Politics
Opinion: Donald Trump's state of mind should be under debate
It’s way past time to talk seriously about Trump Derangement Syndrome — his, not his critics’.
For years it’s been clear to mental health experts as well as the armchair variety, to Republicans as well as Democrats, that Donald Trump is not well in the head. Yet his behavior — the pathological lying, childish name-calling, grandiosity and narcissistic obsession with crowd sizes, open bigotry, erraticism, desire to be liked (loved!) by murderous dictators — long ago became normalized.
Opinion Columnist
Jackie Calmes
Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.
Trump’s fire hose of cray-cray has inured Americans to his outrages. He unabashedly owns the offenses, then repeats them. And enough of our fellow citizens like that about him, and dislike his opponents, that they elected him president and may do so again.
“God help us,” in the words of retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff.
But now that President Biden, a normal and empathetic man, has been pushed out of the 2024 race over concerns about his age and mental acuity, Trump’s more manifest unfitness for office should be ignored no longer — by the media, former advisors and military leaders who remain silent and, yes, Republicans.
Trouble is, Americans can talk about Trump’s madness, but what’s to be done? Republican “leaders,” who privately concede the truth about their nominee, won’t push him out. They’ve enabled him this long, through repeated down-ballot losses, impeachments, incitements and indictments. And unlike Biden, Trump won’t go voluntarily: He lost an election but was so determined to keep power that he provoked an insurrection.
Forget Republicans’ and Trump’s resistance: A serious discussion and debate about Trump’s state of mind wouldn’t be pointless. It might tip the scales for the few undecided voters in the half-dozen swing states who will decide the election. Do they really want him to control the nuclear codes?
Since 2015, when he descended the golden escalator at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy with the sort of megalomaniacal monologue to which we’ve become desensitized, mental health professionals have shied from publicly addressing Trump’s psyche, cowed by the half-century-old “Goldwater rule” of the American Psychiatric Assn. The rule holds that it is unethical to give a professional opinion about a public figure’s mental health without examining the person and receiving their permission.
During Trump’s presidency, however, several dozen professionals invoked a civic “duty to warn”; they wrote and later expanded a bestseller assessing Trump’s psychological maladies. (Among the purchasers of the first edition: Kelly, to better understand his White House boss.) Meanwhile, privately, other professionals aren’t shy on the topic: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote in her just-released book that psychiatrists flocked to her at a memorial service for one of their colleagues to vent about Trump’s behavior.
And Trump calls her “Crazy Nancy”? Projection.
He seems plainly triggered since Biden’s withdrawal from the race, a race Trump had seemed to be winning, by the ascendance of the Harris-Walz ticket and the large crowds, donations and polling gains the Democrats are getting. He tried to steal back the attention with a news conference on Thursday, a MAGA rally in Montana on Friday and assorted public statements — only to raise more questions about his well-being.
“Umm, @GOP, is @realDonaldTrump ok?” former Republican Party chairman turned apostate Michael Steele posted after one Trump rant on social media. Trump had dubbed Vice President Kamala Harris “Kamabla,” said that she and other Democrats had staged “a COUP” against Biden and suggested Biden would “CRASH” Democrats’ convention next week to seize the nomination. That’s playground babble.
At the Mar-a-Lago news conference, Trump claimed his crowds are not only bigger than Harris’ but also that his Jan. 6 audience near the National Mall exceeded the estimated 250,000 who heard the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech in Washington in 1963. It didn’t; Trump’s was estimated at 53,000. But who boasts about a crowd that went on to attack the Capitol?
So much of what he told reporters was a lie or the tall tales of an old man —162 misstatements in 64 minutes, by NPR’s count. All it took were calls to Willie Brown, the former San Francisco mayor and California Assembly speaker, and to Nate Holden, former Los Angeles city councilman and state senator, for reporters to debunk Trump’s claim he’d once nearly crashed in a helicopter with Brown. His point was that Brown, who once dated Harris, badmouthed her, on a trip the two men never took together.
Trump also denied that he falsely said what millions of Americans have heard or can easily find on YouTube: that Harris identified as Indian American until she decided to “turn Black.” “I didn’t say it,” he lied, adding for mean measure that she’s been “very disrespectful” to both racial groups.
Since the assassination attempt against him, Trump repeatedly has mocked talk that his brush with death might transform him. “I’m not nicer,” he told donors at one event.
Truth, finally.
He told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that Harris “destroyed San Francisco. She destroyed the state of California, along with Gov. Gavin New-scum.” In Montana, he falsely claimed Harris won’t debate him, “because she’s dumb.” On the weekend, video emerged on social media of Trump, with teenage son Barron beside him in a golf cart, calling Harris a “f–ing bitch.”
A rich donor at a recent dinner asked Trump to describe a positive vision for the country. The New York Times reported that the question “appeared to be a request for reassurance.” But Trump stayed negative, further assailing Harris before adding, “I am who I am.”
Whatever that is, Trump is not fit to be president. Put him on the couch, not behind the Resolute Desk.
@jackiekcalmes
Politics
Navy Secretary John Phelan Is Leaving the Pentagon and the Trump Administration
Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired on Wednesday after months of infighting with senior Pentagon leaders and disagreements over how to revive the Navy’s struggling shipbuilding program.
Mr. Phelan is leaving the Pentagon and the Trump administration effective immediately, wrote Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, in a terse statement.
In his role leading the Navy, Mr. Phelan had championed the “Golden Fleet,” a major investment in new ships including a “Trump-class” battleship. But Mr. Phelan’s leadership was marred by feuds with senior leaders in the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, Pentagon and congressional officials said.
Mr. Phelan is the first service secretary to leave the administration, though he is the second one to clash with the defense secretary. Mr. Hegseth also has butted heads with Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll over promotions and a host of other issues. Mr. Hegseth fired the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, earlier this month.
The Navy secretary has no role overseeing deployed forces, and Mr. Phelan’s firing is not likely to have significant implications for the conduct of the Iran war or U.S. Navy operations to blockade Iranian ports or open the Strait of Hormuz. As the Navy’s top civilian leader, his main responsibility is to oversee the building of the future naval and Marine Corps force.
But the tumult could make it harder for the Navy to replenish its stock of Tomahawk missiles and high-end air defense systems, which have been in heavy use in Iran.
Tensions had been simmering for months between Mr. Phelan and his two bosses — Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Feinberg — over management style, personnel issues and other matters.
Mr. Feinberg, in particular, had grown increasingly dissatisfied with Mr. Phelan’s handling of the Navy’s major new shipbuilding initiative, and had been siphoning off responsibility for the project from him, said the congressional official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Mr. Phelan, a White House appointee, also had a contentious relationship with his deputy, Under Secretary Hung Cao, who is more aligned with Mr. Hegseth, especially on some of the social and cultural battles that have defined the defense secretary’s tenure, the officials said.
A senior administration official said that Mr. Hegseth informed Mr. Phelan before the Pentagon’s official announcement that he and President Trump had decided that the Navy needed new leadership.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Phelan referred all questions on Wednesday evening to the Defense Department.
Last fall, Mr. Hegseth fired Mr. Phelan’s chief of staff, Jon Harrison, who had clashed with senior officials throughout the Pentagon. The unusual move highlighted the broader tensions between Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Phelan.
Still, the timing of Mr. Phelan’s firing caught some Pentagon and congressional officials off guard. On Wednesday, Mr. Phelan was making the rounds on Capitol Hill, talking to senators about his upcoming annual hearing with lawmakers to discuss the Navy’s budget request and other priorities.
“Secretary Phelan’s abrupt dismissal is troubling,” Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Wednesday night. “In the midst of President Trump’s war of choice in Iran, at a moment when our naval forces are stretched thin across multiple theaters, this kind of disruption at the top sends the wrong signal to our sailors and Marines, to our allies, and to our adversaries.”
Mr. Phelan also had a close relationship with Mr. Trump. In December, Mr. Phelan appeared alongside Mr. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort to announce the “Golden Fleet” and the new class of battleships bearing Mr. Trump’s name.
“John Phelan is one of the most successful businessmen in the country — in our country,” Mr. Trump said. “He’s been a tremendous success.”
Before joining the Trump administration, Mr. Phelan ran a private investment fund based in Florida.
“He’s taken probably the largest salary cut in history, but he wanted to do it,” Mr. Trump said at the December press conference. “He wants to rebuild our Navy. And you needed that kind of a brain to do it properly.”
But Mr. Trump’s effusive praise masked deeper tensions with Mr. Phelan’s Pentagon bosses.
Bryan Clark, a naval analyst at the Hudson Institute, said that Mr. Phelan was “driving the Navy in a different direction” than what Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Feinberg wanted.
“He was championing initiatives like the battleship and frigate that don’t align with where the D.O.W. leadership is taking the military, which is toward submarines, stealth aircraft, unmanned systems and software-driven capabilities like electronic warfare and cyber,” Mr. Clark said in an email, using the abbreviation for Department of War, as the administration calls the Defense Department.
Mr. Phelan also clashed with Mr. Hegseth over personnel issues in the Navy and Marine Corps, a former senior military official said. Mr. Hegseth has directed service secretaries to scrub the social media accounts of general- and admiral-level promotion candidates to ensure they are not deemed too “woke” by Mr. Hegseth’s standards, the official said.
Maggie Haberman and Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
Politics
Manhattan DA’s office employee charged with sexual abuse after alleged incident on Queens subway
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An analyst with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office was arrested Tuesday on allegations that he sexually abused a woman while off duty, police told Fox News Digital Wednesday.
Tauhid Dewan, 28, is accused of inappropriately touching a 40-year-old woman’s private area during a late-afternoon rush-hour subway ride in Queens, according to local outlet PIX11.
The victim was reportedly a random woman, the outlet added, citing sources who said she and the suspect were strangers.
A spokeswoman for the office told Fox News Digital that the staffer has since been suspended.
MAN ARRESTED IN NYC STRANGULATION DEATH OF WOMAN FOUND OUTSIDE TIMES SQUARE HOTEL
Tauhid Dewan, 28, was arrested in New York City Tuesday following allegations that the Manhattan DA staffer innapropriately touched a woman during a subway ride (LinkedIn)
According to the New York Police Department, Dewan was arrested around 5 p.m., possibly after returning from work.
PIX11 added that the arrest occurred minutes after the incident, which allegedly took place on a No. 7 train near the Junction Boulevard station.
He was subsequently arrested by the NYPD Transit Bureau and is facing multiple charges, including forcible touching on a bus or train, third-degree sexual abuse, and second-degree harassment involving physical contact.
He was also charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child under the age of 17, suggesting a minor may have been nearby and either witnessed the alleged conduct or was placed at risk by it.
ERIC SWALWELL FACES MANHATTAN SEX ASSAULT PROBE AFTER ENDING CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CAMPAIGN AMID ALLEGATIONS
Tauhid Dewan is an employee of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which is led by DA Alvin Bragg. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Law enforcement sources said Dewan has no prior arrests, local outlets reported.
According to city records, Dewan has worked at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as a senior investigative analyst for nearly four years, since July 10, 2022.
People board a train at a subway station in New York City on Aug. 1, 2025. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
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His arraignment in Queens Criminal Court was scheduled for Wednesday, according to state records.
Politics
As primary election nears, top candidates for California governor debate tonight
SAN FRANCISCO — With the California governor’s race quickly approaching, six candidates will face off Wednesday evening in the first debate since former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race in the aftermath of sexual assault and misconduct allegations.
The debate takes place at a critical moment in the turbulent contest to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. Ballots will start landing in Californians’ mailboxes in less than two weeks, and voters are split by a crowded field of eight prominent candidates. The debate also takes place after former state Controller Betty Yee ended her campaign because of a lack of resources and support in the polls.
Two Republicans — Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton — and four Democrats — billionaire Tom Steyer, former Biden administration Secretary Xavier Becerra, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan — will take the stage at Nexstar’s KRON4 studios in San Francisco. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, both Democrats, were not invited to participate because of their low polling numbers.
As the candidates strive to distinguish themselves in a crowded field, the debate could include fiery exchanges about the role of money in politics and potential heightened attacks on Becerra, who has surged in the polls since Swalwell dropped out. With the debate taking place on Earth Day, environmental issues are also likely to be raised.
The Wednesday night gathering is the first televised debate in the gubernatorial contest since early February. Last month, USC canceled a debate hours before it was set to begin over mounting criticism that its criteria excluded all major candidates of color.
The 7 p.m. debate is hosted by Nexstar and will be moderated by KTXL FOX40 anchor Nikki Laurenzo and KTLA anchor Frank Buckley. It can be viewed on KRON4 (San Francisco), KTLA5 (Los Angeles), KSWB/KUSI (San Diego), KTXL (Sacramento), KGET (Bakersfield) and KSEE (Fresno). NewsNation will also air the debate.
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