Opponents question Donald Trump's mental health as US presidential race heats up

Ever since Donald Trump first ran for president, his detractors and opponents have raised questions about his state of mind.

Just weeks before the 5 November vote, Kamala Harris' campaign is leaning hard into the idea that Trump is unfit to be president because he is not psychologically up to the task.

"It is clear: Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged," Harris said at a recent campaign stop. "And he is seeking unchecked power."

She said the same in an interview with Trump-friendly network Fox News, linking the former president's alleged mental decline to his increasingly dark rhetoric, which includes proposals to shut down critical media outlets, deport millions of people, and unleash the American military on his critics.

Also piling on lately is Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, who has been on the campaign trail for Harris.

"Along with his intentions, there is also a question of his competence," Obama told a crowd in Arizona. "Have you seen him lately? He is out there, he's giving two, two-and-a-half hour speeches, just word salads."

"You would be worried if your grandpa was acting like this ... So imagine it coming from a guy who wants to be given unchecked power," he added.

Trump has spent years rejecting these criticisms, but the issue is only growing more pressing as he campaigns for the presidency once again. And it is not just a partisan attack: it is coming from the US psychological establishment too.

The country's top psychiatric and psychological clinicians have spent years debating whether or not it is ethical for clinicians to diagnose Trump with a personality disorder from afar without examining him in person.

This is an argument that dates back to the 1964 election, when more than 1,000