Losing his mind

Writing in The Atlantic, Peter Wehner says that Donald Trump* is losing his mind:

Given Trump’s psychological profile, it was inevitable that when he felt the walls of reality close in on him — in 2020, it was the pandemic, the cratering economy, and his election defeat — he would detach himself even further from reality. It was predictable that the president would assert even more bizarre conspiracy theories. That he would become more enraged and embittered, more desperate and despondent, more consumed by his grievances. That he would go against past supplicants, like Attorney General Bill Barr and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, and become more aggressive toward his perceived enemies. That his wits would begin to turn, in the words of King Lear. That he would begin to lose his mind.

So he has. And, as a result, President Trump has become even more destabilizing and dangerous.

And yet, as the psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee points out, this Washington Post report on the Trump* administration’s mishandling of COVID-19 says nothing about the part the president’s mental health has played in creating our current crisis.

Hurry, January.