President Donald Trump is a habitual liar who may suffer from serious mental illness, according to journalist Dan Froomkin, editor of Press Watch and former journalist at The Huffington Post and The Intercept. Froomkin has been urging leaders of top news organizations to call out what he sees as Trump’s “derangement,” arguing it is “the central, underlying explanation for everything else they’re covering.”
However, mainstream media organizations have largely declined to do so. Froomkin notes their stated reasons: “It would appear partisan; We don’t want to take sides; And (more reasonably) we prohibit the use of language associated with mental illness unless a person has been diagnosed as mentally ill.”
Trump’s Pattern of Dishonesty
Despite understanding journalists’ reluctance to discuss mental illness, Froomkin argues that Trump’s chronic untrustworthiness “cannot be seriously in doubt.” Beyond telling “literally thousands of documented lies since becoming president,” Trump’s dishonesty shapes his policies. “His about-faces on such issues as tariffs and Iran have created chaos in the financial markets,” Froomkin wrote. He calls for media skepticism when Trump says something absurd, so people won’t overreact when he later reverses course.
Media Normalization Problem
The “elite media still more often than not treats his words as if they were coming from a normal president: Dutifully and stenographically,” Froomkin said. He estimates that a primary source of “fake news” in mainstream media is news reports based on Trump’s lies. The media, he concludes, should “tell the truth” about Trump’s untrustworthiness, despite being accused of partisanship.
Mental Health Expert Observations
Some mental health experts have been less cautious. Dr. David Andersen, associate professor in US Politics at Durham University, noted that “a lot of people are increasingly concerned about Trump’s mental acuity right now.” His public appearances are “clearly growing less focused, more rambling, and less clear about what he is trying to communicate.” Dr. John Gartner, American psychologist and psychiatrist, observed Trump’s walking pattern at Davos as potentially related to “frontotemporal dementia” and suggested it “may be related to the stroke I think he’s had on the left side of his body.”
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.alternet.org/normalizing-trump/