'Extremely harmful': Expert has new concern about Trump — and our 'psychological wellbeing'
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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 19, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
It was eight months ago, on January 20, 2025, that Donald Trump — following a narrow victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the United States' 2024 election — began his second presidency. Trump's diehard MAGA supporters are praising his first eight months back in office as "promises made, promises kept," arguing that he is making good on his campaign promises and doing so at a rapid pace. But Trump's opponents view his second presidency as a full-fledged assault on everything from civil liberties to the economy to public health.
Criticism of Trump's Health and Human Services Department (HHS) secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — the nephew of President John F. Kennedy — typically focuses on physical health. RKF Jr.'s anti-vaccine policies, according to MSNBC's Dr. Vin Gupta, are a recipe for spreading preventable diseases. And according to Chicago-based psychologist/author Michael Bader, the United States' "psychological wellbeing" is another casualty of the second Trump Administration.
In an article published by Salon on September 20 — exactly eight months after Trump was sworn into office — Bader argues that Trump is inflicting nonstop "moral injury" on the U.S.
"We are experiencing extreme moral injury, every single day," Bader explains. "So what do I mean by moral injury? That can happen when a soldier is ordered to torture, abuse or kill an enemy combatant or, worse yet, to harm civilians. Or when a drone operator learns, after an attack, that his drone killed several children. Or when a nurse administers a painful treatment to a terminally ill patient, knowing it is not likely to change the patient's ultimate fate in any way. Or when, during the COVID pandemic, medical professionals were forced to make impossible choices due to resource shortages — to decide who got ventilators, to ration out protective equipment or to work in conditions they knew were unsafe for their patients or themselves."
Bader continues, "Those situations, and others like them, are classic examples of moral injury. The individual afflicted feels guilt, shame and anger, but ultimately, and perhaps more important, feels — and is — objectively helpless to do anything about it…. I believe that under Donald Trump, millions upon millions of people are enduring daily moral injuries that are extremely harmful to psychological wellbeing."
According to Bader, protecting one's mental health is an ongoing challenge during Trump's second presidency.
"Under Trump and his cabal," Bader argues, "we are living in a nation in which tremendous harm is being perpetrated against innocent people and groups who cannot defend themselves. Every day, we see various forms of persecution, exploitation and oppression that violate our core values. The Trump Administration sends innocent people to what amounts to concentration camps for no good reason. The systems that support and guarantee our health are being defunded or otherwise undermined."
Bader continues, "We see institution after institution forced to bow to the corrupt authority of this administration in ways that are horrifying and degrading, and that violate basic human dignity and decency…. The only slim ray of hope offered to us is the possibility of a better electoral outcome in 2026 or 2028."
Michael Bader's full article for Salon is available at this link.