When CNN's Brian Stelter isn't worrying about whether or not Sean Spicer's foxtrot around ABC's dancefloor will cause lasting damage to America's social fabric, he's bringing guests on 'Reliable Sources' to sound off cockamamie psychological theories around President Donald J. Trump. Today, Stelter had on a psychiatrist who suggested that President Trump is 'more destructive' than Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong combined.
Ex-Townhall contributor and current Washington Examiner writer Julio Rosas picked up the exchange.
Dr. Allen Frances, former chairman of the Psychiatry Department at Duke University, told Stelter that he is not in favor of psychologists and psychiatrists diagnosing President Trump as "crazy" because doing so hides the fact that Americans are "crazy" for electing him.
"Well, I think 'medicalizing' politics has three very dire consequences. The first is that it stigmatizes the mentally ill. I’ve known thousands of patients, almost all of them are well-behaved, well-mannered good people. Trump is none of these," Dr. Frances told Stelter. "Lumping that is a terrible insult to the mentally ill and they have enough problems and stigma as it is."
"Second, calling Trump crazy hides the fact that we’re crazy for having elected him and even crazier for allowing his crazy policies to persist," Frances continued. "Trump is as destructive a person in this century as Hitler, Stalin, Mao in the last century. He may be responsible for many more million deaths than they were."
An estimated 65 million people died under Mao, at least 12 million non-combatant deaths under Hitler, and likely 20 million due to Stalin's policies. There was zero push back from CNN on his claims.