Clearly we have some folks in the media who think President Donald Trump is crazy. And I don’t mean “crazy” in the usual slang sense, like, ‘that man is putting forward some crazy policies‘ or, ‘he wants to build a what? Is he crazy?‘ I’m talking about professionally evaluated mental illness or disease. The Washington Examiner highlights one of the prime examples of this phenomena today, coming from the lips of the Morning Joe crew in general and Mika Brzezinski in particular. The MSNBC team was busy putting on their white lab coats getting to work yesterday, questioning the sanity of the POTUS.
MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle on Friday had one question for Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: “Are you concerned about the president’s health?”
After a three-second blank stare that would have made Medusa swerve, Pelosi responded, “It’s about the facts and the law and there’s nothing else.”
Unsatisfied with what was a clear choice by Pelosi to avoid a mindless question, well-known journalist Mark Halperin asked, “Are you concerned about his health or not?”
So that was Mike Barnicle. And I just wanted to pause here for a moment and point out something which should be truly remarkable. With a crowded set and a high profile guest, Nancy Pelosi turned out to be the restrained and rational voice in the conversation. Let that sink in for a minute.
The medical diagnosis game on Friday was only a continuation of what had been going on earlier in the week.
The previous day on “Morning Joe,” co-host Mika Brzezinski said “it’s possible” Trump is “mentally ill” and that “at the very least, he’s not well.”
Joe Scarborough attempted to cut Brzezinski off, though he had said almost the exact same thing two days before that.
“This is so unbalanced,” he said the morning after Trump on Twitter had criticized the mayor of London’s response to terror attacks. “He is not well.”
This isn’t the first time it’s happened on this show. More than a month ago both Mika and her co-host Joe Scarborough brought it up, with Joe relating it to experiences in his own family. (Lifezette)
Scarborough suggested Trump’s comments about the Civil War were a product of a mental health problem.
“My mother’s had dementia for 10 years,” he said. “That sounds like the sort of thing my mother would say today … It’s beyond the realm,” he said.
Of course, numerous liberal sites have been dangling this bait for a while now. The Huffington Post was all over it in early April. NPR was calling for mandatory dementia tests for presidents before Trump had been in office for a month. The New Republic was lining up an actual doctor to offer similar speculation shortly after that.
But even having an accredited psychiatrist on as a guest wouldn’t make any difference. Actual medical professionals will tell you (if they have any integrity) that they don’t conduct diagnostic work based on something they see on a television screen. And to be clear, when you’re talking Barnicle, Scarborough and Brzezinski there isn’t a medical school graduate in the bunch.
But this is about far more than accurate medical care and treatment. There was, I thought, some sort of rule about this sort of speculation when it comes to politicians and other public figures. Remember when questioning anything about Hillary Clinton’s health was both sexist and ageist? Ah… good times, my friends. Good times. If anyone dared to suggest that Barack Obama had been losing his marbles for some of his more questionable decisions and actions they would have immediately been branded a racist. Yes, Donald Trump is 70 years old. Does this mean that from this point forward we can question the stability and mental acuity of anyone who is getting on in years? Let’s not forgot how old both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are. The latter is still being widely talked about as a 2020 contender when she will be…
Well, can you imagine that? Warren will be 70 in 2020. You know she apparently already has delusions about being a Native American. I wonder if she’s…
Never mind.
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