lies…. the Trumpian hunger for vindication and retribution has no moral center.  To vest such a person with the vast powers of the presidency is to endanger American interests and security at home as well as abroad….  He has the sole authority to launch a nuclear weapon.  He has the authority to send American troops into harm’s way and to authorize the use of lethal force against individuals and other nations….

He believes in the strongman model of power, [which] rules through fear and the unprincipled use of political might for self-serving ends, imposing poorly conceived policies that smother innovation, entrepreneurship, ideas and hope….

He tries to intimidate anyone with the temerity to testify as a witness against him.  He attacks the integrity of judges who are doing their duty to hold him accountable to the law.  He mocks those he dislikes and lies about those who oppose him and targets Republicans for defeat if they fail to bend the knee…. the strongman needs others to be weak, and Mr. Trump is surrounding himself with yes men.

Mr. Trump’s MAGA extremists … have often embraced violent speech or the belief in using violence to achieve their political goals.  This belief led to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and it has resulted in a rising number of threats against judges, elected officials and prosecutors.

This threat cannot be separated from Mr. Trump’s use of language to encourage violence, to dehumanize groups of people and to spread lies….  Mr. Trump has become even more reckless in employing extreme and violent speech, such as his references to executing generals who raise questions about his actions.  He has argued, before the Supreme Court, that he should have the right to assassinate a political rival and face no consequences….

Voters … attracted by the force of Mr. Trump’s personality should pause and take note of his words and promises.  They have little to do with unity and healing and a lot to do with making the divisions and anger in our society wider and more intense than they already are….

When someone fails so many foundational tests, you don’t give him the most important job in the world.

Let us all hope it is not too little, too late.

Announcement:

Dr. Bandy X. Lee is inviting you to the first live session in a series:

Time: Jul 12, 2024 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89202556225?pwd=V04FNQH1aErGJnTnHLJlL5Guxf30LT.1

Meeting ID: 892 0255 6225

Passcode: 965105

Dr. Lee is a forensic psychiatrist, social psychiatrist, and expert on violence who became known to the public in 2017 with her book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. Since then, she has endeavored to warn the American public of the societal dangers that would result from someone like Donald Trump being given the powers of the U.S. presidency. Now, a mentally unfit, existentially dangerous, convicted criminal is positioned to occupy the Oval Office again! Please join us to explore how all this is possible, as outlined in her new book, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Threat to American Democracy and All Humankind, which is instantly available through paid subscription or by ebook.