Psychiatrist Calls Trump 'Deranged' in Interview, Questions His Fitness for Office

Psychiatrist Dr David Reiss described President Donald Trump as "deranged" and questioned whether he should hold the responsibilities of the presidency in an AlterNet interview published on 19 September, using a family-dinner hypothetical to illustrate his concerns about Trump's public behaviour.

Reiss, who has maintained a private psychiatric practice and contributed to the 2017 book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President, did not identify a specific psychiatric diagnosis in the interview. Instead, he argued that the diagnostic label was less important than what he viewed as Trump's observable conduct.

His comments represent his interpretation of Trump's public behaviour and are not presented in the interview as the result of a personal psychiatric examination of the president.

That distinction is significant. The American Psychiatric Association's Goldwater Rule says psychiatrists may discuss psychiatric issues generally but should not offer a professional opinion about a public figure without conducting an examination and receiving authorisation. The rule applies to psychiatrists governed by the APA's ethical code; IBTimes UK has not established whether Reiss is currently an APA member.

Trump's own physician has also offered a sharply different assessment. Following Trump's annual examination at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on 26 May, White House physician Capt. Sean Barbabella reported that the president had normal mental status, motor strength, reflexes, gait and balance. The report said Trump scored 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and concluded that he was "fully fit" to perform his presidential duties.

Reiss Uses Family Dinner Analogy

Reiss told AlterNet interviewer Matthew Rozsa that he no longer regarded identifying a particular diagnosis as the central issue.

"What's relevant is one simple question," Reiss said before asking readers to imagine sitting at a family dinner with someone who behaved and spoke as Trump does and considering whether that person would need medical attention.

He subsequently described Trump as a "very disturbed" person and, "in a vernacular", as "deranged". Those descriptions were Reiss's opinions about Trump's public behaviour rather than a diagnosis documented through a clinical examination.

Reiss said his underlying concerns had not substantially changed from those he and other mental-health professionals expressed years earlier. The original edition of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, edited by psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee, was published in October 2017. An expanded edition was released in 2019 with additional contributors.

He told AlterNet that he believed Trump's cumulative years in office had provided further public behaviour on which to base his concerns, adding that Trump "seems worse" to him now. Reiss also acknowledged that he did not know why, declining to identify a specific cause.

Rozsa asked about descriptions of Trump's speaking style as "the weave" and suggestions that seemingly unconventional behaviour might reflect a deliberate strategy. Reiss rejected that interpretation.

As an example, he pointed to Trump's repeated comments about the spelling of the word "dumb". Trump has publicly made versions of the remark on several occasions. During a July event at the U.S. Army War College, for example, Trump said "most people don't know that dumb has a B" while explaining his "Dumocrats" nickname for Democrats.

Reiss argued that the repetition supported his view that the pattern was not strategic. That remains his interpretation rather than an independently established medical conclusion.

Reiss Contrasts Trump With Biden

The interview also compared scrutiny of Trump with the attention given to former President Joe Biden after his 2024 debate performance.

Biden's halting performance during the 27 June 2024 presidential debate prompted growing concern among Democratic officials and ultimately contributed to pressure on him to end his re-election campaign. Biden withdrew from the race on 21 July and endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Asked whether he viewed the warning signs he perceived in Trump as greater or lesser than those involving Biden, Reiss answered: "Much greater."

Reiss said he had personally met Biden in 2019 and offered his own observations about the former president's ageing and behaviour. The AlterNet interview does not indicate that Reiss conducted a psychiatric examination of Biden, and his comments about Biden's mental state should likewise be understood as personal professional opinions rather than established clinical findings.

Reiss also argued that people surrounding the two presidents responded differently to their behaviour, although the interview did not independently substantiate those assertions.

Fear May Discourage Criticism

The final section of the interview turned from psychiatric questions to Reiss's views about the political and media environment surrounding Trump.

Rozsa proposed that fear might help explain why politicians, journalists and members of the public were reluctant to challenge the president more aggressively. Reiss agreed that fear could play a role but said motivations were likely to differ between individuals.

"It's fear, just not the same fear in each group or person," Reiss said.

The claim is a theory advanced by Rozsa and Reiss rather than an established explanation for the behaviour of the media, Republican politicians or the wider public.

The published AlterNet interview does not include a response from the White House. Trump's administration has, however, previously rejected concerns about his health, while his May medical report described his neurological and cognitive performance as normal and concluded that he remained medically fit to carry out his duties.