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Because this is Trump, the remark didn’t draw that much attention. It should have — because it’s part of a broader pattern of Trump making denigrating comments about mental health and, in the process, making a mockery of those who suffer from mental illness.
Trump has also repeatedly questioned the mental fitness of 2020 presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
For Trump, deriding someone as “sick” or “crazy” or “nuts” is just a garden-variety insult that he likes to sling around. To him, it’s the equivalent of calling someone a “loser” or a “dog” — which he also does frequently.
These numbers are staggering. And only in recent years has there been a concerted effort to treat mental health as on par with physical health, to bring it out from the shadows and sanitariums and have honest conversations about why we feel the way we do and what active steps we can take to help ourselves.
“There are a whole bunch of people who make a whole bunch of money by just trying to help other people forget high school. They’re called psychologists. In fact, 95% of all gainfully employed psychologists — and I’m serious, there are dozens of them that are gainfully employed — their job is really just to help people forget high school.”
“Mental illness is something nobody wants to talk about. These people are mentally ill, and nobody talks about that. … I think we have to start building institutions again because, you know, if you look at the ’60s and ’70s, so many of these institutions were closed.”
So, yeah. The idea that the solution to dealing with mental illness is more institutions is, well, something.
He’s also suggested that PTSD — and suicide — is an issue of strength (or weakness).
It’s impossible to overstate the impact of Trump’s casual use of words like “crazy” and “nuts” and his willingness to accuse his political rivals of having “mental problems” or being “sick” or “unhinged” has on public perception about mental health. Not only how the general public feels about it but, more importantly, how people who are suffering from some form of mental illness feel about themselves and how/whether they are willing to seek help.
And that was before a two-plus month forced isolation as we sought to slow the spread of the coronavirus!
Yes, Donald Trump’s presidency has already done damage to the idea of truth. And to the idea of moral leadership. And to how America is perceived around the world. But his most damaging legacy may well be his dismissal of mental health — at a time when so many Americans of all political stripes are struggling with it.
CNN’s Allison Gordon contributed to this report.
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