Columns

I observed on television Donald Trump dancing at one of the inaugural balls, and I watched him as a clip was shown of him signing an executive order pertaining to rolling back Obamacare. While these are horrifying things to witness, I did not see any signs of stress from our new President. He seems quite confident and in control. 

He does have problems, such as lack of impulse control, amorality, narcissism, and so on. However, Trump is showing no sign of an actual psychiatric disorder.  

Former Senator Patrick J. Kennedy (not to be confused with Patrick Kennedy the real estate developer) expressed it very well in the Washington Post, saying that calling Trump 'crazy' is demeaning to mentally ill people, most of whom are good people suffering from a disorder. "…So if you’ve got a criticism about Trump’s temperament, fine. But let’s eliminate the name-calling and grade-school bullying." 

Early in the Presidential campaign, Dr. Drew, television psychiatrist, in an interview with Don Lemon expressed a view that Trump is not mentally ill.  

This is bad news in some respects. It means that the government is not able to remove Trump from office on the grounds of him being medically unfit to serve.  

Trump has a very different view and a very different agenda for America compared to more than half of American citizens, including me. I do not like Donald Trump, and I feel he is really going to make a mess of things, something he has already begun to do. However, mentally ill, apparently, Trump is not. This is something where I was probably mistaken.  

However, President Trump, with his harsh attitude and destructive intent, is causing widespread fear and depression, which could result, I am guessing, in droves of people filling up the psych wards.  

What we must now do, for those who are vulnerable, is to make sure counseling is available, and take other steps to take care of ourselves. Mentally ill people should not feel obliged to participate in opposing Trump's policies--unless doing so is well within our capacities and is not a threat to our continued mental and physical well-being. If watching the news is disturbing, turn off the television or the internet, and do something else.  

I am hoping that cutting entitlements for Social Security beneficiaries is far enough down on his list of bad things to do, such that he won't get to that particular task before his impeachment.  

We don't really know what he will do in advance, and so it is hard to make plans in anticipation of his actions. We should just try not to worry about it for now, and go on with daily living, and with the tasks and activities that we were doing before Trump getting into office. 

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ADDENDUM: I said earlier that mentally ill people should turn off the news if it is disturbing, yet at the time I wrote that I had not yet tuned into the news about the Women's March on Washington. I think people who are disturbed should watch the news because this is history in the making, and we are seeing a movement that is more powerful than the U.S. Government, one that will not be stopped until there is justice. I believe this movement that we are witnessing will make things better for all people, including people with disabilities. And the utter size of this is enough to make me inspired as a human being. No, we should not shut off the news, and we should participate in whatever manner we can. This could mean writing to one's local Representative, writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper, or knocking on doors, making phone calls, and talking to people. This is big. And anything that gets in its way, including Donald Trump, will be flattened as though by a steamroller.