# John Gartner (psychologist)

John D. Gartner is an American psychologist, psychotherapist, author, activist, and former part-time assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University Medical School.

## Education

Gartner graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University. He received a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and then completed his post-doctoral training at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

## Career

Gartner is a psychotherapist with private practices in Baltimore and Manhattan, where he specialized in the treatment of borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder and depression. He was a part-time professor, until 2015, for 28 years at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, and is a widely published author of books, and of articles for scientific and other journals.

## Activism

Gartner has described himself as a member of "The Resistance" against Donald Trump, stating:
   "I went through a similar process like some of the other people you have spoken to who have decided to step away from being active members of 'the resistance.' For five years I did that work with total energy and commitment. I was sounding the alarm about Trump basically every day. I did hundreds of interviews. I made it my full-time job like I was at war. But after five years, when Biden was inaugurated, I thought, okay, the war's over, I can take off my metaphorical uniform."
Gartner has described Trump as "an animal" who is "convinced that he actually believes that he has some type of God-like powers". Gartner has described Trump as "unwell, dangerously unfit, malignant personality who has reaped massive destruction", who is "hypomanic", "showing gross signs of dementia", and other mental illness and personality disorders.

### 2017 mental fitness for Office of President Trump petition

In the first months of 2017, Gartner collected the signatures of more than 25,000 mental health professionals. The petition, "Mental Health Professionals Declare Trump is Mentally Ill And Must Be Removed", was sent to the Minority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. At the end of April 2017, Gartner sent the petition to Washington D.C., with more than 41,000 signatures.
According to Gartner, Trump's mental handicaps are a mixture of narcissism, paranoia, sociopathy and a measure of sadism. The petition's declaration stated:
   "We, the undersigned mental health professionals (please state your degree), believe in our professional judgment that Donald Trump manifests a serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States. And we respectfully request he be removed from office, according to article 4 of the 25th amendment to the Constitution, which states that the president will be replaced if he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."

### Duty to Warn

In 2017, Gartner founded Duty to Warn, an organization of mental health professionals and laypersons who consider it their duty to warn patients, clients, and the community-at-large, when aware of potential danger.

### 2024 probable dementia mental fitness for Office of President Trump petition

In an attempt to raise public awareness about Trump's apparent cognitive challenges and the extreme danger they represent to the nation if he were to take back the White House in the 2024 United States presidential election, Gartner started a petition at Change.org called "We diagnose Trump with probable dementia: A petition for licensed professionals only". John Gartner, Harry Segal, and their expert guests, weekly Podcast sessions analyze the psyche of Donald Trump, "documenting his cognitive decline and (...) his malignant narcissism" e.g. at Spotify.