
Great post |
No, Trump really is an idiot. He has always said stupid things but previously was competent enough as a performer to con people who didn’t know better. Now he has lost his conman mojo. |
It is also true that he just doesn’t have it together as much as he did 8 years ago. I’m not going to diagnose him but he’a clearly lost several steps. |
On the dementia question though, it’s clinical psychologists who are saying he has dementia. They are able to make the diagnosis because he has been in the public eye for decades and so it’s possible to see how much he has declined and how he is now exhibiting very specific symptoms. And his family should see it too. Most families would not let an ill elderly family member humiliate himself like this. It’s awful. |
Elder abuse
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PP here and my specific objections is to people saying he has dementia as an insult. A person with the dementia deserves empathy. I don't know if Trump has dementia or not but I don't like hearing that delivered as an epithet, like a synonym with stupid. It's hurtful to families dealing with dementia or r Alzheimer's which are devastating conditions. I prefer to focus on other aspects of his behavior. |
I disagree with the posters who say he doesn't have dementia. He absolutely does. When you analyze his speeches of 2024 and compare them to 2016 and 1990... there are significant composition and vocabulary differences. As someone else pointed out, his disinhibition is worse than during his freewheeling 2016 campaign, with decidedly cruder insults and shockingly violent rhetoric.
Trump has always had a high IQ and no morals, which he has used to con people all his life. But I happen to know he has ADHD and dyslexia, and with age, he cannot control his inattention, inability to read long passages, impulsivity and now, dementia-associated memory lapses and mood swings. In addition, I think he's always had some sort of personality disorder, one that explains his lifelong punitive streak and adultion of strongmen, that is now exacerbated by age and cognitive decline. Many leaders in industry and politics have neurodivergent brains and personality disorders. To have the single-mindedness to claw one's way to great heights in one's chosen profession, apparently brains need to be abnormal. But Trump is outside the norm, and not in a good way, even in that category. He was never public servant material, and he certainly shouldn't be again. |
^ adulation |
The Gallagher comparison is funny and true-- the garbage truck incident was a stupid stunt. What a waste of time. Anything for attention of any kind. |
He's so pathetic now that I do have some empathy for him. He's making an absolute fool of himself. He's a train wreck. He should not be running and he should not win. |
It may not be Alzheimer's or dementia, but he clearly has age related senility and age related physical deterioration. Go back and take a look at interviews when in the 1990's and early 2000's. At that point he was in his mid-50's and he was much more clear-spoken, used significantly more multi-syllabic words. He had a filter and was much better at hiding his anti-social and socially unacceptable thoughts. He spoke much more clearly without the slurring. He is much more easily distracted and he often wanders and strays into stream of consciousness with little regard for social filtering. Now, he exhibits many of the habits of old men that are in or ready to reside in senior assisted living. Even without Alzheimer's or dementia, he clearly does not have the mental clarity to hold the office he is running for. It is just a matter of time, weeks and months, not years, when he is no longer able to function coherently enough for the office of the President. As we know from the many men who have held the office in the last 100 years, the office ages the office holder much faster than normal, on the order of 10 years for a one year term. He will be very, very lucky to be mentally coherent enough by the mid-terms to continue to hold the office. It is truly cruel both to him and to the nation to elect him to the Oval Office. |
What will his cult do when he is out of the picture. That, I worry about. |