Dear editor,

What hasn’t been said about Pres. Trump already, I wonder to myself. Not much! But something did come my way last week for the first time, and I thought it worthy of passing along.

Many Trump critics over this past year have drawn attention to Trump’s apparent erratic words and actions, and his occasional mumbling at a microphone, in labeling him as mentally unstable. The technical medical term ‘Narcissistic Personality Disorder’, or NPD, has been thrown around. Well, last week, on Monday, Jan. 8th, during the 6 o’clock hour, on ‘The Beat with Ari Melber’, (MSNBC), we heard on the matter from a guest, Professor Allen Frances. Dr. Frances is a professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical College and is credited with having written the current medical definition of this disorder, as published in the ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder’s (DSM), by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). This manual offers a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders. It’s on every psychiatrist’s bookshelf.

Dr. Frances emphatically debunked two notions – that Trump suffers from this disorder and that anyone could or should render this diagnosis from a far.

But Dr. Frances went on – He was clear in saying that Trump may be a “world-class narcissist,” but that claims made to the effect that the president is mentally ill is an insult to those who truly are.

In what appeared to be his non-professional personal opinion, Frances said that Trump isn’t fit to be president.

“It is a stigmatizing insult to the mentally ill (who are mostly well behaved and well meaning) to be lumped with Mr. Trump (who is neither),” he’s written. “Bad behavior is rarely a sign of mental illness, and the mentally ill behave badly only rarely. Psychiatric name-calling is a misguided way of countering Mr. Trump’s attack on democracy. He can, and should, be appropriately denounced for his ignorance, incompetence, impulsivity and pursuit of dictatorial powers,” Frances added.

So what do we learn from this exchange? Well, firstly, and I think importantly, we hear an expert in the field tell us that comparing Trump to the truly mentally ill is an insult to the mentally ill (Dr. Frances’s words, not mine!) This sounds like a joke that one would hear on late night television. Apparently, it’s not a joke.

We also learn that experts in the field of medical psychiatry say that he’s not mentally disabled, though clearly he’s mentally disturbed. This has prompted a number of TV news talking heads to publicly state that they agree with the good doctor. And for this reason, several argue, it’s unlikely that the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would or could be successfully invoked with Trump.

Students of the Constitution recall that the 25th doesn’t remove the President, rather it describes the procedures by which presidential powers can be transferred, either temporarily or permanently, to the Vice-President in cases of the disability of the president. Psychological mental disability is one type of case.

Presidential powers have been transferred a number of times in recent memory, one of which occurred after President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr., in March, 1981, when then V.P. George HW Bush took on the powers for 8 hours. To settle a ‘Trivia Pursuit’ question, Bush did not become president at that time, but merely held presidential powers for a short while.

If Trump isn’t mentally disabled, I see two possible ends for his presidency: He resigns, either because of what Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation uncovers or because of concerns for the legal well-being of his family members (a la Gen. Michael Flynn and his son, Mike Jr.), or he serves out his full term as a ‘toothless tiger’ after the 2018 mid-term elections, which many at this time believe, will turn both houses of congress over to the Democrats. In the later case, Trump may well be impeached as the many congressional committee chairs swap from Republican to Democrat, and witnesses that the Repubs seem reluctant to call now are then heard.

Trump’s presidency will teach us many lessons. Among these – character matters, job experience matters and both intellect & heart matter. Oh, did I mention character? Yeah, character matters, a lot!

In any event, I believe that Trump will go down in history, not ‘famous’ as seems to be his desire, but ‘infamous’, next to Nixon, as selfish and self-interested to the core.

Herb Congram

Fitzgerald