The news of John Kelly’s hidden market comes in a new book by Peter Baker of the New York Times and Susan Glasser of the New Yorker. The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021, will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy. The book Kelly bought, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, became a bestseller in 2017. In January 2018 its publisher, then-Yale psychiatrist Bandy Lee, described its goals in a Guardian column. He wrote: “While we adhere to the letter of the Goldwater Rule – which prohibits psychiatrists from diagnosing public figures without personal examination and without consent – there is still much that mental health professionals can say before the public becomes aware. “These come from observations of a person’s response patterns, media exposure over time, and reports from those close to them. Indeed, we know far more about Trump in this regard than many, if not most, of our patients. “Nevertheless, a public figure’s personal health is their private matter – until, that is, it becomes a threat to public health.” Kelly, a retired general, became Trump’s second chief of staff in July 2017 — after Trump fired Reince Priebus in a tweet — and left the post in January 2019. His struggles to impose order on Trump and his subordinates and his violent disagreements with the president have been extensively documented. According to Baker and Glasser, who interviewed Kelly, the retired Marine Corps general bought a copy of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump as he “seeked help understanding the president’s particular psychoses and consulted it while running the White House . known to be referred to as ‘Crazytown”. “Kelly told others that the book was a useful guide for a president she considered a pathological liar whose inflated ego was actually the mark of a deeply insecure person.” The authors report that Kelly’s view was shared by unnamed senior officials, quoting one as saying, “I think there’s something wrong with [Trump]. He doesn’t listen to anyone and feels like he shouldn’t. He just doesn’t care what other people say and think. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” The 25th Amendment, which provides for the replacement of a president who cannot meet the demands of the position, was heavily debated at the end of the Trump presidency, after the attack on Capitol Hill that it instigated. Baker and Glasser say the amendment was tentatively discussed by cabinet members “within months of Trump taking office.” However, its flaws – if Trump opposed its use, it would be completely impossible to change – precluded further action. Trump has regularly dismissed claims about his mental health and his staff’s concerns about it. In January 2018, after the publication of Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury, Trump told reporters that he was “a very stable genius.” Kelly has regularly attacked Trump. In October 2020, CNN reported that Kelly told friends that Trump’s dishonesty was “amazing … more pathetic than anything” and called Trump “the most flawed person” she had ever met. Trump fired back, claiming that Kelly “didn’t do a good job, she didn’t have the temperament, and they ultimately let him down. They ate him alive. He couldn’t handle the pressure of this job.” The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump was a bestseller, hailed by the Washington Post as “the boldest book” of 2017. But it also sparked controversy for its discussion of the mental state of a public figure. In May 2020, Lee lost her job at Yale, in part, she said, because of tweets about Trump. This month, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit in which Lee said she was wrongfully fired.
