You can read the article here.
The article includes quotes from Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte, Katherine Stewart the author of “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism“, Robert P. Jones, the president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future,” as well as “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.,” Paul Djupe, a political scientist at Denison University and the editor of the Religious Engagement in Democratic Politics series at Temple University Press. He is also the co-author of “The Full Armor of God: The Mobilization of Christian Nationalism in American Politics” and co-editor of the new anthology, “Trump, White Evangelical Christians, and American Politics,” the well-known Rick Wilson, a co-founder of The Lincoln Project, a former leading Republican strategist, and author of two books, “Everything Trump Touches Dies” and “Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump – and Democrats from Themselves” in addtion to myself.
Since communicating with Chauncey DeVega last week for the purposes of his article I have read more articles trying to explain Trump’s behavior which ignore the very real chance Trump has early dementia and may be moving into having moderate dementia.
Most others in the media covering Trump’s escalating unhinged behavior are attributing it to the stress of hs legal problems but missing the alternative explanation, i.e., that it is his early dementia moving into moderate dementia.
In time we will see it for ourselves because it will be even more difficult to hide. Since people with early dementia can see the symptoms in themselves we don’t know but can assume Trump experiences things related to early dementia if indeed he suffers from this. He might deny this to himself, but he has the example of his father who died of Alzheimer’s 6 years after diagnosis. Trump may try to ignore this fear but even he might have an awareness of this that comes into consciousness occassionally.
I have also being thinking more about dementia…
I have a few friends in the early stage of dementia where they notice increasing signs of memory impairment. This causes distress as they are aware of the course of the disease. Since we live in a continuing care retirement communty where residents can move from independent living to supportive living which is lightly staffed 24 hours a day and has some programs, to memory care “neighborhoods” for people with severe dementia, the anxiety is at least dimished to the extent it can be.
I have friends in the very early stage who make travel plans to do things they’ve always wanted to do or visit family or friends in faraway places for one last time.
If Trump was a paradigm of mental health and realized he was suffering from early dementia he’d be spending as much quality time with his family and dearest friends as possible. He wouldn’t be running for president, he’d plead guilty for all the crimes he knows he committed, beg for mercy and house arrest for the felonies, and spend his time at Mar-a-Lago surrounded by sycophants and playing golf. In fact, many people with dementia maintain the ability to engage in sports like golf. See: Dementia-friendly golf sessions bring fun to the ‘fore’.
If I was asked by a friend to suggest what they do on being diagnosed with early dementia I’d answer in these few words: Think about what you love to do and do more of it.
Unfortunately Trump is already doing what he loves to do and the only two things that could stop him, even if he ends up elected president, is, one, that he moves into a very severe stage of dementia where even a toady Vice President and Cabinet compose of sycophants would have to invoke the 25th Amendment, and then it would have to be so severe that 2/3rds of Congress would vote for his removal. Second, he could do something that would lead the House to impeach him as quickly as possible and the Senate to convict him in days, not weeks. We could only hope that there are guardrails in place that would stop him from unleashing a nuclear war.
Even if he isn’t in an early stage of dementia – and it is possible he isn’t – if he was psychogically healthy and could look honestly at the evidence he has early dementia. He’d be well advised to seek medical help since a specialist might be able to help him. If he got an uncertain diagnosis, he might not want to tempt fate and consider and plan for the worst and hope for the best.
Salon was restrained in their choice of a photo to illustrate their story. The British Tabloid “The Mirror”, in thieir story (second down on left in the Google News search) “Demented’ Trump ‘incapable of doing the job’ as psychologist spots 4 signs of Donald’s dementiaA psychologist has made it his mission to diagnose former President Donald Trump with dementia, sending around a petition to medical and mental health professionals as he calls Trump ‘demented’ and compares him to the ‘Wizard of Oz’ editorialized in the photo they used.
The Mirror interviewed Dr. John Gartner. Here’s an excerpt:
The psychologist who created the viral petition for medical and mental health professionals to diagnose former President Donald Trump with dementia compared the businessman to the Wizard of Oz as he said Trump is “demented” and “incapable of doing the job.”
Amid the dozens of gaffes the former president has made at rallies over the past several months and even years as he pushes for a second term in the White House, Dr. John Gartner took it upon himself to warn the public of what they might be getting themselves into as the Republican frontrunner is slated to face off against incumbent Democrat Joe Biden — who has made his own fair share of gaffes during speeches and public events.
“Trump is very manic. He’s got all this energy and charisma,” Gartner told TheMirror.com. “But actually, he’s more like the Wizard of Oz. He appears strong, but pay no attention to that demented man behind the curtain. Once you pull that curtain away and people see him for who he really is, not strong but so cognitively weak, I would say he’s no longer just unfit for the job — he’s now incapable of doing the job.”
From The Mirror
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