'Abnormal and Pathological': Expert Issues 'Alarming' Warning on Donald Trump Cognitive Decline

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Bandy Lee has raised concerns about possible cognitive decline in US President Donald Trump during a recent appearance on MeidasTouch's The Weekend Show, describing his behaviour as 'abnormal and pathological' and his online posts as 'alarming'.

The warning followed Trump's account of his involvement in 9/11 at a recent commemoration. Lee linked those remarks and violent imagery he shared online to what she described as a fragile sense of self and increasing psychological strain.

Donald Trump's 9/11 Account Draws Criticism

Lee, president of the World Mental Health Coalition, argued that Trump's attempt to associate himself with the tragedy showed how 'fragile he is in his sense of self'. She compared the conduct with a toddler trying to be 'king or queen of the universe'.

'It is abnormal and pathological when it involves a fully-grown adult, whether it is because of arrested development or because one has regressed to that state,' Lee said.

She raised arrested development and regression as possible explanations, without establishing which, if either, accounted for his conduct.

Raw Story's account says Trump claimed first responders had pulled him from the rubble of a World Trade Center building. He also claimed to have sent teams to assist after the attacks. The report says fact-checkers found both assertions untrue, although it does not identify those checks or reproduce his remarks in full.

Lee interpreted the repeated claims as a sign of cognitive stress. Her warning rests on her reading of public behaviour.

The report provides no clinical examination findings or diagnosis from Trump's treating doctors and no White House response to her remarks.

Political Pressure and Donald Trump's Mental Fitness

It also referred to photographs of Trump appearing to sleep during Oval Office press events and described his right side as drooping during recent public appearances, but offered no medical explanation for those observations.

The psychiatrist placed her concerns against the pressures facing Trump during his second administration. She pointed to polling momentum for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections and argued that the war in Iran was continuing to damage the American economy.

She linked those pressures to the behaviour discussed in the interview. Her argument linked Trump's political position with what she described as a need to protect his self-image. The polling and economic claims were not accompanied by supporting figures.

Lee also raised the potential consequences of decisions made under such pressure. She described the situation as 'extremely dangerous', arguing that Trump might be willing to use devastating force to preserve his self-image.

On nuclear weapons, Lee questioned whether there were sufficient means to countermand presidential action. 'The setup that we have is that we have no way of countermanding a, fit or not ... there's no way to countermand a nuclear weapon,' Lee said.

The warning concerned risks she believed could follow from a desire to protect his self-image. The excerpts do not identify a specific nuclear order or explain how to challenge one.

Donald Trump's Online Posts Prompt Warning

Lee singled out a meme depicting Trump driving a spaceship and destroying the world. She treated the imagery as another indication of the psychological threat she believed he perceived, connecting the post with her wider concerns about his response to pressure.

She called the posts 'alarming indications of how endangered he feels psychologically and how he needs to fight back, and become the most powerful and dangerous person on the planet'. 'That is where his mind is going,' Lee said.