Stop Speculation!

Dershowitz: STOP Speculation About Trump's Mental Health! By Sandy Fitzgerald

The speculation about President Donald Trump's mental status is "very dangerous," and the 25th Amendment was not made to be invoked when parties don't agree about a president's "emotional makeup," Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Monday.

"I have railed against the criminalization of political difference," Dershowitz told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.

"The psychiatrist-ization of political difference is much more dangerous. It's what they did in Russia, it's what they did in China, it's what they did in an apartheid South Africa. If you don't like a candidate, first lock them up. If you can't lock him up, commit him to a mental hospital."

Yale Professor Bandy Lee earlier this month briefed several congressional Democrats and one Republican earlier this month over her concerns over the president's mental state, and Dershowitz said her comments that he is dangerous and may need to be restrained from action are in themselves dangerous.

"Imagine how dangerous that would be, and you know, psychiatrists are notoriously bad at predicting violence," said Dershowitz.

Meanwhile, the 25th Amendment is designed to be used to remove a president who is incapacitated.

"[It] is designed for when somebody has a stroke or somebody is unconscious, perhaps what happened when President [Woodrow] Wilson was president," said Dershowitz. "He had a serious stroke. It's not designed for differences about a person's emotional makeup."

In addition, Dershowitz said that politically, the 25th Amendment likely would not be invoked as the vice president would have to do that, and if the president disputed the matter, then it would have to be voted for by two thirds of both houses of congress.

"It would happen only if any president, I'm not talking about a particular one, had a major psychotic break," said Dershowitz.

"Look, we once had a secretary of defense his name is [James] Forrestal, he jumped out of the window of the Walter Reed Center. He thought the communists were coming after him."

"Oh, by the way, one of the things [Lee] talks about that's a symptom of his mental illness is that he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," said Dershowitz. "So did the majority of the Senate and majority of the House and so did I support that.

"Am I getting locked up next?"