So, over the weekend, CNN, one of the most anti-Trump networks out there, let one of the most absurd remarks go unchecked by a guest. I mean, it was patently false. There was no doubt it was wrong. Some psychiatrist from Duke actually said that President Trump might be more responsible for more deaths than Stalin or Hitler. Tim wrote about it:
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."
As reckless and disgraceful as anything you’ll hear on national television. This blindly partisan psychiatrist had no business being given any platform after saying Trump may be responsible for the deaths of tens of millions. https://t.co/wBMqZw5J7P
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) August 25, 2019
How didn’t you fact-check him right then and there, @brianstelter?
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) August 25, 2019
“Trump may have killed more people than Hitler and Mao.”
20-45 million people were killed under the Mao regime, Hitler was responsible for the deaths of more than 20 million people.
This segment is shameful. https://t.co/zKrIFjwWCu
Yeah, talk about hitting the crack pipe. The interview is even more obnoxious in the sense that Dr. Frances thinks Trump is evil, and that he would push the mentally ill narrative, even if false, it meant removing Trump from office (via Daily Caller):
“I think it’s very clear that he’s dangerous because he’s evil, he’s not dangerous because he’s mentally ill, and the mentally ill argument, if it would get him out of the office, I would say go with it even if it’s inaccurate,” Frances continued. “Anything to get this man out of office. But it won’t work, so piling on inaccuracy, stigma, the press will get people who know nothing about psychiatric diagnosis spouting off at the mouth, it won’t add to the discussion, it will distract from the political stuff and we have to focus on how evil —”
[…]
“I think Trump is best characterized as a spoiled brat, as a baby having temper tantrums, as a completely unfit person unable to meet the challenges and the responsibilities of his office, as a con man, as a — the most narcissistic person maybe in our time and a narcissist for all times. All of these — as a thief. As a corrupter of others, as an obstructor of justice. These are terms that all make sense.
Okay—well, first he must’ve missed the endless tantrum that Democrats have thrown since 2016 and their inability to let that election go because they feel entitled to win every contest. The Left is spoiled. The Left does play con games with minority communities. So, talk about a lack of self-awareness here. But more importantly, why didn’t host Brian Stelter fact-check Dr. Frances? Oh, well, it was because there were technical difficulties.
I agree that I should have interrupted after that line. I wish I had heard him say it, but I was distracted by tech difficulties (that's why the show open didn't look the way it normally does, I had two computers at the table, etc). Not hearing the comment is my fault.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 25, 2019