This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/us/politics/right-and-left-react-to-questions-about-trumps-mental-state.html
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Right and Left React to Questions About Trump’s Mental State | Right and Left React to Questions About Trump’s Mental State |
| (7 months later) | |
| The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. That’s why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen. | The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. That’s why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen. |
| Has this series exposed you to new ideas? Tell us how. Email us at ourpicks@nytimes.com. | Has this series exposed you to new ideas? Tell us how. Email us at ourpicks@nytimes.com. |
| For an archive of all the Partisan Writing Roundups, check out Our Picks. | For an archive of all the Partisan Writing Roundups, check out Our Picks. |
| Mollie Hemingway in The Federalist: | Mollie Hemingway in The Federalist: |
| “There is nothing about Trump now that suggests his mental state is any different or worse or dangerous than when voters elected him, or when they first encountered him on gossip pages and in reality television decades ago.” | |
| Ms. Hemingway notes that while some critics of President Trump have suggested using the 25th Amendment to overturn election results they were not expecting or not happy with, the debate has been reignited with the publication of Michael Wolff’s book, “Fire and Fury.” Any conversation about the president’s mental fitness, she argues, is merely an attempt by the opposition to undo the democratic will of the American people. Read more » | Ms. Hemingway notes that while some critics of President Trump have suggested using the 25th Amendment to overturn election results they were not expecting or not happy with, the debate has been reignited with the publication of Michael Wolff’s book, “Fire and Fury.” Any conversation about the president’s mental fitness, she argues, is merely an attempt by the opposition to undo the democratic will of the American people. Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| Jonathan S. Tobin in National Review: | Jonathan S. Tobin in National Review: |
| “Doing or saying something stupid is not the same thing as mental incapacity. If it were, no president would ever have escaped eviction from office on those grounds.” | |
| Mr. Tobin has no shortage of harsh words for Mr. Trump and his personality. A lack of “presidential temperament,” according to Mr. Tobin, does not preclude Mr. Trump from “making decisions and often getting them right.” The 25th Amendment, he adds, “was intended to provide for a replacement when a president couldn’t serve, not to dump a man whose behavior offends the sensibilities of the educated class.” Read more » | Mr. Tobin has no shortage of harsh words for Mr. Trump and his personality. A lack of “presidential temperament,” according to Mr. Tobin, does not preclude Mr. Trump from “making decisions and often getting them right.” The 25th Amendment, he adds, “was intended to provide for a replacement when a president couldn’t serve, not to dump a man whose behavior offends the sensibilities of the educated class.” Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| David Frum in The Atlantic: | David Frum in The Atlantic: |
| “Trump may imagine that he’s Michael Corleone, the tough and canny rightful heir — or even Sonny Corleone, the terrifyingly violent but at least powerful heir apparent — but after today he is Fredo forever.” | |
| Whatever Mr. Trump’s flaws and cognitive deficiencies may be, Mr. Frum contends, his “genius” is undeniable in one particular way: He “understands how to mobilize hatred and resentment to his own advantage and profit.” Mr. Frum suggests that instead of focusing on the president’s mental health, we turn our attention to the people and institutions that keep such a president in power — despite knowing better. Read more » | Whatever Mr. Trump’s flaws and cognitive deficiencies may be, Mr. Frum contends, his “genius” is undeniable in one particular way: He “understands how to mobilize hatred and resentment to his own advantage and profit.” Mr. Frum suggests that instead of focusing on the president’s mental health, we turn our attention to the people and institutions that keep such a president in power — despite knowing better. Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| Joan Walsh in The Nation: | Joan Walsh in The Nation: |
| “As we marvel or chortle or freak out over these many new revelations, let’s keep our wits about us. There is likely no serious way to respond until November 2018. Let’s focus on that.” | |
| Ms. Walsh picks up where Mr. Frum left off. She writes that her main takeaway from Mr. Wolff’s book and New York Times reporting on Mr. Trump’s interventions in the Russia inquiry is that Republicans “are circling the wagons around Trump.” She does not propose a 25th Amendment solution to the problem, however. The only way to address an unfit president whose party will not hold accountable is for Democrats to win in the midterm elections. Read more » | Ms. Walsh picks up where Mr. Frum left off. She writes that her main takeaway from Mr. Wolff’s book and New York Times reporting on Mr. Trump’s interventions in the Russia inquiry is that Republicans “are circling the wagons around Trump.” She does not propose a 25th Amendment solution to the problem, however. The only way to address an unfit president whose party will not hold accountable is for Democrats to win in the midterm elections. Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| Eric Levitz in New York Magazine: | Eric Levitz in New York Magazine: |
| “There is no diagnostic blood test or brain scan for narcissistic personality disorder; there’s just a list of observable traits.” | |
| According to Mr. Levitz, there is no reason to believe that a psychiatrist who sees a patient once a week is more qualified to diagnose narcissistic personality disorder than a doctor who has “access to hundreds of hours of a patient’s interviews and improvisatory remarks, along with a small library’s worth of biographical information and testimonials from his closest confidants.” And while he considers the left’s preoccupation with the “25th Amendment solution” as less than rational, given the country’s hyperpartisan political climate, the right’s refusal to acknowledge the president’s mental deficiencies is even more “crazy.” Read more » | According to Mr. Levitz, there is no reason to believe that a psychiatrist who sees a patient once a week is more qualified to diagnose narcissistic personality disorder than a doctor who has “access to hundreds of hours of a patient’s interviews and improvisatory remarks, along with a small library’s worth of biographical information and testimonials from his closest confidants.” And while he considers the left’s preoccupation with the “25th Amendment solution” as less than rational, given the country’s hyperpartisan political climate, the right’s refusal to acknowledge the president’s mental deficiencies is even more “crazy.” Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| Paul Waldman in American Prospect: | Paul Waldman in American Prospect: |
| “As a 71-year-old man who never exercises and subsists largely on junk food, the potential for Trump to experience a cognitive decline in the next few years is real.” | |
| Much of what is in Mr. Wolff’s book has already been reported, in one way or another, by White House journalists with access to the president and his aides. Mr. Waldman predicts that we will only hear more of the same kinds of anecdote as the pressures of the presidency exacerbate Mr. Trump’s “copious character flaws.” Read more » | Much of what is in Mr. Wolff’s book has already been reported, in one way or another, by White House journalists with access to the president and his aides. Mr. Waldman predicts that we will only hear more of the same kinds of anecdote as the pressures of the presidency exacerbate Mr. Trump’s “copious character flaws.” Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| Bandy X. Lee in The Guardian: | Bandy X. Lee in The Guardian: |
| “The personal health of a public figure is her private affair — until, that is, it becomes a threat to public health.” | |
| Dr. Lee is the Yale forensic psychiatrist who contributed to the book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” and is a leading voice among mental health professionals publicly questioning the president’s mental fitness. She reportedly briefed a group of lawmakers — over a dozen Democrats and at least one Republican — on the president’s health in December. She explains here why she believes that “it is Trump in the office of the presidency that poses a danger.” Read more » | Dr. Lee is the Yale forensic psychiatrist who contributed to the book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” and is a leading voice among mental health professionals publicly questioning the president’s mental fitness. She reportedly briefed a group of lawmakers — over a dozen Democrats and at least one Republican — on the president’s health in December. She explains here why she believes that “it is Trump in the office of the presidency that poses a danger.” Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| Jacob Sullum in Reason: | Jacob Sullum in Reason: |
| “I think Lee and Trump both are drawing hasty conclusions based on biased samples, and Lee’s belief that she has any special authority to judge the president’s competence is at least as delusional as Trump’s belief that his success as a developer, a reality TV star and a politician puts his I.Q. score above 140.” | |
| Mr. Sullum, writing for the libertarian Reason, is skeptical about Dr. Lee’s public warnings about the president’s mental health. There’s a difference, he notes, between a diagnosis like that of narcissistic personality disorder, “which is little more than a list of unappealing characteristics that often go together,” and a more serious disorder which may “ justify coercive intervention.” According to Mr. Sullum, Mr. Trump’s “antics” have the “the salutary effect of undermining respect for the presidency, which may lead to long-overdue limits on its powers.” Read more » | Mr. Sullum, writing for the libertarian Reason, is skeptical about Dr. Lee’s public warnings about the president’s mental health. There’s a difference, he notes, between a diagnosis like that of narcissistic personality disorder, “which is little more than a list of unappealing characteristics that often go together,” and a more serious disorder which may “ justify coercive intervention.” According to Mr. Sullum, Mr. Trump’s “antics” have the “the salutary effect of undermining respect for the presidency, which may lead to long-overdue limits on its powers.” Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| Want the Partisan Writing Roundup in your inbox? Sign up for the Morning Briefing Newsletter or the What We’re Reading Newsletter. | Want the Partisan Writing Roundup in your inbox? Sign up for the Morning Briefing Newsletter or the What We’re Reading Newsletter. |
| Have thoughts about this collection? Email feedback to ourpicks@nytimes.com. | Have thoughts about this collection? Email feedback to ourpicks@nytimes.com. |