SATURDAY: Where have all the specialists gone?

SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2026

This is the gamble we've chosen: It's as we noted in this week's reports:

In Tuesday's front-page overview for the New York Times, Peter Baker quoted recent comments about President Trump's "mental health"—comments about the president's "psychological fitness."

Baker quoted a large number of elected officials, podcasters and lawyers. But he didn't quote any remarks by any medical specialists—by any "mental health professionals."

Similarly, Lawrence O'Donnell reminisced on several occasions this week about his past interviews with such medical specialists on his Last Word program. 

That said, those interviews, infrequent and limited as they were, took place during the president's first term—from 2017 on through January 2021. O'Donnell conducted no interviews with medical specialists on this week's Last Word programs. 

Even now, in the face of the growing concerns reported by Baker, it seems that O'Donnell no longer conducts such interviews. As he reminisced this week about past interviews, he didn't explain why that it is. 

Where have all the medical specialists gone? Why didn't Baker quote any such observers? Why didn't O'Donnell quote such current observers? Why doesn't O'Donnell conduct such interviews at this point in time?

We can't answer those very good questions. We'll offer these speculations:

It could be that the president's various lawsuits have convinced news orgs like MS NOW that such interviews can no longer take place. It may also be that medical specialists—some, though plainly not all—have become reluctant to offer assessments about the president's mental health or about his possible cognitive decline.

It may be that an org like the New York Times is also gripped by such concerns. It may be that Baker wanted to quote such medical specialists as Mary Trump and Dr. Vin Gupta (among several others), but editors refused to let that occur.

Is something (seriously) wrong with President Trump? If so, that is of course a personal tragedy. But is something wrong with President Trump in a way which may be extremely dangerous, given his role in the world?

With regard to such important questions, Baker quoted the nutcase Alex Jones. He quoted no medical specialists!

For his part, O'Donnell played tape of what was said by a medical specialist in 2017 and in 2021. He didn't mention things which have been said by medical specialists in just the past few weeks.

We see no sign that these apparent blackout policies are going to change. All in all, it must be said:

All in all, for better or worse, this is the gamble we've chosen!

Starting Monday: A great deal remains to be said

DIAGNOSIS: Baker quoted the nutcase Jones...

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2026

...disappeared Gupta and Trump: As we start, let's be fair to the New York Times—and to Peter Baker, a highly skilled synthesizer.  In fairness, let's say this:  

The basic premise of Baker's recent front-page report was in fact basically accurate. Also, the situation Baker described could be seen as a (somewhat low-IQ) matter of general interest.  

Baker's lengthy report appeared above the fold, on page 1A, in Tuesday's print editions. As it now appears online, it starts in the manner shown, principal headline included:

Trump’s Erratic Behavior and Extreme Comments Revive Mental Health Debate

President Trump’s erratic behavior and extreme comments in recent days and weeks have turbocharged the crazy-like-a-fox-or-just-plain-crazy debate that has followed him on the national political stage for a decade.

A series of disjointed, hard-to-follow and sometimes-profane statements capped by his “a whole civilization will die tonight” threat to wipe Iran off the map last week and his head-spinning attack on the “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” pope on Sunday night have left many with the impression of a deranged autocrat mad with power.

The White House rejected such assessments, saying that Mr. Trump is sharp and keeping his opponents on edge. But the president’s eruptions have raised questions about America’s leadership in a time of war...

Democrats who have long challenged Mr. Trump’s psychological fitness have issued a fresh chorus of calls to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president from power for disability. But it is not just a concern voiced by partisans on the left, late-night comics or mental health professionals making long-distance diagnoses. It can be heard now among retired generals, diplomats and foreign officials. And most strikingly, it can be heard now on the political right among onetime allies of the president.  

In fairness, all that was true! The president's behavior, and his unusual comments, had in fact resulted in a series of comments about his "mental health"—about his "psychological fitness." 

It's also true that comments about the president's mental state had come from a wide array of sources—not just from "partisans of the left."  

It was true! Many people had issued challenging remarks about the president's mental state. And Baker seemed to be willing to cite all these comments—even those which came from some of the most disordered voices within the national maelstrom:

Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who recently broke with Mr. Trump, advocated using the 25th Amendment, telling CNN that threatening to destroy Iran’s civilization was “not tough rhetoric, it’s insanity.” Candace Owens, the far-right podcaster, called him “a genocidal lunatic.” Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist and founder of Infowars, said Mr. Trump “does babble and sounds like the brain’s not doing too hot.”  

Baker was even willing to quote such profoundly marginal figures as Candace Owens and Alex Jones! To appearances, no one was being left behind!   

(In fairness, it can be defended as a matter of general interest when a deranged figure like Alex Jones says some of the things he has recently said. We say that because, however disordered Jones may be, he still has a fairly substantial following. For that reason, it qualifies as a matter of public interest to learn what he has said.)  

Baker quoted a wide array of public figures who had made recent remarks about the president's mental health. That said, there was (at least) one such well-known person the gentleman failed to cite.   

Unlike the nutcase Jones, there was a reasonable chance that the person in question actually knew what she was talking about! We refer to the (current or former) "mental health professional" who had appeared on CNN, where she had offered this:    

BURNETT (2/26/26): You've known him your whole life. Do you actually see a [cognitive] decline?

MARY L. 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.  

Sad! Perhaps at the direction of his editors, Baker was willing to quote the nutcase Jones, but he refused to quote Mary Trump!   

In fairness, it's possible to regard Mary Trump as "an interested party," because, of course, she is. An editor might decide to disappear her rather startling assessments for that very reason.  

In fairness, you can imagine that some editor made some such assessment. That said, please notice this:  

Right at the start of his lengthy essay, Baker seems to say that "mental health professionals" (plural) have been making assessments about the president's mental health. NBC's Dr. Vin Gupta would be an obvious example.

(For Mediaite's report, click here. Headline: MS NOW Medical Analyst Dr. Vin Gupta Claims Trump Has ‘All The Signs of Dementia’)

Even though he was willing to quote a manifest nutcase like Alex Jones, Baker failed to quote any such medical specialist in the course of his long overview. Mary Trump's comments were disappeared, but so were Dr. Gupta's.

We regard that as an insulting refusal to serve. So too, we're sorry to say, in the case of Lawrence O'Donnell.   

As we noted yesterday, O'Donnell has done some serious reminiscing in several of his Last Word programs this week. On Wednesday night, he played videotape from the good old days—from the occasional broadcasts, during President Trump's first term, when he would bring Dr. Lance Dodes on the air to assess the president's mental health.   

Dr. Dodes had hardly been reassuring. On Wednesday's Last Word, O'Donnell played tape of Dr. Dodes from January 2021. In the tape O'Donnell played, Dr. Dodes was shown saying this about President Trump     

DR. DODES (1/9/21): A delusional psychopath who has been the same his whole adult life, and who we knew would get worse the more stress he was under, because that's what happens with people with this kind of severe disorder. ...He is going to continue to get worse.  

The fact that he said it doesn't mean it was true. But now, it does seem, to many observers, that president is "getting worse." But O'Donnell no longer interviews specialists like Dr. Dodes—and in the wake of her comments on CNN, we can find no sign that he proceeded to interview Mary Trump.

Baker will tell you what the nutcase Jones has said. O'Donnell will play the videotape of the good old days, when he would, on the rare occasion, interview a medical specialist like Dr. Dodes.

Baker disappeared Mary Trump and Dr. Gupta. O'Donnell failed to say why he no longer conducts interviews of that type.

In each case, it seems to us that we're looking at a failure to serve. At what seems like a very dangerous time, we're looking at an imitation of journalism—at an imitation of life.

Still coming: Much more remains to be said

DIAGNOSIS: O'Donnell recalls a better day!

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2026

Why doesn't he do this now? Last evening, in his opening monologue on The Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell recalled a (slightly) more forthright day.

In the course of his monologue, he made several glancing references to Peter Baker's recent front-page essay for the New York Times. Headline included, we recall the most interesting part of Baker's thumb-sucker pseudo-report:

Trump’s Erratic Behavior and Extreme Comments Revive Mental Health Debate

[...]

Mr. Trump’s stability has been a recurring issue since he first sought the presidency in 2016. Numerous psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have weighed in with their own opinions even without the opportunity to evaluate him. John F. Kelly, his longest serving White House chief of staff in the first term, even bought a book by 27 of those specialists called “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” in an effort to understand his boss and came to the conclusion that he was mentally ill.  

It's true! Way back in 2017, Yale psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X. Lee edited a best-selling book with that very title. 

In line with an ancient guild tradition, the Times disappeared Dr. Lee's book at that time. In his lengthy essay for the Times, Baker maintained a version of that tradition, as we noted in yesterday's report.   

Sad! In his lengthy report for the Times, Baker didn't quote any of the 27 medical specialists who contributed to Dr. Lee's book. Instead, he offered a fuzzy, weirdly unsourced account of what General Kelly allegedly concluded upon reading the best-selling book.  

Twenty-seven medical specialists were thereby kicked to the curb. Readers were offered only the alleged assessment of General Kelly, who's highly regarded for his integrity but isn't a medical specialist! 

So it goes as journalistic children like Baker take their crayons and continue to color within the lines. Last evening, a form of this refusal to serve was present for the world to see at the start of The Last Word. 

Is it possible? Is it possible that President Trump is suffering from certain forms of mental illness which may, in fact, be immensely dangerous?  

It seems to us that the obvious (possible) answer is yes! But then, we aren't medical specialists either, any more than General Kelly (or Lawrence O'Donnell) is.

Early in last evening monologue, O'Donnell recalled a better day. He recalled the time when he was willing to interview medical specialists about the president's mental health.

It's been years since MSNBC / MS NOW presented transcripts of their primetime "cable news" programs. They suspended that practice years ago, we presume for the obvious reason.

For that reason, we can't direct you to a transcript of O'Donnell's monologue last night. But thanks to this videotape, you can watch the monologue—and at roughly 10:05 p.m., you'll see O'Donnell say this:  

O'DONNELL (4/15/26): If Donald Trump ever did talk to people that are "deep into the psychological world," he is just statistically likely to be speaking to someone who thinks Donald Trump has very serious mental problems, as described in the book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, which was featured on the program in the first year of Donald Trump's first presidency. 

As he continued, O'Donnell described the overall structure of that long-ignored book. He then recalled the way his own program occasionally functioned, way back when The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump appeared: 

O'DONNELL: In his very first appearance on this program, in the second month of Donald Trump's presidency, ten years ago, former Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Lance Dodes said this: 

DR. DODES (videotape, 2017): Lying in the way he does it—repeated, dangerous lying—makes him unfit and is a sign of serious mental disturbance... 

Serious mental disturbance! The fact that he said it doesn't mean that it's right. But that's what Dr. Dodes said on the air, in prime time,, way back in 2017.

Dr. Dodes was one of the contributors to Dr. Lee's disappeared book. As you can see if you watch the tape of last evening's show, that statement by Dr. Dodes went on at some length from there. 

Soon, though, you'll see O'Donnell present a more significant statement by Dr. Dodes—a statement from January 2021: 

O'DONNELL: Professor Dodes returned to this program three days after the January 6th attack and said this:

DR. DODES (videotape, 2021): A delusional psychopath who has been the same his whole adult life, and who we knew would get worse the more stress he was under, because that's what happens with people with this kind of severe disorder. ...He is going to continue to get worse.

He is going to continue to get worse! That's what the experienced specialist said!

There's a great deal more to what Dr. Dodes said that day. We'll suggest that you watch the tape of last night's program to see his fuller statement—his fuller statement from January 2021.

That said:

He is going to continue to get worse, the medical specialist said at that time. 

Many people seem to think that some such downward spiral is now underway—and five years later, in late February of this very year, a second medical specialist went on CNN in prime time and said this:

ERIN BURNETT (2/26/26): You've known him your whole life. Do you actually see a [cognitive] decline?

MARY L. 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.  

The fact that she said it doesn't mean that it's true. But her famous uncle's medical problems "are only going to worsen," this second specialist said. 

Under the circumstances, that sounds like an extremely dangerous state of affairs. And yet, how strange! 

From that day to this, we've seen no one say a word about what Mary L. Trump said on CNN that night. Any by the way, Lawrence O'Donnell no longer interviews medical specialists about the president's medical / mental condition.

 Back then, O'Donnell would (occasionally) speak with Dr. Dodes. But those days are long, long gone.

Last evening, O'Donnell recalled an earlier day—a time when he would actually interview actual medical specialists right there on The Last Word. The following fact went unexplained:

At the New York Times, and on The Last Word, those days are long, long gone!

Tomorrow: An imitation of journalism, an imitation of life