B X Lee -- The Ignorance of Mental Health Matters Could be Our Downfall
The Ignorance of Mental Health Matters Could be Our Downfall
Project for Human Survival Meeting Tomorrow at 6 p.m. EST / 3 p.m. PST
*A link is below, and will be sent an hour before the meeting to paid subscribers.
Ever since Ben Meislas of the Meidas Touch highlighted one of my interviews, the discourse on Donald Trump’s need for hospitalization has gone “viral”, and messages from the public came pouring in. I tried to answer the public’s questions in my last two “Weekend Show” interviews with Anthony Davis, here and here.
You may have noticed that a recent New York Times article on Donald Trump’s behavior does not cite a single expert on the topic. Without expertise, the article remains shallow and minimizing. How can a newspaper that has published numerous excellent investigations on the Trump presidency do such a poor job on the most critical topic? Has there ever been another time when an entire class of experts has been banned from the media?
Only the Irish Star quoted me in an article titled, “Doctor Fears Donald Trump ‘doesn’t have Mental Capacity to Understand Nuclear War,’” and the U.K.’s Daily Express report that, “prominent social psychiatrist has cautioned that President Donald Trump could incite military action against Iran following the Midterm Elections.”
I might paraphrase Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung to say:
Indeed, it is becoming ever more obvious that it is not the absence of media, not the lack of mental health laws, not the inability to meet constitutional criteria, but man’s ignorance that is man’s greatest danger to man, for the simple reason that there is no adequate protection against psychic pandemics.
It is an artificially-manufactured ignorance: many have heard my condemnation of the American Psychiatric Association, which also intervened with the New York Times. Here is a message from a member of the public, far before the above article:
I … wrote to Peter Baker … urging him and others that the NYTimes take on the mental illness issue, and I cited your work and several books on the topic. He politely declined the suggestion, but assured me he would continue working to report the truth. I wrote back suggesting it was impossible to report the truth without [citing psychiatric experts].
Baker, having had too many articles published in the New York Times with only my quotes removed, has stopped trying. This is after his book reported that former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly secretly bought my book and made use of its principles to stop the president from using nuclear weapons against North Korea!
There might have been another opportunity during the first Trump presidency, in late 2017, when two White House officials reached out to me, “because [I am] the editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.” I referred them to the local emergency room, in part because I wished to get others involved, and to preserve my role as an educator of the public (once he becomes a patient, I would be bound by medical confidentiality). But my contact of the psychiatrist on call was extremely disappointing—for it was clear he would not get involved, true emergency or not.
Currently, the unexpected clear-eyed analyst of the situation is right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson. He said in a “tweet”:
Under pressure from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran.
Here are some messages from the public:
You are my brave hero colleague. My background: LICSW serving the VA and the Department of Defense: NAVY, AIR FORCE, ARMY…. I worked in the Intensive Care Involuntary Commit Psychiatric Ward for five years. As you know Mr. Trump meets criteria for an involuntary commit to be assessed…. Can [White House doctors] be sued for not protecting humanity?
I don’t know if I feel happy that I’m not alone or terrified that I now know I’m not. I’m a convict criminologist…. I’m 60 years old and quite concerned about the future of this nation.
Truly, as a medical psychologist, I have learnt a lot from your works including the psychology of violence…. Your warnings have been silenced, and really, it’s a strange thing to watch for someone outside the U.S.
I think in 21st century we should heed 37 Psychiatrists, not power mad politicians. This administration shouldn’t continue terrorizing innocent people and alienating our precious allies and super good neighbor.
It’s encouraging to see your interviews and the urgency you express. However, [as a fellow physician] I have to disagree with your conclusion that nothing can be [initiated by us. Donald Trump’s lack of insight] makes the need for voluntary self-referral a non-starter. He needs to be mandated to an inpatient assessment, nothing less. No evaluation, no being president…. The White House physician lacks the competency to assess. [State medical societies and departments of health must] send a firm letter to his doctor, insisting he consult the expertise of you and your committee emergently.
I am writing because I think you are the most competent person to send this to. When Trump was elected the first time, [my] inner intuitive sat down and wrote, “This will be the first President in history to die by his own hand”…. I won’t ask if you think this is probable, but I am asking if, in your professional opinion you think this is possible?
Maybe if there ever comes a case where Trump needs to physically appear in a court and talk the talk, which I don’t believe he can do, maybe then, justice can get a better grip on this loose cannon.
I had an idea of bringing a class action suit against Trump and his administration for the mental stress and distress he/they have brought upon the American people over the past decade.
A suggestion:
To SCOTUS: We the undersigned most earnestly hope that this does not occur but there is a possibility that if the midterms are not favorable, POTUS will act unlawfully and display actions of insanity…. We do, most earnestly, hope that reason will prevail in these difficult times. Yours Faithfully,
Whatever the action, in a political context, it must be citizen-driven. The best reasoning is found in this comment:
Lee’s discussion of the “banality of evil” becomes important to me. The danger … is the reciprocal system that develops around him: followers reward the behavior, politicians learn what survival requires, institutions accommodate themselves, each accommodation makes the next one easier, and yesterday’s outrage becomes today’s baseline. Breaking that process requires more than waiting for the institutions to save us. The people inside those institutions have to become willing to act differently…. the obvious question is: what changes the incentives enough for that to happen?
This will be the question we try to answer in our next discussion.
Announcement:
Please join us for a PROJECT FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL interactive meeting tomorrow, November 4, 2026, at 6 p.m. EST / 3 p.m. PST. A meeting link will be sent to paid subscribers an hour before—and in the below.
Dr. Bandy X. Lee is inviting you to a live session:
Time: Nov 4, 2026 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Discussion about this post
https://bandyxlee.substack.com/p/the-ignorance-of-mental-health-matters
down to the final hours and he is becoming more and more unstable and dangerous. He will lose the midterms, bigly. He is not going anywhere he will nuke Iran. The middle east is a powder keg, putin, china, americus, and other middle eastern countries are attacking one another, ww 111 is starting and he will nuke Iran, he has wanted to fire one for some time now, shame. He got away with the J-6, stolen documents at mar-a-logo serial lies, the secret service needs to protect the constitution not trumpler's insanity, he will destroy the planet because of the epstein files. Thanks Dr. Lee, you tried.
Trump is perilously dangerous right now. Upon learning of the American people's devastating election rejection of his Narcissistic Dishonor tonight, the chances of him, in collusion with Hitlerian war criminal Netanyahu, trying to unload tactical nuclear weapons on Iran will increase exponentially. He must be brought to heel by being involuntarily brought into a psychiatric unit for a comprehensive mental health and neuro-cognitive evaluation, pronto.