Mary Trump, the niece of President Donald Trump and a practicing psychologist, said on Friday that the president is "not a well person" and may now be more "dangerous" than ever following what she described as a "narcissistic injury" dealt to him by last week's historic midterm defeat. Speaking during a conversation with political commentator Danielle Moodie, she argued that his tendency to lash out is growing as he feels increasingly threatened — and she warned that his obsession with using nuclear weapons makes the situation worse now that, in her view, he is cornered.

"What we need to worry about more than anything else is Donald's psyche, because he is a wounded animal," Mary Trump said. "I am sorry to say this, but it should alarm everybody that he has gone kind of quiet. Right now he is talking about the ballroom and his decorating as a way to self-soothe, but as he keeps isolating, he is going to be stewing on all of this. He is going to be ruminating, and there is no way he can protect himself from the reality of what just happened. There is no way he can lie to himself convincingly enough to believe, with any real conviction, that he was not on the ballot. He told us he should be on the ballot."

The next two months will be critical, she cautioned, saying it will be up to the outgoing Republican majorities to prevent the president from "irreparably" harming the country. That window corresponds to the stretch between the midterm results and the seating of the new Congress, when outgoing lawmakers retain full legislative authority.

"He is clearly not a well person," said Mary Trump. "And his seeming weakness is what makes him more dangerous… The more isolated he becomes, and the more all of this keeps crashing in on him, the more threatened he is going to feel."

She noted that when the size and extent of the Democratic victory first became obvious on Election Day, her uncle took the uncharacteristic step of congratulating the Democrats and admitting that the election had been free and fair. In that moment, she said, "He is starting to realize, oh wait, I kind of want to make nice with them, because I do not want them to impeach me or investigate me."

That conciliatory posture did not last, according to Mary Trump. The president quickly reverted to a hostile stance, asserting that he would veto Democratic legislation, reshuffling his staff in preparation for battle, and renewing his claims that the election had been rigged.

"This is a narcissistic injury the likes of which we have never seen before," explained Mary Trump, who has been a practicing psychologist for nearly 20 years. The term refers in psychology to a perceived blow to the self-image that can prompt defensive or retaliatory behavior. The president's next moves, she predicted, will involve doing "everything in his power to dilute himself into believing that everything is fine and that he is still powerful, which means he is going to try to start exercising some power."

"That is where it gets scary, because the only things he can do at this point are in the realm of foreign policy," she said. Foreign affairs is an arena in which presidents hold substantial independent authority, including command of the armed forces as commander in chief.

With the country at war with Iran, and citing what she described as the president's decades-long "unhealthy obsession with nuclear power," Mary Trump warned that his opponents need to be prepared "for all contingencies and watch him, because this is a very treacherous state of mind he is in right now. He is a malignant narcissist who was just told, in the loudest and most public way imaginable, that he is a loser."

This article is based on reporting by Alternet.