Arianna Huffington Calls Out Donald Trump for Displaying Symptoms of Chronic Sleep Deprivation

In her new book, “The Sleep Revolution,” Arianna Huffington describes how, faced with the history-changing decision of whether to effectively enter World War II by aiding Great Britain, President Franklin D. Roosevelt embarked on a 10-day vacation to rest, refuel, and think out the consequences.

It’s a quality she says today’s political candidates could use more of — especially Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

“He brags about being sleep-deprived. He talks about getting four to four and a half hours, and he says he tweets and retweets, often Mussolini. He displays all the symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation according to the Academy of Sleep Medicine, like lack of judgment, inability to process even simple information, false memories, outbursts of anger, mood swings, instability,” she said Tuesday during a special “Leading Ladies” event with SiriusXM host Perri Peltz. “He’s basically Exhibit A of sleep deprivation. I think his lasting contribution to American public life is going to be parents telling their children, ‘If you don’t get enough sleep, you’re going to end up like Donald Trump.'”

The Huffington Post founder also discussed the media’s role in shaping a political landscape in which Trump, a businessman and reality star known for his unfiltered, inflammatory remarks, can thrive.

“Because, like a train wreck, he was good for ratings, he got an enormous amount of exposure disproportionate to any candidate,” she said of Trump, 69. “That’s why I must say, I’m very proud of our coverage. We covered him in the entertainment section as a buffoon for the longest of times, and then the day he proposed to ban 1.6 million Muslims from this country, we started covering him as a clear and present danger with an editor’s note appended to every Trump story that says we would like to remind our readers that Donald Trump is a birther — people are forgetting that he still believes the insanity that Obama wasn’t born here — that he is regularly inciting violence in his rallies, that he wants to ban all Muslims, that he’s a racist xenophobe, sexist. And we want to remind our readers, it’s our responsibility, because he’s a little bit like Kim Jong-un. He’s both a buffoon and he’s dangerous.”

But Huffington, 65, said Trump’s not the only Oval Office hopeful who could benefit from reading her book, which recommends 7-9 hours of sleep per night and includes tips like not plugging your cell phone next to your bed and instituting a nightly ritual to signal to your body that it’s bedtime. (Hers is a bubble bath.)

“Ted Cruz sent a fundraising email a few days ago in which he was basically bragging about the fact that he’s sacrificing his sleep and health for the campaign,” she said of the 45-year-old Texas senator. “I thought to myself, why would I want a sick, sleep-deprived leader? That’s not the person who’s going to make the best decisions.”

So what does Huffington think of Democrat Hillary Clinton, who learned about the dangers of exhaustion the hard way? Listen to the full “Leading Ladies” interview to find out, which premieres on May 10 at 12pm ET on Stars.