Since I’ve been mainlining the US Open into my veins for two weeks, I’ve felt such a pleasant distance from all the political shenanigans going down. I’ve been paying attention, of course, because it’s hard not to when my Twitter feed is clogged up with Brett Kavanaugh BS and Bob Woodward stuff. The one-two punch of Bob Woodward’s book plus the New York Times op-ed seems to have done a number on Donald Trump. He’s been acting particularly unhinged this week, according to multiple sources and multiple media outlets. But because of my distance from the hourly shenanigans, I do have to ask: what’s so different this time? People have been saying that Trump is nuttier than a fruitcake for two damn years. Every week there’s a new scandal, controversy or act of treason and every week it feels like people are saying “no, he’s really losing his mind bigly over this, this week it’s different.”

Which brings me to this Salon exclusive, which features some interviews and statements from various physicians and mental-health professionals. Dr. Randy Lee, a Yale University psychiatrist, says that Trump administration officials contacted her almost a year ago asking for help with Trump’s mental state:

According to Lee, the revelations about the Trump White House found in the New York Times article and Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book “Fear” suggest “how deeply the troubles run and what effort is required to protect the nation from what are obviously psychological symptoms.”

“None of the behavior that came out in the Bob Woodward book — as in the Michael Wolff book [“Fire and Fury”] … is a surprise, since it is all consistent with the psychological signs we observed and warned against 18 months ago. Mental health is a science-based field of serious conditions that have predictable patterns. We foresaw the course of this presidency, based on our knowledge and clinical experience, and were concerned enough to put our warnings into a book. We now warn that things will rapidly deteriorate and that the president should submit to an urgent, independent mental health evaluation by an appropriate specialist, as is warranted. We may be delayed, but it is still not too late. The 25th Amendment is a political decision, but it would set in motion the proper treatment of an individual showing his signs of instability: restraint, limit-setting, and removal from access to weapons.”

Lee also told me that these worries about Donald Trump’s mental health by staffers and those other people in the president’s inner circle predate Wednesday’s Times op-ed: “Two White House officials actually contacted me in late October, stating that Trump was “scaring” them, that he was “unraveling.” Not wishing to confuse the role I chose, as an educator of the public, and a potential treatment role, I referred them to the local emergency room without inquiring much further.”

[From Salon]

Donald Trump has been scaring his staff for two bloody years. And none of those cowards have the balls to actually do anything about it. The story of the Trump Administration isn’t just one of a delusional, fascist maniac who is compromised by Vladimir Putin – it’s about he thousands of enablers who stood by and did nothing (but write a self-satisfied op-ed) while Trump burned down the world.

Speaking of the Stable Genius, here he is slurring “anonymous” twice in a row last night.

Trump’s pronunciation of “anonymous” is the best video of the night. pic.twitter.com/HCyo5fpN7a

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 7, 2018

And here he is calling the NYT op-ed “treason.”

Trump on the NYT op-ed: “Number one, The Times should never have done that, because really what they’ve done, virtually, it’s treason.”

(Note: It is not treason.) pic.twitter.com/yToQcG3hEv

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 7, 2018

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.