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A review by seddso
The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President by Bandy X. Lee
5.0
This is not normal, the book says. Understatement of all time. This is the most terrifying book I've ever read and I'm not sure where to start with a review.
The blurb : "Since the start of Donald Trump's presidential run, one question has quietly but urgently permeated the observations of concerned citizens: What is wrong with him? Constrained by the American Psychiatric Association's "Goldwater rule," which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined, many of those qualified to answer this question have shied away from discussing the issue at all. The public has thus been left to wonder whether he is mad, bad, or both. In THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP, twenty-seven psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health experts argue that, in Mr. Trump's case, their moral and civic "duty to warn" America supersedes professional neutrality. They then explore Trump's symptoms and potentially relevant diagnoses to find a complex, if also dangerously mad, man....".
Firstly, I would suggest you steer clear of this book ( and even the rest of this review ) if you have a terror of Armageddon. Growing up in the 70s, with nuclear war an ever present threat, I'm not that stressed by it anymore. Meh.
I am in awe of the calibre of mental health professionals gathered together to write this book. Before I started this book, I had an obsession with Trump, his outright inability to execute his role, his ignorance, stupidity etc etc. Now, I have concern. Concern for an elderly man who is clearly unfit for this post, and who is cognitively and physically unwell ( all of his disastrous speeches where the public mock his speech, dry mouth , nasal congestion and substandard vocabulary show clear signs of illness and side effects of medication) , while his friends and family watch him deteriorate on the sidelines. On the other hand, I have concern for the consequences to the entire world arising from how dangerous he is- clearly, he is potentially extremely dangerous.
The book discusses , amongst many, many things, his paranoia, lack of trust, penchant for violence, and disinterest in the consequences of his actions - eg the risk of nuclear war breaking out because he might be baited by a tweet is obviously higher , with a man who has so many psychological defects in power. The Doomsday Clock is discussed, with the threat posed by climate change tipping it ever closer to Midnight. It covers all aspects that arise from having a malignant narcissistic psychopath in the White House , how the administration is operating under a malignant normality, how difficult it is to remove a President under the 25th Amendment, the way forward to prevent a person with these limitations every acceding to the Presidency every again to name just a few.
Although this book has terrified me, I feel reassured that there are many people working behind the scenes in the US to prevent the world suffering as a consequence of Trump's worst instincts. As long as they continue to do that, and are brave enough to act when he steps over the line into utter disaster , then we can look back on the Trump administration as an aberration and a lesson to be learned for future presidencies. The same lessons can be learned globally.
From the chapter about Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis : “That President Trump May ever occupy the loneliness of deciding about a potentially catastrophic course of action is rightly our most urgent and greatest fear”.
The blurb : "Since the start of Donald Trump's presidential run, one question has quietly but urgently permeated the observations of concerned citizens: What is wrong with him? Constrained by the American Psychiatric Association's "Goldwater rule," which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined, many of those qualified to answer this question have shied away from discussing the issue at all. The public has thus been left to wonder whether he is mad, bad, or both. In THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP, twenty-seven psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health experts argue that, in Mr. Trump's case, their moral and civic "duty to warn" America supersedes professional neutrality. They then explore Trump's symptoms and potentially relevant diagnoses to find a complex, if also dangerously mad, man....".
Firstly, I would suggest you steer clear of this book ( and even the rest of this review ) if you have a terror of Armageddon. Growing up in the 70s, with nuclear war an ever present threat, I'm not that stressed by it anymore. Meh.
I am in awe of the calibre of mental health professionals gathered together to write this book. Before I started this book, I had an obsession with Trump, his outright inability to execute his role, his ignorance, stupidity etc etc. Now, I have concern. Concern for an elderly man who is clearly unfit for this post, and who is cognitively and physically unwell ( all of his disastrous speeches where the public mock his speech, dry mouth , nasal congestion and substandard vocabulary show clear signs of illness and side effects of medication) , while his friends and family watch him deteriorate on the sidelines. On the other hand, I have concern for the consequences to the entire world arising from how dangerous he is- clearly, he is potentially extremely dangerous.
The book discusses , amongst many, many things, his paranoia, lack of trust, penchant for violence, and disinterest in the consequences of his actions - eg the risk of nuclear war breaking out because he might be baited by a tweet is obviously higher , with a man who has so many psychological defects in power. The Doomsday Clock is discussed, with the threat posed by climate change tipping it ever closer to Midnight. It covers all aspects that arise from having a malignant narcissistic psychopath in the White House , how the administration is operating under a malignant normality, how difficult it is to remove a President under the 25th Amendment, the way forward to prevent a person with these limitations every acceding to the Presidency every again to name just a few.
Although this book has terrified me, I feel reassured that there are many people working behind the scenes in the US to prevent the world suffering as a consequence of Trump's worst instincts. As long as they continue to do that, and are brave enough to act when he steps over the line into utter disaster , then we can look back on the Trump administration as an aberration and a lesson to be learned for future presidencies. The same lessons can be learned globally.
From the chapter about Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis : “That President Trump May ever occupy the loneliness of deciding about a potentially catastrophic course of action is rightly our most urgent and greatest fear”.