I may have a little insight here to offer on Trump's story of cognitive function
I have diagnosed dementia early to moderate stage. The type is called Lewy Body Dementia. It is a cruel progressive deterioration but my medications are slowing the progress.
I note a good deal of symptom overlap in what Trump is doing and what I experience.
A!ot of what Trump does could be attributed to normal cognitive decline (as is the case with President Biden) but Trump shows some behavior consonant with dementia. I don't think his wacky public speeches and texts are diagnostic. He's never had a disciplined mind, is intellectually lazy and has a lifelong habit of blurting out whatever he thinks, the more outrageous the better as it gives him more attention and he thinks that's what his followers like. That's. not dementia. What is are the fluctuating moods, the gait instability, the sleepiness, the difficulty assimilating information in multi speaker environments, the difficulty reading, the distancing himself from both friends and duties, the problems he has conceptualizing the intermediary steps between start state and goal state. etc etc. I have no doubt Trump bid in serious mental difficulties and should for his own sake and ours, resign
My mother had vascular dementia. It comes on very slowly, and Trump's mood swings, babbling and hallucinating seem to have come on within the last few years. In my mother's case, it was mild for about 10 years - losing her keys, etc. She also was an alcoholic and a smoker. In her last 10 years, she could no longer read and understand what she read, and she would watch only one TV show because she could no longer follow the plots (except for Murder, She Wrote). When she forgot my sister's birthday we knew it was really bad. For years Mom had had to keep a calendar in front of her when she wrote checks to pay her bills because she couldn't remember what year it was.
We're seeing similar things in Trump. He can't remember people he used to be acquainted with, including E. Jean Carroll. It's possible that he honestly could not recall sexually assaulting her, or having sex with Stormy Daniels.
I like your comment very.much! there are so many neurological ailments that can come with age and the older we get the more our chances of getting them. So many of the symptoms overlap it really is quite difficult to say what is afflicting our president...In some symptoms I am worse off than your mother was or observably Mr. Trump. In other ways I'm much better off- LBD is like that. In any event I really think Mr.Trump should resign it is actually dangerous for us all if he doesn't.
Thank you. After my mother suffered congestive heart failure her symptoms accelerated. She forgot all of her second language (Polish) and couldn’t remember most of her life, when her long term memory remained excellent for most of her life. I wish you the very best, and I’m very glad you are on medication that slows down the progression of your symptoms. I’m 68 now and my memory is still good except for the really small stuff like when I forget what I walked into a room for. I love independent study, and this summer I will tackle the rise of the right wing in US politics. I also love to read, and at the moment I’m tackling Iris Murdoch’s novel, “The Sea, the Sea.” When I finish that, I intend to read everything Shakespeare ever wrote.
Between sanewashing and the Democrats weak messaging, it’s enough to make you (okay, me) feel powerless. Case in point: the highest member on the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler: “The Trump administration is really using totalitarian or even authoritarian practices. We have to fight them. We don't want to be a fascist country." Really, that’s all you’ve got?
You are absolutely correct. Democrats still play by the rules when Republicans have gleefully discarded them. Time to look to the youth: AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Jared Moskowitz, Pete Buttigieg … listen to them—full sentences full of wisdom.
Which, ok, was not enough. But Hakeem Jeffries' "In terms of how we will respond to what Trump and the administration has endeavored to do, we will make that decision in a time, place, and manner of our choosing." BLAH BLAH BLAH. ICE is America's Gestapo and this is the House minority leader's response to them breaking into Nadler's office and declaring they don't need a warrant?? A level of chickenshit that should enrage all of us.
It still angers me that doctors hide behind the “Goldwater Rule”, and fail to speak out about tRump’s serious health issues. The Hippocratic Oath: "do no harm". Silence is doing harm.
There are a few, notably the authors of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.”
Further, the so called right to life people don’t give a sh*t about their constituent’s lives.
Great article as always, Stephen. What happened to the Jake Tapper who in the early days of T1.0 abruptly ended a live interview with Herr Stephen Miller because the latter was performing for "an audience of one"? Jake used to be a no-holds-barred, no BS interviewer who did not suffer fools gladly. I have noticed of late that his interviews have lost much of the impatience with evasion and lying they once had. Look, Joe Biden began to show signs of aging at the end of his term and the presidential debate was let's just say, disappointing. HOWEVER, he was a good and decent man who gave his life to public service since 1970 and his win in 2020 momentarily held back the MAGAt tsunami. He also did not try to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power with an invasion of the capitol building to stop the certifying of the electoral college count like the 2020 loser did. It would have been more apropos and relevant if Jake and his co-author had written a book about the illegal, cruel and unhinged actions of the orange-faced menace and his compliant cadre who are destroying America before our very eyes. Now that is a book worth writing.
The obsessive focus on Biden, 5 months into Trump's term, is galling in the extreme. I expect it from Fox et al, where it has reached epic proportions, but the focus even in the msm is disappointing given the lunacy were seeing from Trump.
As a psychologist, watching Trump these days creates a stark contrast with Biden's age-related dementia. Trump is not only demented, he is psychopathic and acts like a megalomaniac. He has declared WWIII via a global trade war which is tanking the US economy while Congress dithers. Like Biden, Trump continues to enable Genocide in Gaza. If we stop sending Israel bombs - there are no bombs to drop.
Trump has alienated all our allies and befriended the world's dictators - fellow megalomaniacs. But the MSM is so enjoying the book sales and Tapperware parties. They have nothing to fear from Biden. Trump, on the other hand, has an army of lawyers to extort MSM sanewashing the gibberish drivel that flows from Trump both orally and in social media.
Keep in mind, Trump is the first person to set public policy via social media - duh. That in itself is not only nuts, but it clearly is an effort to disenfranchise checks and balances by Congress and the Courts. Why is that too not headline news?
It doesn't help when ignorant organizations post petitions online saying "Tell the Court to find Trump in contempt," or to rule in favor of one party or the other, when courts do not consider public sentiment in any form but must adhere to the law as they interpret it. People are being told by Trump that the courts are dishonest and telling the public they can sway a judge, or 9 judges, with a petition is disingenuous.
I agree with the assedsment, and I'm curious about the waning influence of so-called MSM with the public. We've seen social media hollow out local news coverage, and a general Balkanization of news into generational, affiliative spheres. Network ratings are down, news rooms are consolidating and/or closing, cord-cutting proceeds apace.
Are we giving what's left of corporate media too much credit? I see a huge generation gap in media consumption and trust patterns. I'm in my mid-40s, and I'm hard-pressed to imagine *younger* audiences are watching/reading these sources in great numbers.
I have approx zero faith in modern media corporations to do anything but chase controversy in the interest of monetizing their viewers (while also now covering there asses from Trump admin), and I can't imagine I'm alone. Yes, it's bad for democracy. It also feels increasingly like they're shouting into a room mostly empty save for other talking heads and an assortment of Boomers. At what point do they become truly irrelevant?
That crafty Orson Welles! Turn out aliens DID land in Jersey … and their ability to convince Americans of blatant lies and create mass mental malfunctions and to accept mental deterioration as just a happy dance - HAS WORKED!
donald trump and jake tapper appear to have much in common. It just took awhile for jake to unleash his real self-aggrandising, greedy, narcissistic self.
I’m finding it really hard to forgive Jake Tapper for publishing his book, but even more for skewing the public conversation by aggressively promoting it, which means continuing the attacks on Biden and his family.
In addition to the billionaire media, Trump is enabled by the sycophants in his cabinet, whom he put there with the aid of the Republican Senate. His delusions are further supported by the Republicans in the House.
Some of us have been saying that realDonald was nuts and unqualified for ANY elected office since 2011. That's when the orange man with the world’s worst comb-over started his birther campaign to de-legitimize then-President Barack Obama.
Trump now blames, blusters, and blunders his way through the world’s most dangerous job while his gang dismantles the country. Much of the press pretends that Trump is fine and the real story is anything other than the clear and present danger posed by the CURRENT occupant of the Oval Office.
Just once I'd like what's left of our free press to keep their eye on the ball and not whatever distraction is being offered up for fun and profit.
I may have a little insight here to offer on Trump's story of cognitive function
I have diagnosed dementia early to moderate stage. The type is called Lewy Body Dementia. It is a cruel progressive deterioration but my medications are slowing the progress.
I note a good deal of symptom overlap in what Trump is doing and what I experience.
A!ot of what Trump does could be attributed to normal cognitive decline (as is the case with President Biden) but Trump shows some behavior consonant with dementia. I don't think his wacky public speeches and texts are diagnostic. He's never had a disciplined mind, is intellectually lazy and has a lifelong habit of blurting out whatever he thinks, the more outrageous the better as it gives him more attention and he thinks that's what his followers like. That's. not dementia. What is are the fluctuating moods, the gait instability, the sleepiness, the difficulty assimilating information in multi speaker environments, the difficulty reading, the distancing himself from both friends and duties, the problems he has conceptualizing the intermediary steps between start state and goal state. etc etc. I have no doubt Trump bid in serious mental difficulties and should for his own sake and ours, resign
Incisive. But Trump’s mental unsteadiness has been evident for decades—it’s only obvious now because of the spotlight he has willingly put on himself.
Agreed. I don't think he has LBD, CTE, TBI, Parkinsons, etc.
but possibly some kind of vascular dementia is possible
I would love to be his neurologist and order up a round of imaging and blood work studies to both clear up the mystery and help the poor man
Bloodwork? Stay away from that ear! (O, the Miracle of the Ear Made Whole Again!)
My mother had vascular dementia. It comes on very slowly, and Trump's mood swings, babbling and hallucinating seem to have come on within the last few years. In my mother's case, it was mild for about 10 years - losing her keys, etc. She also was an alcoholic and a smoker. In her last 10 years, she could no longer read and understand what she read, and she would watch only one TV show because she could no longer follow the plots (except for Murder, She Wrote). When she forgot my sister's birthday we knew it was really bad. For years Mom had had to keep a calendar in front of her when she wrote checks to pay her bills because she couldn't remember what year it was.
We're seeing similar things in Trump. He can't remember people he used to be acquainted with, including E. Jean Carroll. It's possible that he honestly could not recall sexually assaulting her, or having sex with Stormy Daniels.
I like your comment very.much! there are so many neurological ailments that can come with age and the older we get the more our chances of getting them. So many of the symptoms overlap it really is quite difficult to say what is afflicting our president...In some symptoms I am worse off than your mother was or observably Mr. Trump. In other ways I'm much better off- LBD is like that. In any event I really think Mr.Trump should resign it is actually dangerous for us all if he doesn't.
Thank you. After my mother suffered congestive heart failure her symptoms accelerated. She forgot all of her second language (Polish) and couldn’t remember most of her life, when her long term memory remained excellent for most of her life. I wish you the very best, and I’m very glad you are on medication that slows down the progression of your symptoms. I’m 68 now and my memory is still good except for the really small stuff like when I forget what I walked into a room for. I love independent study, and this summer I will tackle the rise of the right wing in US politics. I also love to read, and at the moment I’m tackling Iris Murdoch’s novel, “The Sea, the Sea.” When I finish that, I intend to read everything Shakespeare ever wrote.
I would like to read all of the Bard as well, if it would be impossible for me now. I wouldn't remember what I had just finished reading!!
Between sanewashing and the Democrats weak messaging, it’s enough to make you (okay, me) feel powerless. Case in point: the highest member on the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler: “The Trump administration is really using totalitarian or even authoritarian practices. We have to fight them. We don't want to be a fascist country." Really, that’s all you’ve got?
You are absolutely correct. Democrats still play by the rules when Republicans have gleefully discarded them. Time to look to the youth: AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Jared Moskowitz, Pete Buttigieg … listen to them—full sentences full of wisdom.
Exactly right. It's time to break the rules! Stay outraged. Turn up the volume. Decorum left the chat a long time ago.
And they shout, not chat … and no longer listen, anyway.
Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib as well.
Yes! And Maxwell Frost is in there too.
Jon Ossoff too.
Right you are … although Ossoff is a senator … and now we’ll have to include the brave and outspoken Senator Chris Murphy!
Connecticut is really lucky.
Which, ok, was not enough. But Hakeem Jeffries' "In terms of how we will respond to what Trump and the administration has endeavored to do, we will make that decision in a time, place, and manner of our choosing." BLAH BLAH BLAH. ICE is America's Gestapo and this is the House minority leader's response to them breaking into Nadler's office and declaring they don't need a warrant?? A level of chickenshit that should enrage all of us.
He sounds like Chuck Schumer.
It still angers me that doctors hide behind the “Goldwater Rule”, and fail to speak out about tRump’s serious health issues. The Hippocratic Oath: "do no harm". Silence is doing harm.
There are a few, notably the authors of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.”
Further, the so called right to life people don’t give a sh*t about their constituent’s lives.
The peril of accepting absurdity as normal behavior.
Maybe they'd speak out if the media cared to listen.
Great article as always, Stephen. What happened to the Jake Tapper who in the early days of T1.0 abruptly ended a live interview with Herr Stephen Miller because the latter was performing for "an audience of one"? Jake used to be a no-holds-barred, no BS interviewer who did not suffer fools gladly. I have noticed of late that his interviews have lost much of the impatience with evasion and lying they once had. Look, Joe Biden began to show signs of aging at the end of his term and the presidential debate was let's just say, disappointing. HOWEVER, he was a good and decent man who gave his life to public service since 1970 and his win in 2020 momentarily held back the MAGAt tsunami. He also did not try to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power with an invasion of the capitol building to stop the certifying of the electoral college count like the 2020 loser did. It would have been more apropos and relevant if Jake and his co-author had written a book about the illegal, cruel and unhinged actions of the orange-faced menace and his compliant cadre who are destroying America before our very eyes. Now that is a book worth writing.
Curiously, the unmanly Trump is heralded as a new musclebound Rambo—powerful Kool-Aid.
The obsessive focus on Biden, 5 months into Trump's term, is galling in the extreme. I expect it from Fox et al, where it has reached epic proportions, but the focus even in the msm is disappointing given the lunacy were seeing from Trump.
As a psychologist, watching Trump these days creates a stark contrast with Biden's age-related dementia. Trump is not only demented, he is psychopathic and acts like a megalomaniac. He has declared WWIII via a global trade war which is tanking the US economy while Congress dithers. Like Biden, Trump continues to enable Genocide in Gaza. If we stop sending Israel bombs - there are no bombs to drop.
Trump has alienated all our allies and befriended the world's dictators - fellow megalomaniacs. But the MSM is so enjoying the book sales and Tapperware parties. They have nothing to fear from Biden. Trump, on the other hand, has an army of lawyers to extort MSM sanewashing the gibberish drivel that flows from Trump both orally and in social media.
Keep in mind, Trump is the first person to set public policy via social media - duh. That in itself is not only nuts, but it clearly is an effort to disenfranchise checks and balances by Congress and the Courts. Why is that too not headline news?
It doesn't help when ignorant organizations post petitions online saying "Tell the Court to find Trump in contempt," or to rule in favor of one party or the other, when courts do not consider public sentiment in any form but must adhere to the law as they interpret it. People are being told by Trump that the courts are dishonest and telling the public they can sway a judge, or 9 judges, with a petition is disingenuous.
I agree with the assedsment, and I'm curious about the waning influence of so-called MSM with the public. We've seen social media hollow out local news coverage, and a general Balkanization of news into generational, affiliative spheres. Network ratings are down, news rooms are consolidating and/or closing, cord-cutting proceeds apace.
Are we giving what's left of corporate media too much credit? I see a huge generation gap in media consumption and trust patterns. I'm in my mid-40s, and I'm hard-pressed to imagine *younger* audiences are watching/reading these sources in great numbers.
I have approx zero faith in modern media corporations to do anything but chase controversy in the interest of monetizing their viewers (while also now covering there asses from Trump admin), and I can't imagine I'm alone. Yes, it's bad for democracy. It also feels increasingly like they're shouting into a room mostly empty save for other talking heads and an assortment of Boomers. At what point do they become truly irrelevant?
Unfortunately for us, all true.
That crafty Orson Welles! Turn out aliens DID land in Jersey … and their ability to convince Americans of blatant lies and create mass mental malfunctions and to accept mental deterioration as just a happy dance - HAS WORKED!
Excellent essay. We also have to remember djt threatened the media during the campaign and regularly attacks reporters.
donald trump and jake tapper appear to have much in common. It just took awhile for jake to unleash his real self-aggrandising, greedy, narcissistic self.
The Trump dance (To the tune of “I Fell Pretty” (West Side Story, 1957)
“I’m so happy!
“I’m so happy and vapid and dumb!
“I can’t help it—
“It’s genetic
“Look how high I’ve clumb.”
I’m finding it really hard to forgive Jake Tapper for publishing his book, but even more for skewing the public conversation by aggressively promoting it, which means continuing the attacks on Biden and his family.
In addition to the billionaire media, Trump is enabled by the sycophants in his cabinet, whom he put there with the aid of the Republican Senate. His delusions are further supported by the Republicans in the House.
Yes. The unfitness, self dealing and corruption is so blatant.
Some of us have been saying that realDonald was nuts and unqualified for ANY elected office since 2011. That's when the orange man with the world’s worst comb-over started his birther campaign to de-legitimize then-President Barack Obama.
Trump now blames, blusters, and blunders his way through the world’s most dangerous job while his gang dismantles the country. Much of the press pretends that Trump is fine and the real story is anything other than the clear and present danger posed by the CURRENT occupant of the Oval Office.
Just once I'd like what's left of our free press to keep their eye on the ball and not whatever distraction is being offered up for fun and profit.