Echo opinion about Donald Trump's mental health and his deteriorating cognitive symptoms published in the News-Press, a Florida newspaper.
An urgent need to understand Trump's mentality | Opinion
Do his characteristics indicate a mental disorder, and if so, how serious is it? by Morton Tavel, MDAlmost everyone understands that Donald Trump displays thought processes that cannot be considered normal.
(For example, Donald Trump said he did not know the person who he pardoned❗"I do not know the man I pardoned," was made by Donald Trump in a November 2025 interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes regarding his pardon of cryptocurrency tycoon Changpeng Zhao (also known as "CZ"). In fact, Zhao, the founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, pleaded guilty in 2023, to violating anti-money laundering laws and served a four-month prison sentence. U.S. government prosecutors stated that he had caused significant harm to U.S. national security by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars through his platform.)
Simple failings such as incessant lying, oversensitive responses to humor, and exaggeration of self-worth, all raise the question whether these characteristics indicate a mental disorder, and if so, how serious is it?
For these answers, we can seek the opinions of recognized mental health experts, i.e. psychiatrists and psychologists. An excellent source of this information can be found in the book, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” which presents the opinions of 27 nationally recognized psychiatrists and psychologists, edited by Brandy X. Lee, M.D. forensic psychiatrist, published in 2017, and later updated in 2024 under a new name, “The More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” later increased to include the opinions of 40 such professionals. Also, from a closer perspective, Trump’s own niece, Mary Trump, a credentialed clinical psychologist, emphatically presented parallel conclusions in her book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.”
Although a previous psychiatric doctrine prevented the publication of opinions about subjects not personally examined by the experts (the “Goldwater Rule”), this restriction has now been lifted in view of the widespread public knowledge already available about Trump’s statements and behavior.
Explaining this recent decision, the“the physician, to whom life-and-death situations are entrusted, is expected to know when it is appropriate to act, and only in an emergency should a physician breach the trust of confidentiality and intervene without consent. We believe that such an emergency now exists.”
Following is a summary of these experts’ opinions:
First: All contributors opined that Trump is seriously mentally deranged, primarily considered to be a “psychopathic personality disorder,” often termed “toxic narcissism.” Adding further to his impairment, they expressed the strong likelihood that he is manifesting an early form of dementia (Alzheimer’s Disease). After careful study of his many statements and behavior, they concluded that he shows a mental decline greater than that of normal aging, further asserting that often this condition advances by an average 15% to 20% within one year, and 50% will develop into full-scale dementia over the next four years.
In order to quantify the seriousness of Trump’s mental disorder, the psychiatrists used a “psychopathic check list,” generally used to grade the severity of impairments, which was applied to evaluate Trump.
This assessment included a wide variety of factors such as egocentricity, pathological lying, lack of remorse or guilt, lack of empathy, impulsiveness, sexual infidelity, and several others. As a frame of reference, the average score for someone in the general population is 5, with an average for felons in a maximum-security prison setting, 22. A score of 30 or more places one into serious mental disorder, and Trump was found to exceed this level by the experts, falling in the range of 34. The authors concluded that “Trump’s is a life destined to inflict harm and suffering on others. With the support of thousands of studies on his condition, we have to warn that Donald Trump, because of his hard-wired and immutable traits, is more dangerous than even his harshest critics exclaim.”
Perhaps the most revealing statement about Trump can be found in a chapter written by psychiatrist L. Dodes, MD, entitled “Donald Trump, Like Hitler, is a Psychopath.” Dodes warns that “this constitutes the most dangerous of all mental disorders, since it is the only psychological condition in which behaving in a morally reprehensible way is an essential part of its nature.”
Manifestations of this disorder include the intentional creation of harm to others without guilt or remorse, for personal gain or self-gratification, which includes the sadistic pleasure of wreaking revenge against imagined enemies. Psychopaths cannot be reasoned out of their beliefs or their behavior, because they are unable to comprehend that others have value, or the concept of questioning themselves. The fact that Donald Trump has the most dangerous form of this disorder has two long-term consequences: It means that he is never going to stop intentionally harming others for his personal benefit, and it means that he will become worse over time. With his use of the ‘Big Lie’ technique, attacks on minorities and immigrants, and claims that only he can save America, Trump has shown that he is following the very same plan as that of Hitler and other truly evil dictators in human history, including lawbreaking, lying, cheating, and the absence of conscience.”
Given all these facts, how could the average person understand and react to Trump❓ A common mistake is to assume that he is “sane,” that is, possessing human qualities common to all, such as the ability to listen to reason and draw conclusions from cogent facts, and to modify his/her behavior accordingly. Donald Trump possesses none of these qualities, and we should not be misled by this erroneous interpretation.
But what can we, as a population, do about Trump’s current posses
sion of the levers of power❓
If Donald Trump continues on a course of obvious mental deterioration, (Alzheimer’s, etc.), or that of a more serious mental disorder, this should provide enough impetus to invoke the 25th Amendment, which would require his removal after initiation by his own Cabinet, which, at present, seems unlikely. Another, third impeachment, also is currently unlikely at least until the next election in 2026. But in any event, the majority of enlightened voters of either party could, with a great majority, elect a legislative body able to limit Trump’s destructive behavior until he leaves office.
Finally, I advise everyone to read the books referred to above.
Morton Tavel, MD, FACP, of Fort Myers, is professor emeritus, Indiana University School of Medicine, authored over 145 research publications, editorials, book reviews and a medical textbook. Labels: 25th amendment, 60 Minutes, CBS, Changpeng Zhao, cryptocurrency, Fort Myers, Morton Tavel, News-Press
