From Crisis to Opportunity: Kamala 2024
Dr. Bandy Lee: Forensic psychiatrist, violence expert, and bestselling author, discusses Joe Biden's exit, Kamala Harris's 2024 bid, and the importance of mental fitness in politics.
NOTE: Dr. Bandy Lee is an extraordinary woman. She is a forensic psychiatrist, violence expert, President of the World Mental Health Coalition (worldmhc.org), and a New York Times bestselling author.
I have come to know Dr. Lee through her great work in exposing the systemic human rights failures in Family Courts, what she terms an “Abuse Industry.”
This article isn’t about Family Courts or domestic violence. It’s pure political opinion in an election year.
Joe Biden is out. He’s not running for President. He announced earlier today that he’s releasing his delegates and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to become America’s first female president. Bill and Hillary Clinton and a host of other prominent Dems have already declared for Kamala. Barack Obama hasn’t endorsed. Earlier today on Medium, he wrote:
“We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
Who’s next for the Dems? We don’t know. But Dr. Lee believes that no matter who the ultimate choice is, they will be the most mentally fit candidate. (She didn’t discuss RFK, Jr. But my gut says that given the choice, she’d vote for the worm.)
Dr. Lee and I are on different ends of the political spectrum. However, I respect everything she says, and I defend her right to say every word of it. Though I believe Donald Trump is the greatest leader since George Washington (yes, better than Lincoln and Reagan), and look askance at some of her analysis on Trump’s mental fitness compared to Biden’s (Joe was pudding-brained on day one), her voice and concerns are nonetheless crucial for an honest, comprehensive analysis of the subject matter.
It is incumbent on all of us to remember how to consider diverse points of view, consume multiple sources of information, and formulate our own reasoned opinions. And we must do all of these things respectfully, without vitriol or attack, and as friends, colleagues, and citizens.
In that spirit, here is the latest from my friend, Dr. Bandy Lee.
By Dr. Bandy X. Lee, M.D., M.Div.
I am rejoicing, not because Joe Biden has dropped out, but because he has shown the flexibility and the consideration of national interests—and, therefore, the fitness—to be able to do so. This is a sign of health that gives us hope.
I have said since the very beginning that I was never concerned about Biden’s mental fitness, and even this past week, in my interviews with the New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times, as I was continually questioned about Biden’s fitness, I tried to redirect the issue to Donald Trump. As a result, long interviews were truncated to short quotes, since reporters’ focus was on Biden, not on Trump.
If I had concerns about Biden, they were simply secondary concerns about his opponent: if Biden had little chance of winning and still held onto the nomination, despite the existential threats Donald Trump’s election posed, then his fitness would indeed need to be questioned. But now, there is no longer any doubt.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, raises ever greater concerns. One in three Democrats believe his assassination attempt was staged. Why? This is not an oddity on the part of Democrats but a secondary effect of Trump’s abnormal psychology (one in eight Trump supporters suspect that the event was planned!). First, he is a fraudster not only capable but longing to pull off such a feat; secondly, his behavior upon surviving the attack was untethered from reality; and thirdly, self-aggrandizing to mythic proportions before the event, what will he become now? (he had referred to himself as “the second coming of God” when he was acquitted after his first impeachment—will this make him “the everlasting God”?).
In this manner, mental incompetence balloons out of proportion when handed more power than one can handle. This is why fitness must become the number one issue among elected officials. Biden’s greatest miscalculation, perhaps, was that he did not sufficiently address the mental unfitness of Donald Trump, believing that he could simply treat Trump as a normal politician while focusing on fixing the nation. As a result, despite the good he had done the nation, he ended up being saddled with Trump’s problems as his own!
While we do not yet know who Biden’s replacement will be, it is quintessential that the person be able to confront the elephant in the room: the fact that one will be running against not an equal but a pathological, dangerous, and unfit candidate bent on destroying the nation (no matter what he says). Who is accustomed to dealing with such disorder and dysfunction without being a psychiatrist?
My interview with the Heritage Foundation publication, the Daily Signal, from almost a month ago comes to mind:
“The reason why so many people see problems with Joe Biden is that Donald Trump is projecting his mental symptoms on to Joe Biden so he can deny his own symptoms….
“There is a huge difference between being unfit and someone who does not present very well,” she said. “Joe Biden’s presentation makes people lose confidence in him. That’s not at all equal to danger or unfitness.”
The article reported on the fact that we “prepared a risk assessment for New York state Judge Juan Merchan to consider in his July 11 sentencing decision on Trump.” Of course, the sentencing did not happen, thanks to the Supreme Court decisions to give Donald Trump “absolute immunity” on official acts, and pressures bearing down on even a state case caused it to be postponed to September 18, 2024. And especially after the assassination attempt, two days before the Republican National Convention, a frayed nation considered Trump all but elected.
Apart from denigrating our panel with, “It isn’t clear whether all five are psychiatrists or may have other training [he knew they were the most eminent living psychiatrists],” the reporter gave the rest of our story fairly. He stated:
Their risk assessment could be a factor in the severity of Merchan’s sentence for Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court, which could be up to 20 years in prison for all 34 felony counts on which he was convicted last month.
Lee said the mental health professionals made recommendations to the judge concerning the danger Trump poses to the public, how likely he is to commit a crime, and what message the sentencing would send to future offenders….
Lee said that she and other mental health professionals evaluated special counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report and determined Trump wasn’t fit to be president…. A “functional” test does not require the cooperation of the subject, while a “diagnostic” test would, she said.
However, Lee said she and colleagues did no such functional test on Biden, because they didn’t believe the incumbent president posed a danger to the public, but believed Trump did.
“We only did it for Donald Trump because he poses a danger to the public,” Lee said. “Mental health professionals have a responsibility to society and are required to act.”
She and her colleagues also weren’t asked to evaluate Biden, Lee said. However, she noted: “Our group has recommended that Joe Biden volunteer to take a test and set a standard for future presidents.”
Some high-ranking military officers are required to take mental assessment tests, Lee noted.
During the debate, Trump noted that he had taken two cognitive tests, and that Biden hadn’t. Such a test only proves someone doesn’t belong in a nursing home, Lee said.
The forensic psychiatrist then criticized Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, who was White House physician for both Trump and Barack Obama before him.
“I have often criticized Dr. Ronny Jackson. He is neither trained nor qualified to conduct a mental fitness exam,” Lee said. “He was an employee of the White House and a subordinate of the commander-in-chief. He had a conflict of interest.”
I truly hope that no matter who is selected, the Democratic nominee will have the courage to point out that his or her counterpart is someone who should never have been allowed near the presidency in the first place.
The rest is explained in my new book, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Threat to American Democracy and All Humankind, which is instantly available through paid subscription or by ebook.
 | A guest post by
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From a reader:
That’s easy for you to say. I want my donation to the campaign back. The democratic machine has obviously been lying to us for months. Those you referenced as supporting the laughing hyena are the same ones that said the President was fit. You obviously are part of the lie. I want my $2000 donation back.
From a reader:
Thus broad lee is an fn moron. If he/she looked at ole’ demented and can say he’s in great health then lee needs to be evaluated.
What an idiotic article, like the writer.