Meltdown in US polity as Trump, Pelosi accuse each other of being mentally ill

WASHINGTON: Politics in the United States is in a meltdown mode with President Trump and Opposition leader, House speaker Nancy Pelosi, suggesting that the other is mentally ill and unfit for office.
In an increasingly bitter exchange that has brought traditional American bipartisanship to a standstill, Pelosi, 78, suggested Trump, 72, is unstable and said she wished that “his family or his administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country.”
The barb came after Trump reportedly stormed out of a meeting to discuss infrastructure because he was miffed Democrats prefaced the meeting with allegations that he was engaged in a cover-up relating to the Russia probe. He said he would work with the Democrat-majority Congress only if it ended investigations into what he regards as the “Russia hoax.”
The alleged tantrum, which Trump denied and got his factotums to back up saying he was very calm, led to Pelosi needling him and suggesting “maybe he wants to take a leave of absence.” She said she is worried about his well-being.
The suggestion that he was mentally ill enraged Trump, who struck back on Thursday, calling Pelosi “crazy.”
'I'll tell you what, I've been watching her, and I have been watching her for a long period of time, she's not the same person. She's lost it,' Trump said at an event with farmers and ranchers at the White House. 'I think she's got a lot of problems.'
'She was all crazy yesterday. She is a mess…she’s disintegrating,” Trump added, repeating his insistence that he is an “extremely stable genius.”
'When the 'extremely stable genius' starts acting more presidential, I'll be happy to work with him on infrastructure, trade and other issues,' Pelosi shot back on Twitter.
The spat got uglier after Trump and his acolytes began distributing videos, some of them doctored, showing Pelosi slurring words and stammering, with the implication that she has a drinking problem (she is reportedly a teetotaler).
“We repeat, we wish that his family or his Administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country,” Pelosi shot back on Twitter.
The poisonous exchanges came amid mounting pressure in the Democratic Party to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump, which Pelosi is resisting with the argument that it could help Trump in the run up to 2020.
Trump meanwhile hit back by launching a counter-investigation into those who investigated his 2016 campaign.
In what is widely seen as a political counter attack, the U.S President gave his Attorney General William Barr sweeping new authorities to conduct a review into how the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia were investigated, while directing C.I.A. and the country’s 15 other intelligence agencies to cooperate with the review.
Trump also gave Barr “full and complete authority” to declassify government secrets relating to the investigation, asserting “Today’s action will ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions.”
Trump’s decision was greeted with alarm in some quarters. “Make no mistake: If Barr discloses the identities of CIA and CI (counter-intelligence) sources providing information on Russia he is disabling our intelligence capacities to Russia’s advantage,” warned Asha Rangappa, a former FBI special agent and counter intelligence specialist, cautioning that the move “puts sources providing intelligence in danger and cripples the ICs ability to recruit new sources.”