As Twitchy reported earlier this week, President Trump’s tweet about the nuclear button on his desk sent the media scrambling to fill the week with hot takes on Trump’s mental fitness, with CNN leading the way.
Psychiatrist tells Dems in Congress: Trump is losing grip on reality https://t.co/6dxJcC2bZr #TheLead pic.twitter.com/mJ71x1S5s2
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 4, 2018
Here’s Rep. Jamie Raskin:
That story about the psychiatrist meeting with Democrats in Congress originated in Politico, however, and there’s a twist. According to Politico, one Republican senator was present at one briefing.
Lawmakers concerned about Trump's mental health invited a Yale psychiatry professor to brief them in December https://t.co/MDWAylTreA pic.twitter.com/EwzF9dRJ6O
— POLITICO (@politico) January 4, 2018
Politico reports:
In private meetings with more than a dozen members of Congress held on Dec. 5 and 6, Lee briefed lawmakers — all Democrats except for one Republican senator, whom [Yale University psychiatry professor Dr. Bandy X.] Lee declined to identify. Her professional warning to Capitol Hill: “He’s going to unravel, and we are seeing the signs.”
The Weekly Standard did a bit of digging to find out just which Republican senator met with Lee, and wasn’t able to find one senator who’d confess to having a meeting.
Did a Republican Senator Actually Meet with a Psychiatrist About Trump's Sanity? https://t.co/DcZ1lYPTrI
— The Weekly Standard (@weeklystandard) January 6, 2018
Recommended
https://twitter.com/JVLast/status/949734816764825600
So, did a Republican senator actually meet with Lee?
In an on-the-record phone call with TWS Saturday afternoon, Lee admitted her “meeting” with a Republican senator was not actually scheduled and that it was, in her own words, “accidental.”
“The meeting happened—it wasn’t arranged in advance,” she said. “It was accidental. It was incidental, I will say. It was incidental.”
The only details Lee recounted to TWS were that the interaction allegedly took place on December 5, when she was in a Senate office building. Asked whether her “meeting” with a Republican senator happened in an office hallway, where visitors often get a chance to see lawmakers in transit, Lee paused.
“I won’t comment. I’m sorry,” she answered.
Hmm … for someone questioning the mental capacity of the president to serve, she’s awfully quiet about with whom she “met.” She sounds much more like a guilty lobbyist than an unbiased mental professional.
Lee, editor of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President,” did recently join Twitter to answer some questions, she says — not to mention retweet every positive article that’s been written about her, including pieces in Vox, Politico, and The New York Daily News. Here’s Vox’s entry:
Psychiatrist Bandy Lee thinks it's time to evaluate the president’s mental capacity — by force if necessary: https://t.co/hB8JiITj5V
— Vox (@voxdotcom) January 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/949763544144318466
"Psychologist" Bandy Lee:
"And it is no accident that gun deaths are up at least 12 percent since 2016," https://t.co/TMoPVXFYdJ— Arthur Kimes (@ComradeArthur) January 6, 2018
Yes, that’s a real quote from the Vox interview … she blames gun deaths since 2016 on “the pathological pattern [Trump] has already shown of resorting to violence the more he feels threatened.”
https://twitter.com/BandyXLee/status/949737993232842752
https://twitter.com/BandyXLee/status/949743673146781696
A flawless ethics history …
https://twitter.com/FilmLadd/status/949771370942038016
"Believe me." https://t.co/wR8JFooLEo
— Anita Sia Perpwalk (@NewYearsDani) January 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/949797606854742016
https://twitter.com/ADPEfferson/status/949737285536317442
https://twitter.com/FilmLadd/status/949772042177564672
Something tells us Lee will find her experience on Twitter less dizzying when the media drops the “mentally unfit” narrative and moves onto another shiny object — probably another tweet or white box truck or something.
* * *
Update:
Keep some popcorn ready …
https://twitter.com/BandyXLee/status/949795385794539520
Doctor who publicly speculated on someone's mental health angrily accuses researching journalist of wild speculation. @byrdinator
— Razor (@hale_razor) January 7, 2018
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional tweets.
Related:
Narrative-building in progress: CNN’s Brian Stelter REALLY concerned about Trump’s mental fitness
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