We have worried about a situation like this for years now.

We didn’t know the specific details, we just knew that eventually there would be a crises, one Trump couldn’t control by claiming executive privilege, firing “disloyal” people, denying it, or lying his way through. We knew that at some point our future would depend upon on having a competent and mature adult who could manage the people and problem with rational informed action.

Donald Trump is not that man according to a Yale psychiatrist willing to step forward and warn the nation. Bandy Lee MD is tired of Trump’s incapacity going unaddressed. (Typos in the statement result from precise copying of the tweets. Typos are not our errors)

We are now seeing the direct results.  As coronavirus has spread across 53 countries, federal health officials are starkly warning that the new coronavirus will almost certainly spread in the United States.  But the president has been preoccupied with tweeting: “Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus [sic] look as bad as possible, including panicking markets if possible.”  Meanwhile, he states, “their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action.  USA in great shape!”  His need to push down intolerable realities and to project his shortcomings on his opponents induce him to hold steadfast to opposite beliefs, and his actions subsequently are the opposite of what is needed.

For Trump, an intolerable reality arises and he doesn’t have the tools to handle the sisuation, nor understand the complex bigger picture. He uses the only tools he has, the only ones he’s ever used: projection, accusing others of being incompetent, and then simply blaming the media as messenger.

We know this pattern.  We saw how, over three years without containment, his sense of unlimited power and impunity ballooned.  Impeachment, rather than bringing him to remorse, led him on a vengeful spree following acquittal.  Recently, he declared himself the law of the land, and, when information he did not wish to hear surfaced, he rather replaced the person in charge of intelligence than address a situation of national security.  More generally, agencies with important functions are depleted while resources are funneled to projects that are driven more by fantasy than reality.

Trump has depleted whole departments due his paranoid belief that the “deep state” is out to get him. In reality, he has diminished government across the board, cutting out people that made the trains run on time. Trump still cannot appreciate the seriousness of the issue. He projects the fantasy in his own mind. The physicians believe that this crises will drive him to deny reality more than ever before, escalating the real danger.

the world recognizes the danger we are in under a man so incapacitated.  Deception, disdain for science and medicine, threatening the Federal Reserve, blaming “the fake news media,” calling the crisis Democrats’ “new hoax,” and changing the subject will not work.  This is often a hard-learned lesson in mental health: repression of reality does not make it go away, but rather prepares it for an explosive return …

...We cannot expect mental capacity from a person who lacks it, and that he is hypnotic, seductive and manipulative of the population in ways that spread his symptoms—in itself a sign of pathology—does not make the situation better.  Will we let go of our cherished beliefs, especially beliefs we wish to hold about a leader—to save our own lives?

It all rings true. The deficiencies have been on display since the beginning. There are also undeniable physical symptoms that we often note: Mulvaney said Trump went 2.5 days without sleep prior to the Wednesday press conference. And he often slurs words, continually appearing either sedated or amped up.

These physical concerns simply magnify the incapacity. Combined they create a scary reality.

 A group of mental health experts drafted a “Declaration of the Freedom of Mind” to help our fellow citizens through, with the hope that we will claim our right to mental health and our entitlement to correct information and action, before any epidemic claims us.

The epidemic we face is not as deadly as some in the past. But that fact may lead to even greater denial by his followers.

We also must worry that the epidemic or response will get worse at any point, further challenging his incapacity and denial of reality. The symptoms addressed have been on display since the beginning. Our inaction may now come at a price.

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Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom