This is a matter of highest seriousness. Voters must pay heed.
Trump, if elected, would be our oldest president ever. Older than Biden. Whose continued capability was a legitimate concern. He did seem physically the frailer; though, despite occasional verbal lapses, never showing any loss of marbles. Retaining his human decency and wisdom. Exemplified by his thoughtful, responsible decision to stand down.
A kind of behavior inconceivable for Trump. Now the contrast with a candidate two decades younger, clearly in her prime, is all the starker.
Top New York Times political analyst Peter Baker, together with Dylan Freedman, recently examined Trump’s mental condition, based on the evidence of his public appearances. (No medical records have been released.) Their conclusion: serious recent cognitive decline made clear from this campaigning. While armchair diagnosis may generally be problematic, the picture here is too startling to ignore.
The report starts by noting that a week after his debate with Vice President Harris, Trump “vividly recounted” how the audience there “went crazy” for him. But there was no audience.
At rallies, “he rambles, he repeats himself, he roams from thought to thought” — some unfinished, some incomprehensible, some “factually fantastical.” Voicing “outlandish claims that seem to be made up out of whole cloth. He digresses into bizarre tangents about golf, about sharks . . . ” (We’ve heard his repeated obsession about dying by shark versus electrocution. And the inexplicable constant invocation of Hannibal Lecter.) Trump has actually called all this an intentional and “brilliant” communication strategy.
The reporters furthermore performed a computer analysis of Trump’s rally speeches. Whose average length has grown from 45 to 82 minutes. With more extreme words, darker and more negative language, and 69% more swearwords. His invective against adversaries reaching newly vitriolic levels — “lunatics,” “deranged,” “communists,” “fascists,” stupid, bird-brained, idiots. Believing no one as smart as him. He knows everything about everything. And is never wrong.
Is it all mere normal aging? The Times article quotes a Harvard Medical School neurologist that such change over just a few years “raises some real red flags.” A new term has entered our political lexicon: “sane-washing” — trying to make Trump seem mentally okay (when he’s not).
Narcissistic personality disorder has long often been cited in his case. That means everything is always about him — here patently extreme. And considering his vast success in life, becoming one of the biggest celebrities ever, puffing his ego to stratospheric levels — and running rings around the law — it’s bizarre how he nevertheless somehow sees himself as a victim, endlessly gnashing over imagined grievances. “Treated very very unfairly” a favorite phrase.
Wanting to be a dictator totally fits such a personality profile. He idolizes the world’s worst — Putin, Xi, Kim Jong Un — pining to be like them. He’s actually said so. Bad as it would be to give any man such power, giving it to such a messed-up psyche seems highly ill-advised. Especially after the Supreme Court’s shocking ruling that presidents enjoy immunity for almost anything they do. (Well, he’s talked of “terminating” the Constitution anyway.)
(Image courtesy of Trump campaign)
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Yet Trump voters prattle “patriotism.” While legions of top people who worked in his own administration have sounded the alarm that he’s utterly unfit to hold power. Many of them consequently endorsing his opponent — something entirely unprecedented in American public life.
Indeed, it’s jarring how his voters’ ideation of Trump clashes with the reality in every particular. Not just sane-washing. “Strength?” A patsy for foreign dictators like Putin. Champion of blue-collar workers? He’s screwed over everyone who’s ever done work for him. Successful businessman? Six bankruptcies. “Tells it like it is?” Are you effing kidding me? Biggest liar ever.
Telling lies is one thing. Believing them is another. I can understand believing things because it feels good. But surely there are limits. And this supersedes any concerns about issues. Regardless of any issues, voting for Trump the person is indefensible.
