Donald Trump's behavior and leadership approach are becoming increasingly dangerous as a result of deep-rooted psychological insecurity and a growing sense of "unbelonging," according to psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee, who has publicly scrutinized the former president's conduct since his first term. The assessment, delivered during an appearance on The Daily Beast's podcast, renews a long-running and contentious debate over the relationship between presidential authority, mental fitness, and public safety.
Dr. Lee is described as a "forensic and social psychiatrist turned whistleblower on power, violence, and presidential pathology." Her warnings center on the claim that Trump's internal instability manifests externally as paranoia and aggressive expansion of executive authority. When asked whether Trump is reacting defensively to perceived limitations, Dr. Lee said, "Absolutely. And that is why he is constantly on guard. He's paranoid."
She pointed to policy actions that critics have previously framed as law-and-order initiatives. Among them, she cited "deploying the National Guard to fight crime in major cities" and "ongoing raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents," calling these decisions evidence of escalating psychological tension. Dr. Lee stated that observers often misinterpret the behavior as raw ambition rather than the product of underlying pathology.
She argued that Trump's pursuit of power exceeds conventional political strategy. According to Dr. Lee, while many see him as "the most powerful man on the planet. Why does he need more and more? His actions reveal a man creating a personal army." She added, "He's now accumulating ICE agents as a government police force. He's now required every state to deploy 500 National Guard members to function essentially as a guard for himself against the people."
The psychiatrist concluded that Trump's insecurity increases the likelihood of dangerous outcomes, including intensified retaliation and political escalation. She explained that when Trump "demands this kind of powerful positioning of himself, he's doing so from a place of pathology. It's not a healthy demand." She continued, "So he's doing so in a way that actually fuels his sense of insecurity, his own unfitness, his unbelonging, and so he will increasingly become more defensive and more dangerous."
Her warnings expand on arguments raised in her 2017 book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump and its 2024 sequel The More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 40 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Warn Anew. In the interview, Dr. Lee said the key to de-escalation is not confronting Trump directly but imposing external containment. "One thing about dangerous individuals such as Donald Trump is that once we contain him, we will see immediately how he would be reduced, he would fold in on himself and no longer be as threatening and intimidating as he seems right now."
The discussion comes as Trump continues to highlight his cognitive self-assessments in public appearances. In October, he conflated a cognitive exam with an intelligence test while describing his performance as "perfect." He later attacked political opponents by saying, "They have Jasmine Crockett, a low-IQ person. AOC is low IQ. You give her an IQ test, have her pass, like, the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed," adding, "Those are very hard - They're really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way, but they're cognitive tests."
The White House rejected Dr. Lee's assessment. Spokesperson Abigail Jackson stated, "Hopefully this 'doctor' knows how to treat TDS - she can start with herself." The term "Trump Derangement Syndrome" is commonly used among Trump supporters to dismiss psychological critiques of his behavior as partisan attacks.
