President Donald Trump is “mentally ill and cognitively deteriorating”—and one doesn’t need to be a doctor to see it, a psychologist says.
Dr. John Gartner, a former Johns Hopkins University professor, told The Daily Beast Podcast that as the president approaches 80, the signs that he has lost a step have become clearer.
“Anybody who has eyes, ears, and a brain... and hasn’t drunk the Kool-Aid or been bitten by a MAGA zombie, can see for themselves that this person is transparently mentally ill and cognitively deteriorating,” Gartner told host Hugh Dougherty.
“At this point, it’s so absurd to ask questions about, ‘Well, can you really make a valid diagnosis from a distance?’” Gartner continued. “Not only can you make a valid diagnosis from a distance, you don’t even need to be a doctor. You don’t even need to be a specialist. You just need to not be under the influence of MAGA drugs.”
In April, Gartner told The Daily Beast Podcast that Trump has been “showing signs of frontotemporal dementia since 2019.” Later that month, he pointed out Trump’s habit of “magical thinking,” which is associated with “psychosis.”
In the weeks since, Trump’s social media posts have become especially concerning—not only in their frequency and timing, but their content, Gartner explained.
“First of all, he’s up at all hours of the night, all night... posting all of these lies and crazy stuff,” he said. “The pace of it—that someone would be up all night tweeting—in and of itself is a clinical indicator of some kind of either mania or sundowning, and I think in his case it’s actually a combination of both.”
Gartner then highlighted one particular post of Trump’s, which came amid a barrage of AI-generated images and videos on Sunday: a depiction of himself pushing a big red button. This, he said, was an example of Trump “grooming” the American people for things previously thought to be off the table.
“Let me tell you something about Donald Trump. He never, ever jokes. Can you remember a single funny joke he’s ever told? Because I can’t. And he doesn’t bluff, either. He just—what he does is he grooms us. He grooms us to prepare for things that otherwise would be unthinkable," Gartner said.
“Donald Trump is grooming us for nuclear war. He wants to be the first person to— Remember, someone who is a malignant narcissist feels powerful through destruction and domination, so that he is getting off with his sadism and his grandiosity.”
When reached for comment, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast in a statement: “President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health.”
Trump has often bragged about passing three cognitive tests—specifically the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)—since his second inauguration. But some experts—as well as Daily Show host Jon Stewart—say the fact that he has taken three in such a short window could be concerning.
“If you have one MoCA, that’s like taking your temperature,” Dr. Henry David Abraham, professor of psychiatry emeritus at Tufts University School of Medicine, told the Daily Beast. “If a temperature is okay, you don’t come back every 10 minutes and take another temperature. But if it’s not okay, then you want to see where it’s going.”
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