President Donald Trump has been forced to confront concerns about his mental health after issuing a profanity-laced Easter tirade against Iran over the weekend.
In a high-stakes press conference on Monday, Trump outlined the dramatic rescue of a U.S. pilot downed inside Iran, as well as the rapidly escalating war that has entered its fifth week.
But questions turned to his expletive-filled rant on Sunday, which has raised serious concerns about his mindset.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F----n’ Strait, you crazy b-----ds, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH!” he wrote.
A journalist in the briefing room began asking Trump what he would say to people who criticized the post.
“I don’t care about critics,” Trump quickly replied.
“But what would you say to critics who say it’s perhaps your mental health that should be examined?” the journalist continued.
“I haven’t heard that,” Trump said.
“But if that’s the case, you’re going to need more people like me.”
Trump’s Easter Sunday remarks set off the betting markets and reignited calls from critics to invoke the 25th Amendment, a constitutional mechanism that allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president unable to perform the duties of office.
On Kalshi, one of the largest regulated prediction platforms, trading volume rose as users began taking bets on whether Cabinet‑level action might occur.
“If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment,” wrote Democrat Senator Chris Murphy.
“This is completely, utterly unhinged. He’s already killed thousands. He’s going to kill thousands more.”
Asked earlier on Monday why he had used such vulgar language, Trump told reporters: “Only to make my point.”
“I think you’ve heard it before,” he added.
The president had called the press conference to provide an update on the dramatic rescue mission to save the two pilots whose F-15E fighter jet was downed by Iran—despite Trump repeatedly insisting that the regime’s military forces had been “decimated”.
One pilot was rescued within hours, but the second—identified as a weapons systems officer—evaded capture for more than 24 hours while injured and hiding in mountainous terrain before being extracted by U.S forces.
Trump likened the mission to a movie complete with “central casting” and disclosed that it involved 155 aircraft, hundreds of people, and “a lot of it was subterfuge” designed to lead Iranian forces away from the officer.
Meanwhile, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth compared the rescued officer to Jesus, outlining how he was shot down on Good Friday, hid in a cave on Saturday, and was then rescued on Sunday.
“Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday—a pilot reborn,“ Hegseth declared.
The president also used the press conference to escalate his threats against Iran if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even as he again floated the possibility of a diplomatic offramp.
“We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again,” he said.
Trump’s threats have drawn sharp criticism domestically and internationally, with lawmakers in both parties warning such actions could violate international law and further destabilize the region.
The broader conflict has already resulted in thousands of deaths and millions displaced, while also rattling global oil markets and straining relations with U.S. allies in Europe.
JPMorgan is now warning that Brent crude could “overshoot toward $150 per barrel” if the Iran war keeps the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut into mid‑May, turning what started as a regional conflict into the biggest oil supply shock in modern history.
“The challenges we all face are significant,” chief executive Jamie Dimon said on Monday.
