Thread: Andrew Sullivan says journalists should be talking about Trump's mental health

Andrew Sullivan says journalists should be talking about Trump's mental health

by Brian Stelter @brianstelterFebruary 12, 2017: 11:55 AM ET

w Sullivan: Trump "unstable, incapable of accepting reality"

Andrew Sullivan says it's time for journalists to talk publicly about President Trump's "mental stability."

"To have such an unstable figure, incapable of accepting reality, at the center of the world, is an extremely dangerous thing," Sullivan said in an interview for Sunday's "Reliable Sources" on CNN.
Sullivan's view is that the president is exhibiting "bonkers" behavior -- and that if they tip toe around it, journalists are doing the public a disservice.

Sullivan, a pioneering blogger who is now a contributing editor to New York magazine, recently started what he's calling a "weekly diary." His first entry addressed what he called "the obvious question of the president's mental and psychological health."

"I know we're not supposed to bring this up — but it is staring us brutally in the face," Sullivan wrote.

Chris Ruddy, a friend of Trump and the CEO of Newsmax Media, called Sullivan's assessment "over the top."

"Are you guys really connected to reality?" Ruddy asked CNN's Brian Stelter on "Reliable Sources."

"To believe, as Andrew claimed, that because he got the murder statistic rate wrong, that therefore he's a pathological liar, and therefore he's mentally unstable, I really think that's over the top," Ruddy said in appearance just after Sullivan's.

Ruddy cited Trump's history in real estate, reality television and his successful presidential campaign as signs of mental acumen.

"If he's crazy, he's crazy like a fox," Ruddy said. "So I would not underestimate his abilities."

In the CNN interview, Sullivan elaborated by saying that there's a disconnect between on-air and off-air conversations.

"Certainly, if you are not on camera or not writing, people are talking about this all the time," Sullivan said.

He defended his scrutiny of Trump's mental health by saying he is not a shrink, "but I am a human being and I can tell if someone is saying things that we know not to be true and never corrects it."

He cited the president's false depiction of the U.S. murder rate and bogus claims about widespread voter fraud.

He said it pained him to raise these questions. "God knows, I wish I weren't here having to say this," Sullivan said. "No one wants to be here saying this. I don't want to believe the president of the United States is just delusional or cannot accept reality. Of course not. It pains me. It gives me great pain and concern and distress. But at some point, being a writer or a journalist requires one to simply say what one is seeing in front of one's eyes. And sometimes you have to say that in plain English."

A search of TV news closed captioning transcripts shows that the subject very rarely comes up on newscasts and talk shows.

But several Democratic legislators and a number of liberal commentators have similarly questioned the president's mental health.

Rep. Ruben Gallego called Trump "mentally unstable" in a radio interview last month. Rep. Ted Lieu tweeted earlier this month, "Should he get mental health exam?"

Over the weekend on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," Senator Al Franken said some of his Republican counterparts privately "say that he is not right mentally. And then some are harsher."

Pressed for details on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Franken said "a few" Republicans had expressed that concern to him.

Sullivan's overarching point, in the "Reliable Sources" interview, was that democratic debates require a common set of facts.

"When the central figure in our political system is creating an entire world of unreality, how are we supposed to respond?" he asked.

"And I think we have to respond. We have to respond by saying 'Excuse me, Mr. President, with all due respect, you keep telling us things that are not true. Can you please stop this?' And if you can't stop it, if you simply keep asserting the world is one way when it really isn't, because everybody else can see it, then we have a serious problem at the very heart of our government."

Writers and reporters, he added, need to "say and call it as we see it."

http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/12/medi...lth/index.html

More info @

Colleagues in the Senate have expressed concern over Trump’s mental health

LOL!! The goofy Andrew finally rises from his ashes with this? Hilarious!!

He defended his scrutiny of Trump's mental health by saying he is not a shrink, "but I am a human being and I can tell if someone is saying things that we know not to be true and never corrects it."

He cited the president's false depiction of the U.S. murder rate and bogus claims about widespread voter fraud.

He said it pained him to raise these questions. "God knows, I wish I weren't here having to say this," Sullivan said. "No one wants to be here saying this. I don't want to believe the president of the United States is just delusional or cannot accept reality. Of course not. It pains me. It gives me great pain and concern and distress. But at some point, being a writer or a journalist requires one to simply say what one is seeing in front of one's eyes. And sometimes you have to say that in plain English."

Andrew, you are the one who needs your mental health examined. Trump's statement was technically wrong, but his point was correct, because what he was saying and had said many times during the campaign was that the increase in the murder rate was up 47%, but in that press conference he misspoke and said the murder rate itself was up 47%, when it was the increase in the murder rate, not the murder rate itself. All the law enforcement officers in the room to whom he was speaking knew what he was talking about, and he even deferred to them when he made the statement and asked them, "right?"

As to the voter fraud, Trump was citing a Pew report.

But don't worry about it Andrew, Trump has ordered an investigation through the Department of Justice, is going to appoint a Commission to look into it and Vice President Pence will head the Commission. I like many other Americans do not understand how a President who won 30 states could lose by such margins as Trump did in California and New York, California especially because of the illegal immigration issue there and New York, his home state, where Trump is greatly admired for all that he did for the City of New York and won out-state New York because of his policies. I can accept that he didn't win the states, but to lose those particular states 2 to 1 is not believable. Sorry, something is going on with the voting in both of those states. If he'd lost 55 to 45, okay, maybe that's believable. But to lose 66 to 33, in both states, that is NOT believable.

I question the mental health of Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, McCain, Schumer and a handful of the other members in the WH.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

More info @

Colleagues in the Senate have expressed concern over Trump’s mental health

JD2, something is wrong with your thread title, it doesn't match the title of your article. How does that happen?

Writers and reporters, he added, need to "say and call it as we see it."

They need to "see and call" their own lies. msm is in a position to influence the public with warped, biased facts and they have gone over the top and down the road of "incredible". Waste of time to watch anymore slanted, prejudiced so-called news. They are a disgrace. Many have major ties to hillary, democratic party and they thought they would just SNOW the public - wrong. Can fool some of the people but not all.

Originally Posted by Beezer

I question the mental health of Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, McCain, Schumer and a handful of the other members in the WH.

Write an article about each one and send them out to the media.

Here's Pelosi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy0aMY2-tYE


There are several on Elizabeth Warren...the media has already sent them out.

I think he needs to lose weight and get some exercise, but this is not an impeachable offense.

Obama suffered from delusions of grandeur. Nobody cared, or nobody could tell. He really was president, but one could seriously wonder how he got there. He got a Nobel Peace Price but nobody could say why.

For some people being sane is something bestowed by the Community. If they don't like you or your opinions and yet cannot sustain an argument with you, you are crazy.