SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2026
The history of the era: History is moving quickly today, as you already know. We wish this was a more appropriate time for this morning's task, but if we might borrow from Donald Rumsfeld:
You report the intellectual history of your era within the time frame you have:
In last Saturday morning's report, we reported what David Brooks said. Had we always known that David Brooks would be the one to break the rule about medical language?
Possibly yes and possibly no—but right there on the previous night's PBS NewsHour, this was what he had said:
GEOFF BENNETT (2/20/26): Is there a point at which the president's rhetoric—maybe we're already there—becomes corrosive to the institution itself?
BROOKS: Well, Donald Trump has never had an honest disagreement with somebody. And where you say, "Oh, I disagree with you," and without him going ad hominem.
And that is just his nature. It is the nature of somebody with a narcissistic personality disorder to think, "I am the center, and everything that's an assault on me cannot be anything but a shameful attack on all that is right and good."
Is the sitting president afflicted with the medical condition known as "narcissistic personality disorder?" Might that be a reasonable clinical diagnosis?
We can't answer that question, but Brooks, a major mainstream journalist, was advancing that assessment. By using that technical medical language, he was also breaking every rule in the journalistic book.
At long last, Brooks had decided to abandon a basic rule of the guild—and dear God! This past Thursday night, Mary Trump, the president's niece, broke that same rule during an interview on CNN.
Mary Trump joined David Brooks! When she spoke with CNN's Erin Burnett, this exchange occurred:
BURNETT (2/26/26): A number of polls are now showing that Americans are increasingly questioning [the president's\ mental state. ...
We're talking about a possible war about to happen, right? So, people are thinking about it.
Reuters/Ipsos has a poll saying 61 percent of Americans agree that Trump has become erratic with age—61 percent. Thirty percent of Republicans agreed with that. ABC/Washington Post/Ipsos poll last week had 56 percent saying Trump doesn't have the mental sharpness to serve effectively. That's up thirteen points since May 2023.
I mean, that's an incredible jump. ...You've known him your whole life. Do you actually see a decline?
M. TRUMP: I do, but I think it's important to remember that Donald has never been fit in any capacity. Obviously, what we're dealing with now are age-related cognitive declines. We're dealing with physical issues that the White House tries to cover over.
But this is somebody who for decades now has had serious, undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric disorders, which are only going to worsen, especially given the pressure he's under and given the cognitive and physical declines. So it's great that the majority of the American people are starting to wake up to this. But I have to say, it's a long time coming.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Mary, I appreciate you, and it's good to see you again.
The fact that she said it doesn't mean that it's right. But that's what Mary Trump said, right there on CNN.
For ourselves, we never use the word "psychiatric." We use the word "medical" instead. Here's why:
Psychiatry is a (conceptually complex) branch of modern medical science. The leading authority on the topic puts it like this: "Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, mood, emotion, and behavior."
The (accurate) term which Mary Trump chose to use tends to shut down further discussion. The kinder/gentler term "medical" doesn't have that same effect.
That said, it had been a long time since we saw Mary Trump, on cable TV, following the trail she blazed in her 2020 best-selling family memoir, Too Much and Never Enough.
Mary Trump holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She's an experienced clinical therapist.
That doesn't mean that her assessments concerning her uncle just have to be correct. But in that best-selling book, she had offered far-reaching diagnostic assessments of her uncle—assessments we have reposted many times.
Specifically, she had said he met every criterion for a clinical diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. She said he also seemed to meet the criteria for antisocial personality disorder, "which in its most severe form is generally considered sociopathy."
As she continued, she seemed to say that her uncle was likely afflicted by quite a few other "pathologies."
The fact that she said it didn't make it correct—but the American press corps has long observed a rule which forbids such medical assessments with respect to political figures. After Mary Trump's book appeared, cable news host avoided discussing those diagnostic assessments in her many cable interviews.
This past Thursday, those technical assessments were back! Burnett didn't seem to be surprised by what her guest said, and she didn't offer any disclaimers.
Is the sitting president afflicted by conditions which are still often referred to as "mental illnesses?" We would guess that the answer is yes, but we have no training and no experience in this area.
Given the president's erratic behavior, we do think that Mary Trump was right when she made these remarks:
It's great that the majority of the American people are starting to wake up to this. But I have to say, it's a long time coming.
We think it's the American press corps, not the American electorate, which may be "starting to wake up to" the deeply unfortunate possibilities in question here. That said, it has been "a long time coming."
For better or worse, these possibilities have been disappeared dating back to Dr. Bandy X. Lee's 2017 best-seller. And as Burnett said to Mary Trump:
We're talking about a possible war about to happen, right?
We've long advised you to "pity the child" with respect to such unfortunate matters. It's also true that a person afflicted with a diagnosable "personality disorder" may make perfectly reasonable decisions in particular circumstances.
Of course, some such state of affairs may also be quite dangerous. And tragically but unmistakably, the sitting president has been quite erratic in thought, word and deed.
The president has seemed to be quite erratic. First with Brooks, then with Mary Trump's exchange with Burnett, we may be seeing the upper-end press corps struggling to break away from a self-imposed conceptual straitjacket.
This is part of the unimpressive intellectual history of this deeply troubled era. Even on this difficult day, we think it should be recorded.
("Somewhere ages and ages hence," someone may find this of value.)
