President Donald Trump is losing what author Michael Wolff calls “reflex control,” and no one in his inner circle is willing to give an honest assessment of his capabilities. This, Wolff argues, is causing the president to become increasingly uninhibited in his public statements.
Discussing the president’s remarks this week about everything from the tragic murders of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele to the FBI’s mess with first lady Melania Trump’s underwear drawer, Wolff told Inside Trump’s head Podcast co-host Joanna Coles that Trump has a “reflex control” problem.
Photo illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
Wolff also discussed comments made by Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, in a now-viral Vanity Fair story in which she described the president as having an “alcoholic personality.”
“Susie Wiles might have said it as well: ‘It’s like dealing with a dementia patient.’ I mean, it’s the same thing,” Wolff explained. “And because he doesn’t drink, he’s probably closer to that, where he has the uninhibited aspects of his personality — which could be anger, self-pity, or, in his case, racism — become more and more uninhibited, and that seems to be what’s happening. He opens his mouth and you say, “That’s a problem.”
Coles pointed to another example, in September, when Trump took the stage at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service and revealed how much he hated his enemies. “It’s just weird at this stage,” added Coles. “And nobody around him seems to be saying, ‘Enough already, you look disturbed.’
Erika Kirk joins President Donald Trump on stage during the memorial service for Charlie Kirk on September 21, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. / Win McNamee / Getty Images
“It’s true, nobody around them is saying that,” Wolff replied, before discussing the fact that the US has had two octogenarian presidents in a row and few people around former President Joe Biden seemed willing to break ranks and go public with his health concerns.
“Joe Biden had enormous cognitive difficulties and everyone around him closed ranks to protect him until he couldn’t be protected anymore,” Wolff said, adding that “there is no way to diagnose the president.”
“We have no way of saying, ‘OK, he’s dealing with cognitive problems of an alarming variety.’ And no one around him will say that. Although Susie Wiles, acknowledging the alcohol thing, was curious.”
Medical experts studied the president’s public speeches and mannerisms, as well as his documented health problems, including chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) and the ever-present bandages on his hand, and concluded that he is declining and may even be showing signs of someone with dementia.
Mary Trump, the president’s granddaughter, echoed those concerns, noting that her grandfather — Trump’s father, Fred Sr. — had lived with Alzheimer’s for many years.
The White House has continued to insist that Trump is in excellent health, even going so far as to claim that the MRI he underwent during his most recent physical exam was standard for patients his age. Doctors were quick to dispute this.
A bandage is visible on Trump’s right hand as he delivers remarks during an event at the Mount Airy Casino Resort on December 9, 2025 in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania. / Alex Wong / Getty Images
The president also repeatedly boasted that he “accepted” three separate cognitive assessments and described elementary school-level tests as “very hard.”
“He bragged about it,” Wolff said of Trump’s claim to accept medical evaluations, “which is another symptom, obviously, of a heightened sensitivity to this issue and a defensiveness about it.”
“We have a whole set of symptoms here,” Wolff said of the president. “This idea of the mental health of a president, we don’t really have a context for it, when in fact the context should be: This is a primary issue.”
“Obviously, if the president is not well, we should talk about it. In fact, it’s an issue probably of far greater importance than any other political issue.”
When reached for comment, White House communications director Steven Cheung responded: “Michael Wolff is a lying sack of s–t and has been proven to be a fraud. He routinely fabricates stories from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain to the size of a peanut.”
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