Senior White House Official to CNN's Acosta: 'The President's Insane'

[hlthe2b]

Link to tweet

This article was from May, but adds a bit of color to that account:

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/senior-white-house-official-to-cnns-acosta-the-presidents-insane/

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta writes in his upcoming book — a first-hand account on Donald Trump‘s war with the press titled, Emeny of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America — that a former White House official suggested staffers were unsure if the president was being controlled by the Kremlin.

Acosta, whose book is set to be released on June 11, goes into candid conversations he had over drinks with various figures close to the president. In one example included in The Guardian‘s preview of the book, Acosta notes that “a former White House national security official” told him that White House staffers questioned if Trump was “compromised” amid the controversy over Russian election interference in the 2016 campaign.

Though, the president has since been largely cleared of accusations of Russian collusion after the release of the Mueller report.

Acosta also writes about a “senior White House official” personally admitting to him that “the president’s insane.”

Since the beginning of Trump’s administration, Acosta and the president have had a confrontational relationship during press briefings as the CNN reporter’s line of questioning are more aggressive than most. In November 2018, Acosta had his hard pass revoked after the president said he was a “rude and terrible person” during an exchange over the migrant caravan crisis.

[BootinUp]

1. Confirmation we didn't require. Nt

[hlthe2b]

2. Well, I don't think he's mentally ill, but he is "off the rails," with narcissism and clearly

suffering the signs and symptoms of dementia. His narcissism in the face of increasing failure is leading to some pretty frightening paranoia and fury.

[Skittles]

3. narcissism is a mental health disorder

[hlthe2b]

4. It is a personality disorder not a mental illness condition.

[Thekaspervote]

5. To the extent that his narcissistic behavior prevents him from being fully functional in his sphere,

Yes it is a mental health disorder

[Skittles]

6. yup

Trump is mentally not well.

[hlthe2b]

8. We should not mix "lay terminology" with that of the medical community. As some DUers have posted--

that do suffer from distinct mental health disorders that are not in any way related to Trump behaviors and manifestations, the distinction is important.

[Skittles]

10. you can have a personality disorder AND be mentally ill

Trump is a sick, sick man.

[hlthe2b]

12. Yes. of course. But malignant narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorders are not

That is the distinction--one important to quite a few Duers who have expressed great discomfort at some posts conflating personality disorders with mental illness diagnoses.

[demigoddess]

23. it is if it makes you think that everything you do is fantastic!

and everything honorable people do is a witch hunt.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. narcissism and signs and symptoms of dementia.

ARE in the The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is used to provide mental health diagnoses.
Mental health symptoms in the various categories can range from mild to very severe, and can range from short to long duration.
Mental Health clinicians use the book when evaluating a patient.
I used it in my role as a MH therapist for years, and I can definitely say trump is extremely mentally ill,
and his stage of narcissism prevents him from being able to benefit from any treatment.

Put another way, what is wrong with him prevents him from seeing what is wrong with him.

A smart lawyer could use that to argue that he is not mentally competent, but trump would never accept that.

[hlthe2b]

14. There is a distinction with personality disorders v mental illness diagnoses.

[H. Clark]

21. There's actually a specific field of psychology that studies this condition

It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

[Chemisse]

24. Still 'just' a personality disorder, albeit very severe. I like how you described it though:

"what is wrong with him prevents him from seeing what is wrong with him"

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. That's often said also about addicts and alcoholics.

I found it helpful because it saved me a ages of frustration.

[DemocracyMouse]

7. Really? Excuuuuse me, nobody has cleared Trump of collusion with Russia.

Mueller has stated UNAMBIGUOUSLY that Trump has NOT been exonerated. He has spent two years researching, and standing behind, 10 counts of obstruction of justice.

Vigilance, people.

[wiggs]

9. correct. nt

[DonaldsRump]

27. Seriously! K+R to the infinite power

NO ONE has cleared the Fool-in-Chief of anything, largely or otherwise.

[uponit7771]

11. Water is wet ?!

[CanonRay]

15. They're just figuring this out?

[Scarsdale]

16. No, the Mueller report

DID NOT clear him of anything. Billy "Low" Barr did that, by concealing the most incriminating parts. Now Barr is up to his tricks again. This unspeakable disaster in the WH NEVER should have been put into office. Putin played a joke on the US, and Moscow Mitch and the rest of the gop took the money, and circled the wagons around him.

[DemocracyMouse]

19. Nice summary!

[IronLionZion]

17. The president may fail a background check to buy guns

and should be reported under red flag laws based on his unhinged aggressive behavior and death threats against the CIA whistleblower

[klook]

18. Yet he's authorized to launch nuclear weapons.

[mountain grammy]

20. Duh...

[eppur_se_muova]

22. "Emeny" ? Oh, that's probably a quote from 45. nt

[greatauntoftriplets]

25. Hmmm.

I'm currently reading Acosta's book, but haven't got to that part yet.

[still_one]

26. If these "senior officials" feel that way, why not the 25th ammendment?