Donald Trump – Is he mentally ill

Concerns about Trump’s mental sharpness arise once more as his unusual public appearances reveal difficulties in maintaining a train of thought.

-Adam

While Joe Biden faced scrutiny for his age-related slip-ups, Trump’s growingly peculiar behavior has largely gone unnoticed.

A black-and-white image of a political figure holding up brain scan images against a bright blue background.

Donald Trump’s often peculiar public appearances, including recent instances where he incorrectly claimed that his uncle knew the Unabomber and unexpectedly ranted about windmills during his visit to the UK, have reignited discussions about his mental sharpness, experts suggest.

For over a year, Trump, now 79, has displayed unusual behavior at campaign events, interviews, spontaneous remarks, and press conferences. He frequently veers off topic, such as during a cabinet meeting this month when he spent 15 minutes discussing decorating, and he seems to misremember basic facts about his administration and personal life.

During his presidency, Joe Biden faced significant scrutiny regarding his cognitive abilities—criticism that often came from Trump himself. After Biden’s poor debate performance in June 2024, where he struggled to maintain a coherent line of thought, questions about his fitness contributed to his decision not to seek re-election.

However, Trump has largely avoided the same level of scrutiny, even though his second term has been marked by instances of confusion and unusual behavior, which were prominently evident during his recent visit to the UK.

Former president gesturing and making a face during a lively political rally, with supporters holding signs in the background.

Over the weekend, during a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Trump abruptly shifted from discussing immigration to declaring: “The other thing I say to Europe: we’ve – we will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. They’re killing us. They’re killing the beauty of our scenery.”

He then spoke for an uninterrupted two minutes about windmills, claiming without evidence that they drive whales “loco” and asserting that wind energy “kills the birds,” despite data showing that bird deaths from turbines are minimal compared to those caused by domestic cats and collisions with power lines.

Such abrupt topic changes illustrate Trump’s tendency to “digress without thinking—he’ll just switch topics without self-regulation, without having a coherent narrative,” explained Harry Segal, a senior lecturer in Cornell University’s psychology department and Weill Cornell Medicine’s psychiatry department.

For years, Trump has dismissed questions about his cognitive abilities, calling himself a “stable genius” and boasting about “acing” exams, which were later revealed to be basic tests for early signs of dementia.

However, Democrats have started to more vigorously question the president’s fitness, including Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett and California Governor Gavin Newsom, who cited several instances of Trump’s peculiar behavior this week alone.

When asked about the famine in Gaza on Sunday, Trump seemed unable to recall the U.S. aid given to Gaza or acknowledge contributions from other countries. He claimed the U.S. gave $60 million “two weeks ago,” adding, “You really at least want to have somebody say thank you. No other country gave anything.”

He appeared unaware that other nations have provided aid to Gaza—the UK announced a £60 million ($80 million) package in July, and the European Union allocated €170 million ($195 million). Furthermore, no record exists of the U.S. donating $60 million to Gaza recently. In June, the State Department approved a $30 million grant to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a group criticized by Democrats for its connections to violence against those seeking food in Gaza.

The White House did not respond to queries about Trump’s purported $60 million donation.

According to Segal, another trait indicative of Trump’s questionable mental acuity is confabulation, which involves embellishing ideas or events with details that did not occur.

Ursula von der Leyen speaks while Donald Trump listens during a discussion, with flags of the USA and EU in the background.

Donald Trump began a monologue about windmills during his meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on July 27. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

A notable incident occurred in mid-July when Trump claimed that his uncle, the late Professor John Trump, had taught Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, at MIT.

Trump recounted: “I said: ‘What kind of a student was he, Uncle John? Dr. John Trump.’ I said: ‘What kind of a student?’ And then he said: ‘Seriously, good.’ He said: ‘He’d correct – he’d go around correcting everybody.’ But it didn’t work out too well for him.”

However, this story is implausible. Firstly, Trump’s uncle passed away in 1985, while Kaczynski was only publicly identified as the Unabomber in 1996. Secondly, Kaczynski did not study at MIT.

“The story makes no sense whatsoever, but it’s told in a very warm, reflective way, as if he’s remembering it,” noted Segal. “This level of thinking really has been deteriorating.”

Beyond confabulation, there have been instances where Trump appears unable to focus. During the 2024 campaign, he bizarrely spent 40 minutes swaying to music onstage after a medical emergency at one of his rallies. His rambling campaign speeches, where he often drifted between topics in a style he called “the weave,” also attracted attention.

In May, the White House removed official transcripts of Trump’s remarks from its website, citing a desire to “maintain consistency.” Reading Trump’s full remarks is crucial to understanding how he communicates daily.

In early July, when asked, “What is the next campaign promise that you plan to fulfill to the American people?” Trump veered off into discussions about meeting foreign leaders and removing regulations, adding:

“I eliminated—just recently—the restrictions on faucets. When you buy a house, Joe, the faucet barely lets water out because it has a restrictor. Even in places with an abundance of water, you can’t get a proper flow. The shower head seems broken; water just drips out, and that’s unacceptable for me. I prefer my hair to be thoroughly wet, but it takes 20 minutes in the shower to rinse out the soap. It might sound funny, but it’s actually frustrating. When washing your hands, there’s barely any water—it was the handiwork of misguided individuals. I wrote it off and got Congress to approve changes to ensure they can’t reverse it.”

Richard A. Friedman, a clinical psychiatry professor and director of the psychopharmacology clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College, expressed concern about Trump’s debate performance against Kamala Harris last September, writing in The Atlantic: “Any fair-minded mental-health expert would be very worried about Donald Trump’s performance.”

He further noted, “If a patient showed verbal incoherence, tangential thinking, and repetitive speech like Trump does regularly, I’d surely refer them for a thorough neuropsychiatric evaluation to rule out cognitive illness.”

In a recent cabinet meeting called to address issues such as the Texas flooding, the Ukraine conflict, the Iran bombing, and global tariffs, Trump embarked on a 13-minute tangent about decorating the room. He discussed choosing paintings from “the vaults” and remarked, “Look at those frames; I’m a frame person. Sometimes I prefer the frames over the pictures,” adding that he oversaw the cleaning of china.

As department heads, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, waited to be excused to attend to their duties, Trump persisted:

“Here we have these lamps, which have become quite important, whether people like them or not. If you look at historical films, like those about Pearl Harbor or Tora! Tora! Tora!, or movies depicting the White House during wartime discussions, you often see similar lamps. They might not use the real ones because this room is so significant and sacred that I don’t think they film here.

You never know what they do, though. Anyway, these lamps were missing medallions on top. There used to be just a chain going into the ceiling. I said, ‘You can’t have that. You need a medallion.’ They asked, ‘What’s a medallion?’ So I showed them, and we got some beautiful medallions installed, enhancing the look of the lamps.

We made these changes at almost no cost. We also painted the room a nice beige color, which turned out really well. The only question now is whether to gold-leaf the corners. Maybe my cabinet could vote on it. You see the top-line moldings—should we leaf them? Painting doesn’t work because there’s no paint that truly resembles gold. This challenge has existed for years. Someone could make a fortune if they discovered such a paint, but until then, painting isn’t the solution because it doesn’t look authentic.”

The White House strongly defends Trump’s mental fitness.

“The Guardian is a left-wing outlet and should be ashamed to present unhinged, resistant leftists as ‘experts.’ Anyone who defends Biden’s mental state—while being deemed unethical by their peers—lacks credibility. President Trump’s mental acuity is unparalleled, and he is tirelessly working to secure excellent deals for the American people,” said Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson.

Trump’s political allies echo this sentiment. “As President Trump’s former personal physician and the White House physician for 14 years across three administrations, I can unequivocally state that President Donald J. Trump is the healthiest president our nation has ever had. I continue to consult with his current physician and medical team at the White House and still spend significant time with the president. He is mentally and physically sharper than ever before,” said Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson.

In April, Dr. Sean Barbabella, Trump’s White House physician, reported that the president “exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health and is fully fit to execute the duties of the commander-in-chief and head of state.” His cognitive function assessment came back normal.

Nonetheless, questions about Trump’s mental acuity persist.

“What we see are classic signs of dementia, which represent a significant decline from someone’s baseline function,” said John Gartner, a psychologist and author who spent 28 years as an assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, in June.

“If you look at footage from the 1980s, [Trump] was extremely articulate. Although he was still a jerk, he could express himself in well-formed paragraphs. Now, he struggles to complete a thought, which marks a huge deterioration.”

Gartner, who co-founded Duty to Warn during Trump’s first term—a group of mental health professionals who believed Trump had malignant narcissism—warned, “I predicted before the election that he would probably experience significant decline before the end of his term. At the rate he is deteriorating, we’ll see. “But my prediction is that it’s only going to get worse.”

Some more similar articles and news were circulating earlier in his previous term.

SeverTrump Mentally Ill?al articles are now in circulation claiming that Donald Trump is ‘mentally ill’. Petitions have surfaced declaring his supposed ‘illness’ as a reason to cut his term short. https://www.madinamerica.com/2017/02/trump-diagnosis/