‘A Constitutional Emergency’: Psychiatric Experts Say Congress Must Confront Mentally Unstable Trump
“We recognize the gravity of what we are asking. We ask it because the gravity of the situation demands it.”
Protesters in opposition to the US war on Iran gather outside of Lafayette Park across from the White House on April 7, 2026.
(Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Apr 14, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
A group of four psychiatrists warned congressional leaders on Monday that US President Donald Trump has recently exhibited “every behavioral sign of a personality in acute crisis,” presenting a “constitutional emergency” that demands immediate action from lawmakers and members of the administration.
In a letter to the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers in both chambers of Congress, the psychiatrists and Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs—who helped organize the letter—pointed to Trump’s recent genocidal threats to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization” and bomb the country “back to the stone ages” as examples of rhetoric that has “crossed a threshold.”
“President Trump exhibits what forensic mental health experts have, across dozens of independent assessments, identified as the ‘Dark Triad’ of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy,” the letter states. “Rather than constituting a clinical diagnosis, this trait-based assessment is grounded in behavioral observation and is particularly useful for assessing the level of danger an individual poses in a political leadership position. We do not offer this as a clinical verdict. We offer it as the considered judgment of a substantial body of professional opinion, based on well-researched evidence that is consistent, accumulating, and impossible to dismiss.”
The psychiatrists who signed the letter are James Gilligan, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University; Prudence Gourguechon, former president of the American Psychoanalytic Association and former vice president of the World Mental Health Coalition; Bandy Lee, president of the World Mental Health Coalition and former professor at Yale School of Medicine; and James Merikangas, clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at George Washington University.
The experts’ letter came amid growing calls from congressional Democrats for Trump’s removal from office, whether through the impeachment process or the pathways offered by the 25th Amendment.
The psychiatrists stop short of demanding Trump’s immediate removal. Rather, they urge Congress to reestablish its constitutional authority over war in response to the president’s unauthorized assault on Iran; convene “urgent consultations” with top administration officials to prevent Trump from escalating “toward catastrophe, including the potential use of nuclear weapons”; and “formally initiate consultation” with Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet members “regarding the president’s fitness for office under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.”
“We recognize the gravity of what we are asking. We ask it because the gravity of the situation demands it,” the letter states. “A president who publicly threatens to destroy a foreign civilization, who launches a bombing campaign and then imposes a naval blockade without congressional authorization, and who shows every behavioral sign of a personality in acute crisis is not merely a political problem. He is a constitutional emergency. The mechanisms for addressing such an emergency exist. They were placed in the Constitution and its amendments for moments precisely like this one.”
The letter was released days after Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to White House physician Sean Barbabella requesting an “immediate and comprehensive cognitive and neurological evaluation of President Donald Trump, along with full public disclosure of the findings,” in response to his “increasingly volatile, incoherent, and alarming public statements,” specifically regarding the war on Iran.
“This is plainly out of the realm of normal politics,” Raskin wrote. “When the president of the United States threatens to extinguish a civilization on social media, rants about combat missions with children at the Easter Egg Roll, and drops profane tirades on Easter morning, we have indisputably entered the realm of profound medical difficulty and concern.”
“We recognize the gravity of what we are asking. We ask it because the gravity of the situation demands it.”
Protesters in opposition to the US war on Iran gather outside of Lafayette Park across from the White House on April 7, 2026.
(Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Apr 14, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
A group of four psychiatrists warned congressional leaders on Monday that US President Donald Trump has recently exhibited “every behavioral sign of a personality in acute crisis,” presenting a “constitutional emergency” that demands immediate action from lawmakers and members of the administration.
In a letter to the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers in both chambers of Congress, the psychiatrists and Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs—who helped organize the letter—pointed to Trump’s recent genocidal threats to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization” and bomb the country “back to the stone ages” as examples of rhetoric that has “crossed a threshold.”
“President Trump exhibits what forensic mental health experts have, across dozens of independent assessments, identified as the ‘Dark Triad’ of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy,” the letter states. “Rather than constituting a clinical diagnosis, this trait-based assessment is grounded in behavioral observation and is particularly useful for assessing the level of danger an individual poses in a political leadership position. We do not offer this as a clinical verdict. We offer it as the considered judgment of a substantial body of professional opinion, based on well-researched evidence that is consistent, accumulating, and impossible to dismiss.”
The psychiatrists who signed the letter are James Gilligan, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University; Prudence Gourguechon, former president of the American Psychoanalytic Association and former vice president of the World Mental Health Coalition; Bandy Lee, president of the World Mental Health Coalition and former professor at Yale School of Medicine; and James Merikangas, clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at George Washington University.
The experts’ letter came amid growing calls from congressional Democrats for Trump’s removal from office, whether through the impeachment process or the pathways offered by the 25th Amendment.
The psychiatrists stop short of demanding Trump’s immediate removal. Rather, they urge Congress to reestablish its constitutional authority over war in response to the president’s unauthorized assault on Iran; convene “urgent consultations” with top administration officials to prevent Trump from escalating “toward catastrophe, including the potential use of nuclear weapons”; and “formally initiate consultation” with Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet members “regarding the president’s fitness for office under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.”
“We recognize the gravity of what we are asking. We ask it because the gravity of the situation demands it,” the letter states. “A president who publicly threatens to destroy a foreign civilization, who launches a bombing campaign and then imposes a naval blockade without congressional authorization, and who shows every behavioral sign of a personality in acute crisis is not merely a political problem. He is a constitutional emergency. The mechanisms for addressing such an emergency exist. They were placed in the Constitution and its amendments for moments precisely like this one.”
The letter was released days after Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to White House physician Sean Barbabella requesting an “immediate and comprehensive cognitive and neurological evaluation of President Donald Trump, along with full public disclosure of the findings,” in response to his “increasingly volatile, incoherent, and alarming public statements,” specifically regarding the war on Iran.
“This is plainly out of the realm of normal politics,” Raskin wrote. “When the president of the United States threatens to extinguish a civilization on social media, rants about combat missions with children at the Easter Egg Roll, and drops profane tirades on Easter morning, we have indisputably entered the realm of profound medical difficulty and concern.”
‘We Are at a Dangerous Precipice’: Raskin Bill Would Create Commission to Examine President’s Fitness
“We have a solemn duty to play our defined role under the 25th Amendment by setting up this body to act alongside the vice president and the Cabinet.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) speaks to the media as Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) look on December 17, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Apr 14, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Tuesday unveiled legislation that would establish a congressional commission tasked with determining whether the president is able to continue executing the duties of the office.
The bill, titled the Commission on Presidential Capacity Act, would also set up “expedited” emergency procedures under which Congress could activate the newly created commission and fast-track its consideration of presidential fitness.
‘A Constitutional Emergency’: Psychiatric Experts Say Congress Must Confront Mentally Unstable Trump
As envisioned by Raskin, this commission would act as a legislative counterpart to the US vice president and the president’s Cabinet, which the text of the 25th Amendment grants the power to declare the president incapacitated. The 25th Amendment also gives that power to a majority “of such other body as Congress may by law provide.”
“The Constitution explicitly vests Congress with the authority to create a body that will guarantee the successful continuity of government by responding to presidential incapacity to discharge the powers and duties of office,” said Raskin. “We have a solemn duty to play our defined role under the 25th Amendment by setting up this body to act alongside the vice president and the Cabinet.”
Raskin pointed to Trump’s recent erratic behavior to argue that Congress needed to take a more assertive role in determining whether he has the mental capacity to serve in the most powerful office in the federal government.
“Public trust in Donald Trump’s ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows,” the Maryland Democrat said, “as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations, unleashes chaos in the Middle East while violating Congressional war powers, aggressively insults the pope of the Catholic Church, and sends out artistic renderings online likening himself to Jesus Christ.”
Raskin went on to warn that “we are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and unstable situation.”
Fifty House Democrats signed on as original co-sponsors of Raskin’s bill, which is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives.
Calls for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office grew louder last week after Trump declared that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” unless Iran agreed to meet his demands.
In a letter sent to congressional leaders on Monday, four psychiatrists warned that Trump’s “behavior and rhetoric... have crossed a threshold that demands the immediate and bipartisan attention of Congress.”
The psychiatrists added that Trump “exhibits what forensic mental health experts have, across dozens of independent assessments, identified as the ‘Dark Triad’ of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.”
“We have a solemn duty to play our defined role under the 25th Amendment by setting up this body to act alongside the vice president and the Cabinet.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) speaks to the media as Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) look on December 17, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Apr 14, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Tuesday unveiled legislation that would establish a congressional commission tasked with determining whether the president is able to continue executing the duties of the office.
The bill, titled the Commission on Presidential Capacity Act, would also set up “expedited” emergency procedures under which Congress could activate the newly created commission and fast-track its consideration of presidential fitness.
‘A Constitutional Emergency’: Psychiatric Experts Say Congress Must Confront Mentally Unstable Trump
As envisioned by Raskin, this commission would act as a legislative counterpart to the US vice president and the president’s Cabinet, which the text of the 25th Amendment grants the power to declare the president incapacitated. The 25th Amendment also gives that power to a majority “of such other body as Congress may by law provide.”
“The Constitution explicitly vests Congress with the authority to create a body that will guarantee the successful continuity of government by responding to presidential incapacity to discharge the powers and duties of office,” said Raskin. “We have a solemn duty to play our defined role under the 25th Amendment by setting up this body to act alongside the vice president and the Cabinet.”
Raskin pointed to Trump’s recent erratic behavior to argue that Congress needed to take a more assertive role in determining whether he has the mental capacity to serve in the most powerful office in the federal government.
“Public trust in Donald Trump’s ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows,” the Maryland Democrat said, “as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations, unleashes chaos in the Middle East while violating Congressional war powers, aggressively insults the pope of the Catholic Church, and sends out artistic renderings online likening himself to Jesus Christ.”
Raskin went on to warn that “we are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and unstable situation.”
Fifty House Democrats signed on as original co-sponsors of Raskin’s bill, which is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives.
Calls for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office grew louder last week after Trump declared that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” unless Iran agreed to meet his demands.
In a letter sent to congressional leaders on Monday, four psychiatrists warned that Trump’s “behavior and rhetoric... have crossed a threshold that demands the immediate and bipartisan attention of Congress.”
The psychiatrists added that Trump “exhibits what forensic mental health experts have, across dozens of independent assessments, identified as the ‘Dark Triad’ of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.”
“He’s a clear and present danger to America and the world,” wrote one critic. “We’ve got to do whatever we legally can to remove him from office.”
A person holds a sign reading “impeach, convict, remove” as they rally at Grant Park during the “No Kings” national day of protest in Chicago on March 28, 2026.
(Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Apr 13, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
US President Donald Trump’s flurry of increasingly deranged late-night social media posts over the weekend—combined with his continued violent belligerence overseas—prompted fresh calls on Monday for congressional Democrats to immediately force an impeachment vote.
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) introduced 13 articles of impeachment against Trump last week, accusing the president of usurping congressional war powers by waging unauthorized assaults on Iran and other nations, illegally deploying National Guard troops in US cities, unlawfully detaining and deporting citizens and immigrants on the basis of their political views, lawlessly dismantling worker- and consumer-protection agencies, and other offenses.
In a statement on Monday, constitutional attorney John Bonifaz applauded Larson for introducing the impeachment articles but said that “we need the congressman to now take the next step and force an immediate floor vote on these articles at this critical hour for our nation.”
“And, Democratic leaders in the Congress should stop standing in the way of such a vote,” said Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech for People (FSFP). The group’s petition urging the US House to impeach Trump a third time has received more than a million signatures, but the Democratic leadership has so far shown no willingness to push ahead with another impeachment process—which would require some Republican support to be successful.
“Momentum is on the side of action,” FSFP said Monday, warning that “further delay only emboldens the president.”
Bruce Fein, a constitutional scholar who served in the Reagan Justice Department, said Monday that the “impeachment of President Donald Trump is urgent.”
“How can any decent person indulge Mr. Trump’s Hitler-like declaration that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ with our tax dollars-paid weapons?” asked Fein, referring to the US president’s genocidal threat against Iran last week.
By one count, more than 85 Democrats in the Republican-controlled US House have called for Trump’s removal via the impeachment process or the 25th Amendment in recent days. Last week, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said he would introduce legislation to establish a commission tasked with removing the president if he is deemed unfit to serve.
“This is plainly out of the realm of normal politics,” said Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, urging the White House physician to immediately evaluate Trump’s cognitive fitness. “When the president of the United States threatens to extinguish a civilization on social media, rants about combat missions with children at the Easter Egg Roll, and drops profane tirades on Easter morning, we have indisputably entered the realm of profound medical difficulty and concern.”
Growing calls for Trump’s impeachment and removal came after the president launched into an unhinged social media tirade late Sunday, hours after high-level talks with Iran ended without an agreement to halt the war that the US president and his Israeli counterpart started in late February.
Trump said Sunday that he would impose a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz—an illegal act of war—and is reportedly considering a resumption of aerial strikes on Iran.
After the talks concluded, Trump posted a lengthy attack on Pope Leo XIV, a vocal critic of the war on Iran. The president then posted an artificial intelligence-generated image depicting himself as a Jesus-like figure.
“Beyond mentally unstable,” Rep. Yassamin Ansar (D-Ariz.) wrote in response to Trump’s post.
Robert Reich, the former US labor secretary, wrote in a blog post on Monday that “the president of the United States is stark-raving mad.”
“He’s a clear and present danger to America and the world. The American public is beginning to see it,” Reich continued. “We’ve got to do whatever we legally can to remove him from office. The 25th Amendment would be useful if Trump’s Cabinet and key advisers had any integrity, but they don’t. They’re ambitious, unprincipled traitors. Which leaves impeachment.”
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