IS TRUMP MENTALLY UNFIT TO BE PRESIDENT?

By Miriam Raftery

August 3, 2016 (Washington D.C.) - It’s been a bad week for Donald Trump.  A recent poll shows him trailing his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, by 8 points.  Trump has continued to alienate a broad swath of the electorate and prominent Republicans within his own party, even insulting families of fallen military members and showing eagerness to launch nuclear weapons. Now, an online petition is asking the GOP to require a mental health screening of the party’s presidential candidate following his latest erratic actions.

Conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Wednesday that Donald Trump repeatedly asked a foreign policy expert advisor why the U.S. can’t use nuclear weapons that we have. 

Gold star families of military members killed in the line of duty are denouncing Trump after he criticized and insulted Muslim parents whose son died in Iraq while saving lives of fellow U.S. soldiers.   

Trump’s former lawyer, Thomas Wells, has accused Trump of being a liar, a thin-skinned bully and an ignorant man who refuses to study up on issues and spouts “incoherent rants” on foreign policy. Wells has urged support for Clinton.

Tony Schwartz, ghostwriter of Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal” admitted in mid-July that he believes Trump is “unfit” to serve as President, adding that Trump has a propensity to lie.  Trump responded by filing a lawsuit against Schwartz.

Trump drew ire of party leaders when he refused to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan or Senator John McCain.  And while most politicians relish photo shoots kissing babies, Trump ordered a mother to remove a crying baby from his political rally this past week. Some top Republicans are jumping off the Trump bandwagon. 

Meg Whitman, former Republican candidate for Governor in California, called Trump a “demagogue” and said Tuesday that she will throw her support behind Hillary Clinton, including a hefty campaign contribution.

“Trump’s unsteady hand would endanger our prosperity and national security. His authoritarian character could threaten much more,” wrote Whitman, who is also CEO of Hewlett Packard.

Retired Air Force General Michael Hayden, who served in both the Bush and Obama administrations as head of the CIA and the National Security Agency, said this week that giving nuclear launch codes to

Trump could create a crisis given his history of erratic actions.  He called the prospect of Trump in charge of nuclear weapons “dangerous” nothing that once a president orders the military to launch a weapon, service members must act immediately.

New York Congressman Richard Hanna this week became the first House Republican to endorse Clinton. “He is unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country,” Hanna wrote in an op-ed in the Syracuse Post-Standard.

Every living ex-president, including George Bush senior and junior, have refused to endorse Trump. Neither has Mitt Romney, the most recent Republican presidential nominee. 

Some Republicans have stood by Trump despite his many controversies, including former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, his primary rivals Chris Christie and Marco Rubio, and Senate leader McConnell.

Now a petition has been launched on Change.org asking the Republican Party leadership to demand that Trump undergo psychological testing to determine whether he is mentally fit to serve as president and commander in chief.

The petition, started by former California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, is also being circulated via #DiagnoseTrump on Twitter.

“Donald Trump is dangerous for our country,” Bass writes. “His impulsiveness and lack of control over his own emotions are of concern. It is our patriotic duty to raise the question of his mental stability to be the commander in chief and leader of the free world. Mr. Trump appears to exhibit all the symptoms of the mental disorder Narcissistic Personality Disorder.”

The petition lists signs of the disorder, along with examples suggesting Trump exhibits all of these symptoms:

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Definition: A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

(1)  Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements);

(2)  Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love;

(3)  Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions);

(4)  Requires excessive admiration;

(5)  Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations;

(6)  Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends;

(7)  Lacks empathy:  is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others;

(8)  Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her;

(9)  Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.