Trump isn't mentally ill -- it's far worse

[B.See]

Trump isn't mentally ill — it's far worse | Opinion by Thomas Meisenhelder - Alternet via MSN

...calling Trump crazy is harmful to people who have a mental health condition or who have loved ones with a mental illness; second, it is inaccurate and leads to a serious misunderstanding of the man, his behavior, and it’s origins and consequences.

The majority of those with a mental illness are simply ordinary folks. In any given year 20% or more of the population has a mental health diagnosis. Therefore, at any given time, there are millions of people with a mental health condition making positive contributions to their communities.

Repeating time and time again that Donald Trump is crazy not only negatively affects the mentally ill but also seriously misunderstands the man and his policies.

Donald Trump is not crazy, he is evil. The America Heritage Dictionary definition of evil has three components. The first one is that evil means morally bad or wrong. The list of the immoral acts of (donOLD Trump) is too long to be included listed completely here, but consider just a sampling: participating in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuses, illegally detaining and deporting veterans, children, and others; using charitable donations for personal desires; separating innocent children from their families; fomenting racism and racial hatred; ridiculing the disabled; daily misogyny; supporting white supremacy; inciting violence; lying for personal gain; harming the lives of LGBTQ+ people; taking food and medical care from children and their families; and the list goes on and on.

[dalton99a]

1. The asshole needs an exorcist, not a psychiatrist.

[Grim Chieftain]

3. Exactly! He is pure evil.

[FHRRK1]

2. It drives me crazy

Trump is losing his mind, he has dementia. NO! The evidence points to that he is an Evil POS.

Fetterman is given a pass because of a stroke. NO! The evidence points to he is an opportunistic asshole.

Garland is not to blame, NO! The evidence points to he was a weak AG at best.

Republicans are really good at burying opponents, I'm not saying become them, but learn a bit of sociology from them. When someone needs a good beat-down, beat their ass down. Don't apologize, don't have guilt, they needed a beat-down.

[B.See]

8. Precisely.

[wnylib]

27. Morally evil and mentally ill are not mutually excludve.

Trump is both. I agree that mental illness does not make someone evil or dangerous. Most people with mental illness are not evil.

But when a morally evil person develops dementia, he becomes dangerous. The lack of judgment that accompanies Trump's dementia unleashes his morally evil behavior from any and all restraints. His circle of enablers make no effort to curb him because they are as morally bankrupt as he is.

[malaise]

30. THIS

Rec

[yellow dahlia]

34. I was going to posit the same thing - he is both.

He is many layers of unhinged AND dangerous.

[B.See]

43. I'd agree they aren't mutually exclusive. He's

most definitely a psychopath, perhaps worsened by cognitive decline.

But I think the point the author was trying to make is that the label (mentally ill) should not become yet another 'free pass/benefit of the doubt' some are inclined to afford Trump. The kind of distinctions often employed in legal cases involving insanity pleas, for example.

Declining mental acuity or not, Trump knows what he's doing, knows what he wants, and it's PURE EVIL.

[pnwmom]

4. And he's not dumb. He's a diabolical genius. nt

[AZ8theist]

6. BULLSHIT. He is profoundly stupid. Even Rex Tillerson recognized that in his first term.

He speaks at a 4th grade level.
He cannot put 2 coherent sentences together.
He has no rudimentary knowledge of world geography.
His college professor said he was the dumbest student he ever had.
His niece claimed someone took his SATs for him
He's a pathological liar, to the point of believing his own absurdities.
Worse still, he's obviously suffering from dementia.
All one has to do is READ the transcript of any of his speeches to realize this man-baby is an idiot.

The list goes on and on. So, NO, he is NOT some sort of "genius".

HE'S A MORON.

[NJCher]

7. Yes, he is mentally dull

As a higher ed instructor for decades, I know intelligence when I see it. He is bereft of it.

[pnwmom]

15. What that means is that his genius, i.e., his superpower, is in being evil. nt

[Cosmocat]

31. He is completely immoral

And he operates devoid of any sense of decency, ethics and integrity.

It isn't genius when someone does not play by the "rules" or social norms and was born into a privilege where he never has had to face the consequences for what he says and does.

People used to say Karl Rove was a "genius" and I made the same point. He was a big enough POS to not abide by normal political standards, like someone who cheats at golf or poker.

[Whip-poor-will]

16. Violence

He uses and threatens violence and death and is unrepentant in doing so.

What we are experiencing is violence to our understanding of our constitutionally run government.

The FBI has the clues ,in the fun films from their raids, him and his best friend jeffery made that he's a RAPIST loves raping and isn't

going to stop himself.

[B.See]

9. Or maybe he's gotten a free pass for evil, underhanded s---- that would've gotten anyone else LOCKED UP, long ago.

It's called PRIVILEGE.

[Skittles]

12. NOPE

PLENTY OF US have always seen him for exactly what he is and he is NOT a genius in ANY way - he fools STUPID people, while others give him a pass because his name and wealth come in handy.

[mopinko]

22. an evil genius wd intelligently pick his targets.

he just targets anything and everything. he shoots himself in the foot daily.

[NJCher]

28. It's just an issue of word choice

IMO "genius" and reference to trump should never be in the same sentence. But your post, your word choice.

I would, however, point out that "diabolical" belongs with "evil," which is a moral quality, not an intellectual one. The point is good and also accurate (also IMHO), but mixing it with a matter of intelligence deprived you of using such delicious words as "depraved," "craven," and "profoundly evil."

Pardon me for salivating at the thought.

So to make it clear, I think you're saying that he's so morally depraved that it obliterates the norm that a president have actual intelligence. It clumsily knocks it out of the pantheon of qualities a president should have, and which presidents like Obama have displayed in profundity.

Thus he made his stupidity a superpower.

There, now that I've over-complicated this, I'll go about my day.

[Grim Chieftain]

5. Why. Can't. He. Just. Die?

For the love of God, rid us of the evil bastard! Every day is a horror show..

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

10. Trump is sly...he knows how to manipulate racists

[NJCher]

24. doesn't take "sly" to do that

that falls in the lower rung of abilities.

[BigmanPigman]

11. He won't die and go to hell, Satan doesn't even

want him! Since he is pure evil he can't even die. He is a malignant energy that will continue to spread into the universe, destroying everything good.

[live love laugh]

13. 💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯 ..... ♾️

[BidenRocks]

14. Paint "Old Smokey" gold.

Tell chump it's his throne.
Look! It's even wired, just for you Sir.

[Cha]

17. I AGREE. THANK YOU, B.SEE.

[B.See]

44. Thank you, Cha.

[no_hypocrisy]

18. Trump has The Dark Triad Personality

Identifying a Dark Triad personality—comprising narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—involves recognizing patterns of extreme manipulation, a lack of empathy, and grandiosity. These individuals often appear charming initially but exhibit cold, calculating behavior, pushing boundaries, lying habitually, and treating others as tools for self-advancement.

I grew up with a father who had this personality. It isn't a trait. It's all encompassing. He didn't punish as much as threaten to destroy you. By destruction, it could be alienating you from the family, not supporting you financially, chasing you out of your family home, and much more. And it grew worse as he aged. You have no sense of relief I had the night he died. No grief or remorse. Relief from fear and psychological harm.

And the thing above all was that I didn't do anything to harm him; he perceived my independence and resistance to his control to be evil, and I had to be destroyed. I often had fears of being locked up like Girl, Interrupted by my father. Or having him order a lobotomy or electroshock therapy. (And he could have as he was a respected physician and had connections.)

[yellow dahlia]

35. Thank you for your summary and your willingness to share your story.

I am sorry you have to know first hand the experience and the insight.

[Vinca]

19. I think a person can be both evil and mentally ill. The notion calling Trump mentally ill is somehow harmful to those

with mental illness makes no sense. Mentally ill is mentally ill whether it's Donald Trump or Joe Next Door. At the very least, he's got the most pronounced case of narcissistic personality disorder ever!

[NJCher]

25. a psychiatrist once told me

He'd take treating "mentally ill" any day over "narcissistic personality disorder." The latter is believed to be incurable, iirc.

[Ocelot II]

20. He's at the center of a Venn diagram of evil, stupid, and crazy.

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Sometimes there is a pretty fine line between mad and bad, and sometimes those things merge. True, most people with mental illness are not dangerous. On occasion, though, a person can be so delusional that they commit a serious crime, and in those relatively rare cases they are not held legally responsible for the crime on the ground that they were so mentally ill that they did not understand what they were doing or that it was a crime. But that's not Trump. He could never succeed with an insanity defense because he (mostly) knows and intends what he's doing. That's not to say that he's psychologically normal, because he clearly is not, even slightly.

The article in the OP recites a list of the many bad things Trump has done and continues to do, but offers no explanation for why he does them. He's a whole festering ball of personality disorders, DSM-V all condensed and shoveled into one person; and some personality disorders cause people to behave very badly. Since he has almost all of them, epic badness is to be expected, but personality disorders are not psychoses. He could choose not to do those bad things; he knows what they are and when he's doing them. He's not a classic schizophrenic; he doesn't really think he's Jesus, for example; only that he's just as good as and as worthy of worship as Jesus. I don't think he could be persuaded to walk on the newly-"improved" reflecting pool once it's filled or try to turn one overcooked hamburger into meals for the multitudes; he doesn't think he's the original miracle-doing Jesus.

This is where his personality disorders come in; as a narcissist he just loves it that MAGA thinks he's Jesus-like because he's a megalomaniac and a narcissist. He's completely self-absorbed and doesn't care who he's talking to as long as he knows someone is listening, which is why he saw nothing peculiar about talking to small children about Iran's nuclear weapons. He's all transmit and no receive, and he saw the children only as receivers for his transmissions. They could have been anybody with ears. He's a total solipsist, meaning that to him other human beings with minds and emotions and needs and agency don't exist, so he will do bad things on the regular because he's interested only in himself and other people are just tools for him to manipulate. None of that is normal, and it's the merger of mad and bad. The "madness" enables him to think that way, and the badness is that he could choose not to do the things he thinks about but does them anyway.

[Kid Berwyn]

21. What his best friend said about him...

“I have met some very bad people, none as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body.” — Jeffrey Epstein

Trump is evil incarnate.

[Martin Eden]

23. Malignant narcissism is a mental pathology

Last edited Sat May 16, 2026, 09:45 AM - Edit history (2)

The word "crazy" is not a medical diagnosis. It is commonly understood in a binary sense (is he crazy or not?) and implies not responsible for his actions.

The word "evil" is of course not a medical diagnosis. It is very subjective, binary, and unhelpful in understanding someone's mental condition. Is a sociopath who has no empathy for other human beings evil? I would say that depends on how his actions impact the lives of people.

I am not qualified to render a diagnosis, but I have an opinion after observing Donald Trump since he entered politics.

Many mental health professionals have stated he is a malignant narcissist, and I concur. Given his obvious lack of empathy, I'd say he is a sociopath as well.

Neither of these terms render him not responsible for his actions, but they do make him egregiously unfit for office -- especially combined with his incessant (pathological) lying, corruption, criminality, and willful ignorance.

He apparently makes no effort to read and educate himself on the broad base of knowledge critically important for a president to make smart decisions -- even for his own best interests. If he really believes he "knows more" than the generals and experts in other fields related to presidential responsibilities, he is delusional.

Functionally, that makes him stupid. Nevertheless, Donald Trump is a very talented con man. He is a consumer of television and social media, gaining an understanding of the mindset and grievances of voters being manipulated by Fox News and other rightwing media. He entered the 2016 primary from outside the Republican establishment and beat all the other candidates at their own game.

Such a talent is a form of intelligence, yet his willful ignorance makes him stupid. His mental pathologies won't let him admit to himself or others that his knowledge and therefore his ability is woefully deficient. He can be manipulated by others with greater knowledge and less mental pathology.

Is he in cognitive decline, with increasing dementia? I'm not qualified to render a diagnosis, but I think not. All his negative and deficient traits are getting worse, but I think that is related to age and primarily rooted in a realization (perhaps only on a subconscious level) that consequences are catching up with him and he is going to die. Rather than moderate his actions and rhetoric, desperation and fear make him double down on his worst impulses, lashing out more than ever and building monuments to himself to feed the bottomless pit of his ego and need.

Is Donald Trump EVIL?

Given his impact on the lives of people, our country, and the world, I will say he is by far the most EVIL person in the history of the United States of America.

[BlueTsunami2018]

26. I've only been saying this forever.

Everything these people are doing is deliberate. It’s not stupidity or insanity, this is the plan and they’re executing it to the letter.

It’s all designed to extract as much wealth from the working class as possible and place into the hands of the owners. They want to secure political power in perpetuity to do it.

That’s Project 2025 in its simplest form.

[Totally Tunsie]

29. I will not grant trump the sympathetic response that "mentally ill" deserves.

Instead, I abhor him for the evilness that he imparts.

[TommieMommy]

32. Yes yes yes

[gulliver]

33. Evil schmevil.

Trump is more of a conqueror, jester, and throw in a little mob boss. The word "evil" gets thrown around superstitiously sometimes and often in a paranoid way. The word needs to mean something. It's an important word.

Looking at the state of our population in the world and in the United States, I'm about half worried that it's not possible to be elected to the Presidency unless you purposely act immature, a little nuts, and a lot unreasonable. It should be possible to reach the better natures of a majority of people, but there are a lot of people who are so lost in the "wonderful knowledge" they get from the Internet that reaching their better natures is a long shot. These things that are pleasing them hurt them somehow. Apologies to the Eagles.

If you want something closer to evil, look at the state of the psychology industry.

[returnee]

36. Technically incorrect.

Personality disorders are considered psychiatric disorders. There are a wide variety of them, designated in “clusters” A, B, and C. Trump is what I have described as a cluster B train wreck. In my opinion he meets basic criteria for all four in this category: narcissistic, borderline, antisocial, and histrionic. Do a quick search and I think you’ll see.
He does not seem to be frankly psychotic, but we could speculate he maybe hypomanic or possibly even manic, given his apparent deceased need for sleep, financial mismanagement, hypersexuality,and some degree of hyperactivity. But his basic pathology seems best explained by the personality disorders. Lately there is speculation he is afflicted with dementia. The situation is developing. He is deteriorating for sure. Lastly he may well have a substance use disorder, likely stimulants.

[Maru Kitteh]

41. Histrionic Personality Disorder, less recognized in men. Obvious in this one

when you look.

Histrionic personality disorder
Personality disorder characterized by excessive emotionality and attention-seeking
Histrionic personality disorder is a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive attention-seeking behaviors, usually beginning in adolescence or early adulthood, including inappropriate seduction and an excessive desire for approval. People with HPD have a high desire for attention, make loud and inappropriate appearances, exaggerate their behaviors and emotions, and crave stimulation. They very often exhibit pervasive and persistent sexually provocative behavior, express strong emotions with an impressionistic style, and can be easily influenced by others Continued in Wikipedia

Instead of the classic red dress, this one wears a red tie, outlandish makeup and weird hair. It’s frequently missed in men, partly because diagnosis are historically made by other men who tend to only see this disease in women.

[agingdem]

37. we tend to think of monsters as fictional beasts

Last edited Sat May 16, 2026, 02:49 PM - Edit history (1)

but Trump is the very definition of a monster: absence of empathy/chronic cruelty/no moral boundaries/inflicts suffering for gain, power, pleasure/prioritizes his desires over the safety and lives of others/refuses to feel guilt or remorse...

if Mary Shelley's Dr. Frankenstein was to create a monster today it would be Trump...

[Martin Eden]

39. Regarding Mary Shelley's Frankenstein:

If you haven't read British writer Nate White's 2019 smackdown of Trump, you're in for a treat. Towards the bottom of the excerpt below is a reference to Frankenstein, which you reminded me of with your post.

You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?’ If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

[mvd]

38. Correct

At his base he is a bad person who reaches evil level. Mental issues like his daddy issues snd narcissism just make the scope worse.

[Maru Kitteh]

40. Evil is a religious construct and not very useful. He certainly IS mentally ill.

Most of us know and love at least one person with mental illness so I don’t think there’s a huge danger in confusing any of them with Trump. Just like I don’t confuse a sprained ankle with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

[lindysalsagal]

42. Frontal lobe dementia plus sadism: loves to hurt people, deliberately.

And thinks he can rule the world with threats: absolutely irrational. But it works with the gop, and they play along. The jesus party is truly evil.