I worked with Trump. Here’s what I know about his mental state

Most of his first administration came forward afterwards and said that Trump aint suitable for Office. 72 million people did not listen, and here we are

Full analysis article by Miles Taylor, former chief of staff at the US Department of Homeland Security: When meeting with [Donald Trump](https://inews.co.uk/topic/donald-trump?ico=in-line_link) in 2018 about a life-or-death homeland security issue in the Oval Office – an impending Category 5 hurricane, the strongest there is – he did something jarring. He started talking about helicopters. Specifically, he wanted to share with us his frustration that helicopters are always breaking down because, in his words, “there are too many parts!” Mid-briefing. We were asking him to issue an urgent warning to Americans to evacuate the affected area, and he went off on a tangent about helicopters. And then another about the election. We finally got him back on track, but the clock was ticking. I filed it away as a data point. But I now think it was an eye-opening preview. Let me be direct about something the political press keeps dancing around: the [debate about Trump’s mental fitness](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/trump-really-ill-just-old-experts-weigh-in-4203450?ico=in-line_link) has always been somewhat misdirected. The question was never simply, Is he sharp? It was always, can the system around him absorb his worst impulses? In his first term, it just barely could. In his second, it cannot. That’s the real story, and it’s far more alarming than any [cognitive decline narrative](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/donald-trump-cognitive-decline-white-house-medical-chief-3259080?ico=in-line_link). There’s not only an undisciplined, irascible, and impulsive man in the Oval Office. He’s now surrounded by people who are hyping those characteristics rather than helping him exercise any semblance of self-control. I watched Trump operate at close range from a perch inside the Department of Homeland Security. He spent more time with our department than any other. What I observed was a man of genuinely unusual cognitive disarray. He was disorganised in ways that were structurally alarming for a commander-in-chief. For instance, he appeared to think in sudden associations, not sequences, and he absorbed information through flattery and visual repetition rather than briefings. We were literally told to stop sending him documents to read that were longer than a page in length, and, where possible, to provide information in pictures instead of words. The machinery of government was largely adapted to these peculiarities. Fifty-page background papers were reduced to one-pager descriptions using Trump’s “winners-and-losers” lexicon to try to help him understand complex topics and to coach him through difficult decisions. Officials interjected as the US President grew red-faced, sputtering obscenities after watching a news story that was unflattering or appeared willing to break a law or misuse his power to go after a political opponent. But even that machinery no longer exists. The senior officials who tried to help him manage his worst instincts – the chiefs of staff, the defence secretaries, the national security advisers who were willing to walk into the buzzsaw of his anger to speak truth to power – have been replaced or sidelined. What remains is more of a court than a cabinet. Trump’s loyalists have been hired to amplify the man and no longer view their role as trying to assist him in complying with the law, as we once did. Put another way, the bomb was always there. But now the blast shielding is gone. I believe Trump’s cognitive decline is self-evident. He rambles more. The tangents have grown longer and stranger: see recent riffs about [Hannibal Lecter](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/democrat-nominee-stopped-trumps-momentum-one-word-weird-3212801?ico=in-line_link), the inexplicable detours into [shark-related hypotheticals](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/kamala-harris-is-donald-trumps-nightmare-3183411?ico=in-line_link), or the moments where sentences simply stop. Speech pathologists and neurologists have noted the deterioration publicly and while I’m not qualified to diagnose it, what I can tell you is that the contrast with even five years ago is striking. The man I observed in the first term was erratic but the man I observe now is erratic without a safety net. The irony, of course, is exquisite. Trump spent years suggesting that former president [Joe Biden was too cognitively diminished](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/trumps-behaviour-sparking-concerns-about-age-4052081?ico=in-line_link) to serve – a characterisation that, whatever its merits, was prosecuted with the zeal of a man who had never contemplated that the charge might one day be reversed. It’s now being reversed. Yet many of the same commentators who amplified every Biden stumble have adopted the collective posture of people who have suddenly gone blind (or are, perhaps, too scared to criticise a man who threatens to prosecute their newspapers or revoke the broadcast licenses of their cable networks). I’m not arguing that Trump has dementia, or that any specific diagnosis applies. I’m arguing something narrower and perhaps more frightening. The question of whether a president is fit is partly medical but also partly structural. Can the office of the presidency support the person holding it when that person errs, missteps, or fumbles on serious matters of war and peace? Are there people around willing to correct him to his face? Or, in the case of something like the [Iran war](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/trump-losing-control-iran-humiliating-him-4315927?ico=in-line_link), are aides prepared to explain to him the deadly consequences of a failure to prepare? In Trump’s first term, the answer was a precarious yes. In his second, the answer appears to be no. In fact, the New York Times reported the other week that top aides were actively tip-toeing around the truth in the presence of the President. “Inside the administration,” the New York Times reported, “some officials are growing pessimistic about the lack of a clear strategy to finish the war. But they have been careful not to express that directly to the President, who has repeatedly declared that the military operation is a complete success.”

I don't need to work with him to see that he's batshit and losing his marbles. Hell that was the case in his first term.

The mental state of ALL Trump voters is troubling as well.

If we all understand that the guy is bat shit crazy with a decent level of incompetence mixed in, what does this say about all his supporters who believe he's the best option to lead the nation on the world stage?

But, but…the price of eggs, and trans athletes. :/

He has the mental capacity of a 5 year old.

>The question was never simply, Is he sharp? It was always, can the system around him absorb his worst impulses? In his first term, it just barely could. In his second, it cannot. That’s the real story, and it’s far more alarming than any cognitive decline narrative.

I don’t trust the mental state of anyone that works with Trump in any capacity. A reasonable person would simply not.

Its always been clear that in his first term he had people with some semblance of morals/souls/intelligence and political experience around him that they basically governed for him and managed to control his impulses by treating him like a child. The project 2025 people realised that if they wanted to achieve their aims, they needed to get rid of those people, and replace them with sycophants, and that's what they did. Those people being the Miller's, Bondi's, Patel's, Hegseth's of the world. Who's combined morals, intelligence and politcal experience isn't even half of 1 of those people from the previous administration. And like the people before them, they're the one's governing, its just that they're as bad as he is, if not worse.

Just a reminder that 24 of Trump's former top staff said he should not be reelected. Yet here we are. Because propaganda works.

F*** this moron. We all knew he was a bad person not capable of this job. You decided to make him your boss?

Working for the same guy who mistaken a cognitive test for an IQ test and loves to overestimate their intelligence must be a pain in the neck. Yikes!

Congratulations America, you elected the village idiot. Twice...

Honest question: Trump sounds like at best a tedious and stupid person. Some, nay a few of these people are not morons. They may be repugnant but have at least average to above average IQ. How do they even talk to this guy without their brains melting?

We are so fucked

Trumps not crazy for doing things that give him unlimited power and money. We're idiots for allowing it... Something something genie take the wheel afterlife mansion... Basically 

I cannot understand how people thought that a man who ‘grabbed women by the p****’ was fit for public office. His misogynistic comments & lies leave me bewildered that voters thought he was ok!

All of this because some racist trailer trash from out in the county of mississippi and alabama wanted to vote against their best interests.

The USA is at war in the Middle East again. After 20 years in Afghanistan Trump has lead the US back into war

‘It’s fucked’ Saved you some time.

Very short summary: Even in the face of catastrophic events that threaten the live of hundreds of his own citizens, Trump can not concentrate on the topic and rants about random things going through his mind. And that was in 2018 about the Cat. 5 Hurricane. So nothing new here. Saved you a boring read hopefully.

Stop all this he is crazy talk, needs to be removed, does not know. BULLSHIT! He is deliberate, determined and a "DESTROYER of DEMOCRACY" accomplishing the goals of Project 2025 without any interference and at record speed! If this man does not leave the White House bloody in cuffs or in a body bag after a painful televised death, the USA will fail to exist! Project 2025 is not a simple difference of political opinion. It is an "ACT of WAR" and needs to be treated that way! Sorry if we make it to 2029 dems have a Project 2029 for us.

He’s freaking bonkers.

You worked for Trump? Youre part of the problem.

He is really insane?

Would have loved to have been able to read it.

Paywalled

I state, he is completely mental.

Why do people post paywalls?

The scariest thing about Trump is that even if his supporters turn against him, they will still be searching for a slightly more sane, competent, and/or effective version of him for decades to come.

Now I know what, "possible paywall" means.

Why is nobody talking about the alternative? Please, Kamala was not a choice!