Culture

Allen Frances, Duke professor, says Trump 'may be responsible' for more deaths than Hitler, Stalin


A psychiatry professor at Duke University told CNN on Sunday that President Trump “may be responsible” for millions of more deaths than Adolf Hilter, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.

Dr. Allen Frances, former chairman of Duke University’s Psychiatry Department, appeared in a segment on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” with Brian Stelter, when he warned about the dangerousness in mental health care professionals attempting to diagnose Mr. Trump from afar. He argued that “medicalizing politics” further stigmatizes the mentally ill and attempts to explain away the president’s destructiveness.

“I’ve known thousands of patients, almost all of them have been well-behaved, well-mannered, good people. Trump is none of these,” Mr. Frances said. “Lumping the mentally ill with Trump is a terrible insult to the mentally ill and they have enough problems and stigma as it is.

“Calling Trump crazy hides the fact that we’re crazy for having elected him and even crazier for allowing his crazy policies to persist,” he continued. “Trump is as destructive a person in this century as Hitler, Stalin and Mao were in the last century. He may be responsible for many more million deaths than they were. He needs to be contained but he needs to be contained by attacking his policies, not his person.”

Mr. Stelter pushed back against Mr. Frances’ initial argument, saying it’s the media’s responsibility to ask questions “that are really uncomfortable.”



“I’m not saying we have the answers, I’m saying we need to bring it up,” the host said.

Mr. Stelter was criticized on social media for not challenging Mr. Frances for suggesting Mr. Trump was worse than history’s most brutal dictators. The CNN host later explained on Twitter that he was “distracted” by issues with his audio.

“I agree that I should have interrupted after that line,” he wrote. “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.”

Sign up for Daily Newsletters

The Washington Times Comment Policy

The Washington Times welcomes your comments on Spot.im, our third-party provider. Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.





READ NEWS SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.