President Trump’s COVID infection is causing havoc – to him and his family, numerous recent contacts, three U.S. senators now infected, the nation’s confidence …
President Trump’s COVID infection is causing havoc – to him and his family, numerous recent contacts, three U.S. senators now infected, the nation’s confidence and orderly processes, and our national and international security. We can never know for sure who is culpable. It doesn’t matter. With all the possible “what if”s and “if only”s, we must be clear that, to paraphrase James Carville, “it’s the virus.” Still, sound estimates place in the tens of thousands those whose lives our national inaction has sacrificed. We and many other mental health professionals and behavioral scientists have written much about the personality and resulting dangerousness of President Trump’s behavior. Pollsters have observed that even among those who support and intend to vote for Trump, many see his personality and character as substantially flawed. His denial, false reassurances, incompetence, and hucksterism instead of sober attention to the profound challenges facing us have led to a fifth of the world’s COVID-19 deaths with just 1/24th of the world’s population and, as noted above, an enormous number of avoidable deaths. Indeed, denial and suppression of facts from the president and his team, including those providing his care, now exacerbate the political, governance and security impacts of his illness.
