Governor thought Trump was having a nervous breakdown during phone rant about George Floyd protests, book claims

‘You gotta sit here and listen to this because I think the president of the United States is having a nervous breakdown or something, and it’s scary’

Former president Donald Trump became so unhinged in his demands that governors violently put down civil rights protests that Maine Governor Janet Mills thought he was “having a nervous breakdown,” a new book by a pair of New York Times reporters claims.

The Independent obtained a copy of This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future by Times scribes Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns ahead of its 3 May release date.

The book claims Mr Trump’s ranting during a conference call with the nation’s governors so troubled Ms Mills that she summoned a member of her security team to join her in listening to the then-president.

Ms Mills, a Democrat, recalled what she said to the guard in an interview with the authors.

“You gotta sit here and listen to this because I think the president of the United States is having a nervous breakdown or something, and it’s scary,” she said.

On the other side of the country, Oregon Governor Kate Brown became so alarmed as Mr Trump demanded governors restore order that she called her husband in to listen along.

“You can’t make this s*** up,” she reportedly said.

The protests for civil rights and racial justice that erupted across the United States after then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd were a thorn in Mr Trump’s side as he ran for re-election against Joe Biden, and the then-president often characterised them as out-of-control race riots based on the actions of a minority of protesters in a handful of cities with Democratic mayors.

Yet some in Mr Trump’s orbit considered the violence associated with some of the protests a political boon to the then-president’s re-election campaign, and when Ms Brown tried to ask then-Vice President Mike Pence for assistance removing federal agents — who on Mr Trump’s orders were clashing with racial justice activists on a nightly basis — from her state, an administration official warned her: “Not everyone wants to de-escalate this”.