Rocket Man: Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump

Will President Trump destroy civilization or win the Nobel Peace Prize? Humankind's survival feels like a jump ball that could go either way. We are perched on a precipice, and the reason we are looking into an abyss of nuclear annihilation is that the American president has unencumbered, unilateral control over the nuclear codes. One thing we know for sure is that the mind of Donald Trump is currently in control of our fate. Never before have the nuclear codes been in the hands of a man who many observers view as unstable and erratic. The twenty-four experts who contributed to this book analyze President Trump's behavior hoping to provide insights into what may be the most urgent question of our time. What will Trump do with his "big button?"

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: The Erratic President
-Harry Segal, PhD, Cornell University

Chapter 2: Nuclear Risk is Rising as Donald Trump Goes Downhill
-John Gartner, PhD, Founder, Duty To Warn

Chapter 3: If President Trump Were Airman Trump, I Would Not Certify Him Psychologically Fit to Handle Nuclear Weapons
-Steven Buser, MD, Psychiatrist, Former Major, USAF

Chapter 4: If Trump Were a Policeman I Would Have to Take Away His Gun
-David Reiss, MD

Chapter 5: If Trump Was Entering the Military, He Would Not Receive a Security Clearance
-William Enyart, Former U.S. Congressman & Retired General

Chapter 6: A Man with No Humanity Has the Power to Destroy Mankind
-Lance Dodes, MD

Chapter 7: Trump's Sick Psyche and Nuclear Weapons: A Deadly Mixture
-Gordon Humphrey, former Republican Senator

Chapter 8: Facing the Truth: The Power of a Predatory Narcissist
-Jacqueline West, PhD

Chapter 9: Trump's No Madman, He's Following the Strongman Playbook
-Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Dept. of History, NYU

Chapter 10: The Gospel of War Presidency
-Richard Painter, Former Chief White House Ethics Lawyer
-& Leanne Watt, PhD

Chapter 11: The Greatest Danger to America is Her Commander in Chief
-Joe Cirincione, President, Ploughshares Fund

Chapter 12: Bluffing Us Into the Nuclear Abyss?
-James Blight and Janet Lang, Dept. of History, Univ. of Waterloo

Chapter 13: One Week in August
-Seth Norrholm PhD

Chapter 14: The Bully-in-Chief
-Philip Zimbardo, PhD & Rosemary Sword

Chapter 15: American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump
-Melvin Goodman, Johns Hopkins

Chapter 16: Taking Trump's Finger off the Nuclear Button
-Tom Collina, Director of Policy, Ploughshares Fund

Chapter 17: Is Donald Trump a Fascist?
-Bård Larsen, Historian

Chapter 18: The Relentless Victim: How Donald Trump Reinforces North Korea's Narrative
-Paul French, Freelance Writer

Chapter 19: Trump and North Korea: The Offer for Talks Was Impulsive, but Could it Work?
-Stephan Haggard, Director, Korea-Pacific Program

Chapter 20: The Art of the North Korea Deal
-Harry Kazianis, Director of Defense Studies, The Center for the National Interest

Chapter 21: Madman or Rational Actor? Kim Jong-un's Nuclear Calculus
-Ken Gause, Director, International Affairs Group CNA Corporation

Chapter 22: How Presidential Actions Raise or Lower the Risk of War
-James Doyle, PhD Former Nuclear Nonproliferation Analyst, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Chapter 23: Extinction Anxiety and Donald Trump
-Thomas Singer, MD

Afterword: Visions of Apocalypse and Salvation
-Leonard Cruz, MD

“With courage and clarity John Gartner and the writers assembled here make a convincing case for understanding Donald Trump as a deeply troubled man who poses a danger to the nation and the world. Most alarming are the predictions of what we can expect as Trump feels investigations into his actions close-in. Read this and you will be ready to resist.”                                                                                  

-Michael D’Antonio, author of The Truth About Trump and Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success

“A President whose grandiosity, paranoia and impulsivity are constantly on display has alarmed the public. This book explains why their anxiety is not misplaced.”

-Henry J. Friedman, M.D.  Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Part-time, Harvard Medical School  

“These sobering essays expose the level of very real danger in the United States and the world; they offer some insight into just how wrong things can go and just how fast it can happen. This is vital reading in an era of terrifying vulnerability.” 

-Andrew Solomon, Ph.D., Professor of Clinical Psychology, Columbia University, and author of Noonday Demon, Far From the Tree, and Far & Away

“In fascinating and frightening detail, the authors explain why the symptoms exhibited by Trump would signal danger in anyone; and why, in a man who controls nuclear weapons, they threaten the entire world.”

-Joe Conason, Editor, The National Memo and author, Man of the World: The Further Endeavors of Bill Clinton

“Rocket Man offers a chance to approach Donald Trump through the eyes of astute psychotherapists and other experts—a must read for anyone concerned about his dangerous leadership."                                                                                      

- Justin A. Frank, M.D., Clinical Professor psychiatry George Washington University and author of forthcoming book Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. 

“These distinguished thinkers and therapists grapple with the President's confusing inner life and its potential manifestations into political and nuclear chaos.”

-Richard L. Munich, M.D., Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Weill-Cornell College of Medicine