Trump Says He Signed Executive Order to Bring Back Mental Institutions: ‘Got to Get The People Off t

[mystery-ak]

Trump Says He Signed Executive Order to Bring Back Mental Institutions: ‘Got to Get The People Off the Streets’

Elizabeth Weibel 20 Jan 2026

President Donald Trump revealed that he had signed an Executive Order to bring back mental institutions and mental asylums, stressing the importance of getting “people off the streets.”

During a press briefing on Tuesday, Trump highlighted the accomplishments of his administration.

“I Signed an executive order to bring back mental institutions and insane asylums,” Trump said. “We’re going to have to bring them back. Hate to build those suckers, but you’ve got to get the people off the streets.”

Trump went on to say that while growing up in Queens, New York, there was a place called “Creedmoor.”

Trump shared how he had asked his mom why there were “bars on the windows.” He shared that his mom told him, “people that are very sick are in that building.”

“I’ll never forget — I don’t know if it’s still there, because they got rid of most of them,” Trump added. “The Democrats in New York, they took them down, and the people live on the streets now. That’s why you have a lot of the people in California and other places, they live in the streets.”

In an interview with Daily Caller White House Correspondent Reagan Reese in August 2025, Trump was asked if he would “be open to the government reopening insane asylums for people with serious mental illness.”

Trump responded by pointing out “states like New York and California” that had mental institutions ended up releasing people “into society because they couldn’t afford it.”

“They used to have them, and you never saw people like we had, you know, they used to have them,” Trump said. “And what happened is states like New York and California that had them, New York had a lot of them. They released them all into society because they couldn’t afford it. You know, it’s massively expensive. But we had, they were all over New York.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/01/20/trump-says-he-signed-executive-order-to-bring-back-mental-institutions-got-to-get-the-people-off-the-streets/

[Kamaji]

Ok, so more federal government spending?  How will we afford this?

[mountaineer]

This always was a state concern, not federal. 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

“I’ll never forget — I don’t know if it’s still there, because they got rid of most of them,” Trump added. “The Democrats in New York, they took them down, and the people live on the streets now. That’s why you have a lot of the people in California and other places, they live in the streets.”

He's not wrong on this.

[240B]

This is a GOOD idea. I'm not sure he can make this happen.

[mountaineer]

Mental hospitals certainly are needed. There's a mental health crisis in this country. I'm not sure a presidential EO is the answer.

[Kamaji]

He's not wrong on this.

No, he's not.  But does that automatically mean that the federal taxpayer should be on the hook to pay for mental institutions that the states themselves refuse to pay for?

[Smokin Joe]

Ok, so more federal government spending?  How will we afford this?

By not funding quite so many NGOs that spend six-seven figures on staff before they provide a cup of soup.

[Smokin Joe]

This is a GOOD idea. I'm not sure he can make this happen.

Well, you know the crazies are going to fight it.

[Kamaji]

By not funding quite so many NGOs that spend six-seven figures on staff before they provide a cup of soup.

Why is it the federal governments role to fund mental health institutions?

[rustynail]

Netflix will put One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in constant rotation.

[The_Reader_David]

Trump, besides his delusion that he knows everything needed to make policy decisions in every area, also seems to be under the delusion that Executive Orders allow him to rule by decree, irrespective of the Constitution. The Left actually did something right for once, picking "No Kings" as a motto for their anti-Trump protests (though "No King but Jesus" would have been more pleasing, at least to those of us on the Right who are also Christians).