Transcription
Welcome everyone. For those of you who are new, I'm Dr. Bandy Lee, forensic and social psychiatrist and editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, a compendium that would eventually include the assessments of 50 psychiatrists and other mental health experts.
The current global situation is extraordinarily dangerous because of severe psychiatric instability in leaders, especially Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. This is not primarily a political crisis, but a medical emergency with potentially catastrophic consequences, risking even the extinction of our species in the case of nuclear war.
Since 2017, psychiatrists and other mental health experts warned against these risks, but we were silenced. In 2019, as a service to the public, we assembled an independent panel of top mental health professionals and did a standard mental capacity evaluation on Donald Trump, which revealed the alarming result that he is not only mentally unfit for the presidency, but virtually for any job.
Because of this, we were able to predict the exact disordered decision-making pattern we are witnessing today. We also warned that his disordered thinking could spread socially through emotional bonds, given our mass media and social media environment. This quickly turned into a mental health pandemic in which a large portion of the population has loosened in its relationship to reality, sometimes called shared psychosis or collective psychosis.
We also warned that institutions would be weakened since the prerequisite for any rational system working is mental capacity. Now, we see that even some of the strongest democratic structures in the world can crumble in the face of mental pathology. Thus, as a result of the presidential psychiatric crisis not being dealt with to the point where it has become a psychiatric emergency, we have exceptionally gathered here today.
There's never been in our lifetimes, in human history, the situation in which we find ourselves. Just a few hours ago, Donald Trump again vowed complete decimation of Iran. While he has so far pulled out of threats at last minute, there will come a time when backed into a corner, he may not.
What we need to realize is that in mental pathology, the extreme self-preservation at the expense of everyone else can also quickly turn into self-destructiveness, where he will not hesitate to take everyone else with him. Having exclusive command over nuclear weapons would also give him the means to carry out such a disordered temptation.
Understandably, most people like to believe that all actions, particularly coming from a president, are rational. But the threats, reversals, and rhetorical exaggerations we have seen are unfortunately not likely to be strategy. They are more consistent with clear patterns of psychopathology, and when they threaten destruction of the nation and now the world, we simply have to deal with them as a psychiatric emergency for our own safety. The alternative, in the case of error, carries unacceptable risks of life or death that no medical professional can lawfully ignore.
Now, before presenting to you an emergency action I and some colleagues are going to pursue, I would like to open the floor for questions.
Now, the emergency action I and I hope some colleagues of mine are going to take later today or tomorrow consists of contacting the four living former presidents. We are telling them they have an unprecedented obligation to protect our country by urging military officers not to obey orders that implicate war crimes or even a global holocaust.
Some of you have read my preliminary letter, but here is the latest version.
To the four living former presidents of the United States, we are in an unprecedented emergency, one that demands extraordinary leadership. The four of you, especially if you act together, possess unparalleled experience and singular moral authority that no one can match. That authority carries a unique responsibility at this moment. There should be no remaining doubt. Donald Trump is exhibiting destructive, escalating, and world-endangering mental instability. This is no longer a psychological theory, but an imminent threat to our fundamental survival and to the safety of the entire globe. His own outrageous words and threats make this plain. "Open the [ __ ] street, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in hell." Issued on Easter Sunday morning. "We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong." And a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. Your collective responsibility could not be greater. If you act swiftly and boldly, your ability to protect our nation, if not humankind, can be unique. We urge you to stand together publicly, call on the nation to recognize the gravity of this moment, forcefully remind military leaders and public servants that their oath is to the Constitution, not any individual. Make clear that blatantly unlawful orders must never be carried out under any circumstances. This is a defining moment, not just for our presidency, but for the integrity of our country and future generations. We count on you. Respectfully yours.
First, I hope you will send it to all your contacts and social media connections. I will again send it to out by Substack, but you can also easily access it on my website at bandylee.com in the button at the very top. Because we are in a tremendous emergency right now, and we may not be able to wait for impeachment or the 25th Amendment. We must contain the dangers now.