Opinion| It has been reported that House Democrats are strategizing to “hold an event intended to highlight what they say is President Trump’s deteriorating mental health.” According to the Hill, “House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said he and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) will host Dr. Bandy Lee, a Yale School of Medicine psychiatrist who edited the best-selling book ‘The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.'”
“We are planning to do something where she can make a presentation to other members, so that they’ll be aware of what she’s been working on,” Yarmuth explained to The Hill in a short interview.
The Hill reports:
Yarmuth said he anticipates the event, which was first reported by the Washington Examiner, will happen sometime in July.
Yarmuth said he thinks it’s important that members of Congress and the public understand the position of Lee and the other psychologists in the book, which argues that Trump’s mental health has deteriorated to the point where it poses a threat to the country.
The position is controversial, because none of the psychiatrists have treated the president and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) prohibits members from speculating about the mental state of public figures.
“Even though none of them had actually treated Trump, they in their practices, and their experience, they recognize certain patterns of behavior, and when it’s their professional responsibility to alert people who may be endangered by someone’s behavior,” Yarmuth stated. He continued, “And in this case it’s the American people.”
Yarmuth, who has been a vocal advocate for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, stated that he does not ?equate that issue with the president’s mental health. He said he just wants the public to be aware of the concerns,” according to the Hill.
During the 2016 presidential election cycle, back when Donald Trump was just a candidate and his mental state became the talk of the country, the APA pushed members to remember the “rule governing ethics in the profession,” according to the Hill.
“The unique atmosphere of this year’s election cycle may lead some to want to psychoanalyze the candidates, but to do so would not only be unethical, it would be irresponsible,” then-APA President Maria Oquendo stated at the time.
Via the Washington Examiner:
According to Lee, attendees at the town hall would watch a condensed video that was recorded at a Washington, D.C., event held at the National Press Club in March that featured 13 experts discussing how they didn’t think Trump was fit for office. The experts, who came from the fields of mental health, philosophy, history, and journalism, said they were worried about the president’s access to nuclear weapons and the impact his administration would have on climate change.
Lee said the event is to allow members of Congress to ask her and other experts questions, but planners hope the town hall will be broadcast live so that people who aren’t in D.C. also would be able to watch and submit questions.
Lee said the experts won’t make specific recommendations about whether Congress should consider invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office or whether they should do so by impeachment. The political process should be determined by members of Congress, she said.
Yarmuth said that, to him, the event was a separate question from impeachment. “I don’t think an assessment of someone’s mental health is an impeachable issue,” he said.
