'This is normally what toddlers do': Why a psychiatrist is raising fresh questions about Trump’s recent behaviour

A psychiatrist who has previously raised concerns about President Donald Trump’s mental health has issued a fresh warning, arguing that some of his recent behavior reflects what she described as an intense need to overcome feelings of helplessness.

Dr. Bandy Lee, a forensic and social psychiatrist who previously taught at Harvard and Yale, has for years publicly discussed concerns about Trump’s psychological health. The White House has rejected such claims as ‘false speculation for political purposes’.

Lee edited the 2017 book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump and earlier this year joined 36 physicians in signing an open letter calling for Trump’s removal under the 25th Amendment. The letter cited a “marked deterioration in cognitive functioning.” In an interview with MeidasTouch over the weekend, Lee said several recent developments had heightened her concerns. Among them, she pointed to Trump's remarks surrounding the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Trump had claimed that firefighters carried him away from Ground Zero shortly after the Twin Towers collapsed.

Multiple news organizations reported finding no evidence supporting that account. New York Magazine described the claim as a “weird lie.” Trump later responded on Truth Social, writing that “everything I said was exactly accurate,” while adding: “I was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter.” Lee argued that the episode was consistent with what she sees as Trump's repeated tendency to place himself at the center of major historical events.

“The degree for which he needs to do that for every significant event in national history and every significant monument in the nation has to bear his name, all of this goes back to just how fragile he is in his sense of self,” Lee said. “This is normally what toddlers do,” the psychiatrist continued. “They have to be king or queen or ruler of the universe in order to fight the feeling that they are quite helpless and dependent on others’ care. But of course that’s normal for a two- or three-year-old. It is abnormal and pathological when it involves a fully grown adult.”

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Lee also raised concerns about Trump's recent Truth Social activity, including memes that appear to depict him preparing to launch nuclear weapons. “The extremely dangerous situation in which we find ourselves is that our structure, the set-up that we have is that we have no way of countermanding a president, fit or not, in an impulsive, in a fit of impulse or not,” she said. “There’s no way to countermand the command of a nuclear weapon.”

Lee described Trump as “an incredibly mentally unstable individual who’s become far more unstable with time, with more power he’s given and the less he is constrained.” The discussion comes as renewed public attention has focused on Trump's physical and mental health. Reports have highlighted episodes of apparent daytime drowsiness, bruising on his hands and swelling around his ankles.

The White House has strongly rejected suggestions that Trump is unwell or unfit to serve. “If it quacks like a duck, it may actually just be a Democrat hack doctor,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told The Independent. “President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history and any so-called medical professionals engaging in armchair diagnosis or false speculation for political purposes are clearly breaking the Hippocratic Oath they’ve sworn to.”

The White House has also attributed Trump's recurring hand bruising to frequent handshakes and said chronic venous insufficiency was responsible for the swelling in his ankles. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly maintained that he is in excellent health. Following a physical in May, he said that “everything” had “checked out PERFECTLY.”