This might be possibly the most cynical thing I will write this week.
Consider the possibility that the GOP, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, etc. have all noticed Trump's increasing dementia and are all agreed upon it. They also all recognize that Trump is still their "big ticket item" for getting GOP turnout, and that without him the Republicans will not galvanize their base and get the voter turnout that they need to win in November. They are using Trump as their spearpoint for project 2025, and are fully prepared to invoke the 25th amendment once he gets into office. Once they have captured the government, they don't need him anymore.
I don't think it is cynical so much as it is a rational explanation for what is happening in terms of his "support." I love that John Gartner is doing this. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. I think it's very important.
But a lot of us can see what is going on with Trump's brain. It is incredibly obvious to non-experts, so that means it is obvious to the people working on efforts like Project 2025 to take over the government. It's a great answer to the "why" Republicans helping him. It's not that they're "blind." They are perfectly content with his madness.
Charles, I had the same thought as you and Douglas and it makes me ponder who might be the Republican VP candidate. If left entirely to Trump, that person could believably be a “Yes” person to all of Trump’s ideas and demands. Alternatively, a team of advisors serving as a VP search and vetting committee could conceivably suggest a name that they could sell to Trump but in reality be the person the backers of Project 2025 feel comfortable with assuming the office of president when Trump is sidelined by the 25th Amendment. If a search and vetting committee is formed, we will need to see who are the key players on that committee, as it could be likely, the VP suggested could be one of them and pre-determined from the start. That’s how Cheney picked himself to be GWB’s VP.
Yep, that's why I downloaded the Project 2025 PDF document. I haven't read most of it yet. But it is chock full of names of the people responsible for it so that when Biden wins, we can take go all out Jacobin on them (no guillotines, just prison for the those who colluded with Russia).
No. Heads on pikes. The taxpayers should not have to feed and house those bastards. It’s not about punishment anyway it’s about accountability. Do the right thing, either guillotine or heads on pikes lining the mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol steps and this shit won’t go down for 1000 years. Entire government have lost their heads for what we consent to every week. Rightly so!
I'm more of the feeling that we should put the entire lot of them out at Alcatraz and airdrop supplies to them. If they eat, they eat. If they can clean the place, they clean the place. If the plumbing works, great, but if not, oh, well. It's high time these entitled folks learned how the rest of us live. Think of it as a sociological experiment. How long can a bunch of highly self-centered, ego driven people survive on their own before they realize that society has to be INTER-dependent and that walking over others does not guarantee your survival in the long run. Many of them are "survivalists" with elaborate bunkers and think they can survive a nuclear holocaust. Great. Let them put those "skills" to use sans the bunkers. I'd bet those idiots can't make tea.
As an anti-Semite, you are obviously aware that Trump's son-in-law is an Orthodox Jew. Doesn't that just make your skin crawl? $45's grandkids are Jewish. I know that makes him cringe when he plays Papaw. Also, notice none of $45's family besides Lara is present in his courtroom or rallies.
In that case, in looking for their choice for VP, we'd probably be looking at the most devious but perhaps unassuming. Vance, Cotton & Carlson would probably be the more obvious popular choices among these people, but I wonder if someone like Tulsi Gabbard, Byron Donalds or Ben Carson might win out by appearing less threatening than they are & possibly appealing to constituencies they might not otherwise get.
I happen to know that Reagan was cognitively impaired during his presidency (I worked in the Federal government at the time and had direct contact with “for the President’s eyes only” briefs)—but most of the public was kept unaware. So the GOP has been down this road before
While they may have been down this road before, Reagan wasn't a dangerous, chaotic narcissist. They are not going to be able to control trump, hell they can't control him now.
Reagan, as misguided as he was, was genuinely concerned about the fate of the world and the country (he was, for example, said to have been deeply moved by the Jason Robards movie, "The Day After." I would argue there's a big difference between putting a shield around someone like that, and covering for a sociopath.
He was a misguided soul, but what I thought I was saying was that he was interested in the direction of the country (and very prejudiced against a lot of different groups of people).
Google "Operation Able Archer." In the fall of 1983 Ronald Reagan brought us closer to World War III than at any other time in history. I was living and working in West Germany at the time. "The Day After" came out after that, and scared the crap out of him.
He was quite convenient to the industrial military complex as is Biden. He’s the first person in the history of legal tender to spend $1 trillion defending us from a sovereign that was imploding of its own weight. Also, he was nothing more than a puppet for his Criminal advisers and lifelong large scale grifters. You are aware there was a Backchannel deal made with the Iranians about the hostages long before the election right? He was certainly convenient to the donor class being the first President of the United States to openly implement fascism. Being the corporate control of government on a department level. He was convenient for the fossil fuel entities.
Basically, he was convenient for the entire donor class because he had experience standing in front of a camera and saying nonsense. He just had to do it without a chimp.
He started this entire train rolling towards totalitarian despotism. Do you remember who was part of that unelected shadowy unannounced staff members assistance of assistance?
Definitely. But I think Reagan's training as an actor helped him keep it together better. And while I don't really have much good to say about Nancy Reagan, she did love him and she shielded him and the world from his decline pretty well.
That’s on “we the people” as this is entire debacle is. The electric chose a scene I’ll be right after who ruined the California economy just recently over a man with calluses on his hands and had placed his peanut Farm in a blind trust. Let me say that again,
placed his peanut Farm in a blind trust.
“We the people” are the government. We are beyond derelict in our duty.
There was only one caveat issued to the citizenry from the framers. We couldn’t even do that one single thing. “A Well informed and educated electorate”
whomever labeled us a “confederacy of dunces” overestimated us. We are straight up Dumbphukistan.
Genocide Trump ordered his House lackies to help Putin by blocking Ukraine defense aid. He would simply let his bestie, Netanyahu flatten Gaza. At least Biden has a limit to his support of Netanyahu's offensive against Hamas, and has been pushing to get needed aid to the Palestinians.
You are suffering from the illusion of choice fear demand big and dark money be removed from politik and the barriers to access the ballot the same. That is the only pass to restore the Republic.
Very sad but sure seems to be the case. In my mind he has always been a deeply insecure and disturbed person. I think we see the exaggeration of these traits in his declining cognitive ability.
The value in this article is that most of us refuse to listen to Trump anymore, so to have a compilation of his slurpy talk and cottage cheese thinking is invaluable. This attention to his slip and slide into dementia must keep coming, God forbid that President Biden decides to debate this mushroom!
Oh, I'm most definitely not arguing against the value of the article. My point was that if people like me, with no psych qualifications other than my common sense, notice Trump's decline, the people who are closer to him and interact with him much more frequently than I do (I can't watch more than a minute of him without wanting to throw something), are fully aware of his decline.
I believe the Trump campaign is already trying to reduce his live speaking events and move toward taped, and edited I'm sure, as quickly as possible. But there will likely those off the cuff pre and post court live rants.
The big elephant in the room is, will they let him debate? That will be a disaster for him unless he has a "good day." People who've been around dementia know what I mean by that, but it's not a predictable occurrence.
I think there’s going to be plenty of evidence of TFG’s decline during the trial. Court is exhausting, generally. I can only imagine how much stress TFG will be under, simply trying to pay attention, or at least look like he is.
Then when court recesses, he’ll go bonkers on TS. The timing will be optimal for seeing evidence of sundowning.
A debate would be an excellent showcase of TFG’s declining cognitive function. And for precisely that reason, I’ll be awfully surprised if it ever happens!
The Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society power players behind Project 2025 and oligarch donor money are the ultimate controllers of Speaker Johnson and The Party of Putin in Congress as Trump becomes more of a Weekend at Bernie’s standup straw figurehead sinking into dementia.
If Trump’s decline is obvious to us, as painful as it is to endure more than ninety seconds of seeing and hearing him, as others have stated here it’s obvious to those in politics around him and logically accounts for limited public appearances and sheltering at Mar-a-Lago. But there will be no stating the emperor has no clothes as long as the Project 2025 masters are behind the curtain controlling all.
They probably won’t let him debate and although there is the possibility of an off cue one off impromptu inside of or leaving the courtroom, defendants needn’t say much unless directly required to reply to the judge. So don’t look for many sound bites there.
But how is Trump in a normal one to one conversation, away from cameras and crowds? British foreign secretary David Cameron visited Trump this week. As far as we know, Cameron is not beholden to Putin or Project 2025. We can only hope someone in the British press asks.
I read all of it..like so much of this propaganda it provides no references to specific speeches or events..Biden cannot speak coherently without a teleprompter..
"No U!" stopped being a good comeback in second grade, Duggles.
The article that you insist that you read ALSO provides a thorough explanation of the difference between President Biden's normal aging and Trump's cognitive decline.
Uncle Bosey eaten by cannibals and other strange mumblings of Biden...Biden cannot speak without cue cards..when was his last press conference with open questions?? Biden will not do a debate. It would not be possible for him..Trump speaks all of the time without que cards and is capable of debating...forget either flawed candidate...vote for the best candidate..see JFK jr..he has a real chance.
It’s full of comms. Trump provides breadcrumbs and comms but unless you are really diligently seeking the truth, You just don’t understand his skills of playing chess on a 5D level. If you’re ever interested in doing your own research in your own discernment, go to Rumble follow badlands media. Listen to eye of the storm follow SGT report. Listen to some of the stuff find the truth go research it then come back and say that Trump is declining. Everything he says is for a reason just like when he said Pelosi and Nikki it was to get the news papers, the news stations, the reporters to all say that Pelosi was the one in charge of January 6, because no one would say it was a happy day for us , and make it sound like he’s losing his mind. There are so many things in this article that I could explain in detail as to what he was referring to. When he makes comms, he hast to stretch out the words he hast to do something or say it in a way for it to be picked up on . Taken to the Q and decoded. You can like my reply or not, but if you’re this far and deep into things, why not due to a little bit more research. Why not want to know so many people realize what he and the white hats are doing for this country and he has saved our lives and is continuing to. Learn about Biden and the things that he has done. Biden beat Obama because Obama was bad but Biden is far worse. In so many evil evil corrupt ways they couldn’t give it to you all at once. It’s being unveiled slowly in the meantime you guys think that Trump is getting hit with all these indictments and stuff when it’s a showcase where our country has gone and how our rights have been stripped away and how unfair, the political system and the governmental system is. It’s to teach us what our rights are. Half of the people in the world can’t name the three branches of government. This is all been done slowly in order to show people what has been going on behind the scenes and Biden is a puppet. He’s a puppet of the ministration, but he beats Obama hand down when it comes to what he was doing to us Americans. And I do say was as in past tense and I firmly believe that. Just do yourself a favor a little further do a little more research. You’ll learn that everything Trump does for a reason. He’s way up there playing chess and you guys are way down here , not knowing what’s going on because you haven’t dug deep enough or maybe you just don’t really wanna believe that the q movement was all for a reason.
Come back when you learn how to make paragraphs, pookie. Of course, that's the third grade, so the election will long be over by the time you get there.
You expect me to read your mess with no paragraphing and improper punctuation. I just randomly read 2 or 3 sentences. They were so bad and ungrammatical that I stopped reading.
You are in a cult. You have detached from reality if you believe a single word you typed. On the other hand, it was comical reading, so maybe you were being sarcastic?
Who are you addressing your request to? The author of the article? He lists literally dozens of examples, and goes into specific detail as to exactly why and how the examples he lists are problematic.
I would recommend reading DM's comment (if you have a strong stomach) to get a full glimpse of what we are up against. To put it kindly, there are people who belong in straight jackets who will be voting in November.
I did and I was gobsmacked. I think DM may be in the throes of dementia as well. Several words were simply unnecessarily abbreviated or simply made up. The amount of tangential misinformation and the level of narrative incoherence is frightening.
Yes..dozens examples with no references..also most are trivial. Biden is far worse off mentally than Trump.the author is bias. Neither is a great choice.
Half a dozen commenters in this thread: "500 psychologists with expertise and experience gave examples in the article. That was LITERALLY the point of the article."
The article would have been 4x longer if exact speech locations were provided. You should try google, if you want video proof. It works! (Everyone else reading has seen the videos, heard the gaffes, witnessed the decline in speech and cognition. Sorry for your inability to process reality.)
The article is not balanced..Biden has dementia and is a very forgetful old man...uncle bosey eaten by canibles..etc..He will not do a debate and cannot speak coherently without cue cards. Forget either flawed candidate vote JFK jr. He has a real chance..
The term "genocide joe" is used by people who don't understand foreign relations, and sometimes by paid Putin trolls. Where is your outrage over Netanyahu? Do you have any familiarity at all with Israeli politics or why Israel is where it is? Have you expressed your outrage at Israelis consistently electing far-right ethnic cleansers into office during the last thirty years? Are you even aware of it?
The "genocide joe" lunkheads also ignore that Trump enabled Netanyahu's behavior BY MOVING THE AMERICAN EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM, which should be an open city for all religions.
Ignorance is inexcusable in a situation like Gaza. Read. Stop looking at TikTok videos from Putin's Internet Research Agency.
I spent from 2015 to June of 2023 watching Alzheimer's take my father. These symptoms djt is exhibiting remind me of 3-4 years ago with Pop, especially the confabulation and speech issues. My father was an engineer by trade and watching the lost ability to figure things out was devastating. The decline is steadily subtle at first and then all at once, it's exponential. I don't think what you are saying is cynical at all. I've always felt that man is just a means to an end for a much darker group.
I feel for what you went through, it's truly devastating. I am watching stroke related dementia take my mother. She doesn't have the memory issues seen in Alzheimer's patients but her cognitive decline is apparent. But because she can pass the standard "dementia test"- she knows day, month, president and "why she is here" answers- I can't get a diagnosis from a doctor. Her decline is in the more exponential state now and yet most times she makes more sense than TFG.
Watched a dear friend go through that one. He was a medical professional and had to give it up. His dear wife is truly a warrior as he's now in his 9th year of this.
My mom had, it turned out, lesions on her brain due to Korsakoff’s Syndrome, a kind of dementia, the result of her being a decades-long alcoholic. She could easy “pass” at first when being examined, which why it was important for a family member to accompany her to & sit in on exams. After extended/multiple interactions most medicos finally “got it” & it opened the door to more appropriate diagnosis, treatment & referrals. She ended up in a locked facility after wandering away from a nursing home once (she was found sitting in a car of the hospital across the street—she tried all the doors and got in the first unlocked vehicle thinking they could drive her home), and an unlocked assisted living facility twice (police found her wandering the nearby streets) —this last place finally said “get her out of here, we can’t be responsible for her any longer”.
Recovery takes a long time and some forgiveness to yourself for the times you lost patience or wanted to just run away from it all. Know you are not alone. Find humor in memory of the really absurd moments.
I have been considering this possibility since that appears to have happened under Reagan as well once he had dementia. It was hidden and the people around him just went right on governing, I presume aided by Nancy Reagan. Since I, a stranger have figured out that he appears to have dementia although I did not know the causes, drugs, or aging alone, and that he had aphasia, and wondered whether he has had a stroke, I can imagine that people around him must really notice the things going on with him. Jeff Tiedrich in his Substack reports tirelessly about the ways in which Donald Trump's mental and physical faculties are slipping, with videos so one can hear his speech and see his mannerisms. It becomes so obvious even from small clips. https://substack.com/@jefftiedrich
So, we need to have an alternative plan to the Right Wing Fascists nefarious doings. This is the Nazi Party developing all over again. I call these groups and politicians The New American Nazi Party, because Nazis is the most apt description for the Republican Party under Trump and those who support it.
Cynical? I would say more like reality. What is the best way for the elite to protect and insulate themselves from the masses? Get the masses to fight among themselves. How does a leader unite the people behind him? Go to war against a perceived enemy.
It is all psychology that is out there, researched, published and understood.
Trump IS NOT the elites hero. He is their puppet.
However, sometimes the puppet develops a mind of its own and goes off the deep end.
There is a historical precedent. However, before I tell it, there are many who highly dispute this history but, as you will see, they have very strong reasons to dispute this story that has nothing to do with the truth.
In the Persian world before ISLAM, the religion was Zorasterism. With any religion, different groups think differently and seek power for their beliefs. One such group were the astrologer-priests called the Magi. These were supposedly the three wise men at the manger.
This Magi group was not in power but they came up with a plan. They needed an easily influenced person, not too bright, to be their spear to go to war against their enemies in Persia. Somebody similar to Trump. They found their guy, and spent a lot of time convincing this guy he was hearing the voices of angels giving him the word of god. Of course, these Magi write down these revelations as their guy was illiterate.
They created a new religion that was a spear to attack their enemies. However, these Wise Men did not know about the butterfly effect from chaos theory and this religion not only conquered their enemies but, also, conquered them.
The oligarchs in Russia helped put a guy in charge to control the masses and protect their fortunes. Now Putin can kill them. This in what happens when one creates a Frankenstein monster.
So hopefully people will understand that Trump and his court jesters at Fox Noise are all tools. When this election is over, if Trump defeated, focus needs to be in the direction of the real enemies of this country, preventing it from evolving towards an ideal—ideals do not really exist except in the mind of Plato and those he influenced—of a country that we were all lied to and told we already were.
Hopefully, then we as a people can start dealing with our original sin and our other sins.
Douglas Brown - further to this - I completely agree with your speculations, and find them not at all cynical. it’s my contention that the choice of VP to Trump is of vital importance - his “handlers” fully intend to replace him in fairly short order after he’s sworn in. In fact, it’s not inconceivable that they’ll bypass the succession altogether and go straight to something like a ruling junta. If not replaced by a 25th Amendment invocation, a highly visible and public assassination would have the dual value of ridding them of Trump, and galvanizing the base in anger against the “libs.”
And as I say these things, I recognize how “conspiracy theory “ based they are. It’s all speculation, but it’s based on observable phenomena. What is virtually certain, however, is that Trump is not in control either of himself, or his campaign and possible future presidency. I keep hoping I’m wrong, but I can’t convince myself that I am.
That will backfire if they try it. Trump's 2nd term will be about putting himself beyond anyone's control. He is going to install only people who will defend him, whether or not P2025 planners like them. Theofascists can prepare a throne for their planned king, but if Trump doesn't like it he'll have acolytes ready to deal with the situation. Trump is planning a dynasty.
Dennis McD, I can’t agree. Trump is literally controlling nothing now - he’s being permitted to think he is, because it’s useful to the Flynns and Millers and Bannons and many more who we don’t know about. This is not, perhaps never was about Trump.
Their big input will be into who they choose for his VP. That's the person they are going to use to get things done. It won't be trump's choice, he's not the money guys.
but i am more worried that T$#@% won't make it to the gen election and that a shiny, articulate, younger, Project 25 adherent will take his place and the GOP mods now planning to vote for Biden to avoid T$%#$ will return to the GOP.
MY EXACT THOUGHTS. After all the GOP has a history of finding this sort of President (ignorant puppet) VERY useful in the past: i.e. Reagan & GW Bush...not to mention easily manipulated Trump in his previous term....
One small correction, the former guy DOES NOT HAVE AN MBA. He attended the undergraduate business school at UPenn, which also known as Wharton. He did not attend the Wharton graduate program.
While 1 of his professors said he was the blankety blank dumbest student he'd ever had, so he may have Bought his graduation grades. Like everything else.
Really glad to hear that,my dear friend.Don't make Trump sound better than what he truly is.And may God in the nmae of Decency kindly Stop Trump & his MAGA Creeps very ,very Soon!
Soon after he became president I decided I needed to watch him give a speech, hoping to understand his plans as president and his thought process better. After about ten minutes I understood all I needed. He couldn't finish a thought or even many sentences. I really had no idea what his message was. And this was in 2017.
I believe people do have a duty to warn. Thank you for this article.
He’s not declining, he’s providing more comms. That’s the problem. You guys give him five minutes, but you don’t spend five hours doing some research to discern the truth. Be fiction. If anyone is declining, it would be Biden if you were even here probably.
Correction: This article originally referred to Trump an "Ivy League MBA.” We have corrected it to read "Ivy League graduate,” as his degree from Wharton degree was an undergraduate degree.
What concerns me more than Trumps mental illness is the American vulnerability/inclination to be attracted to authoritarianism. Authoritarian personality traits are strong in 35 percent of the American population. Scholars like Jonathan Weiler and Matthew MacWilliams have found that ONLY about 25 per cent of the American population are on the non-authoritarian end of the spectrum.35 per cent are somewhere in the middle and 30-35 per cent are on the authoritarian end of the scale. That’s the bigger picture that keeps Trump so much in the picture and leaves so much left out of the picture and that keeps our debates so narrowly framed.
Balanced inclusive deliberative thinking is replaced with shortcuts, stereotypes with strong men with simple solutions. The fragmentation of social media and politics has the space for thoughtful discussion becoming smaller and smaller as we go faster and faster with increasing volumes of algorithmic information. The loudest unbalanced voice gets rewarded with the most attention in our attention economy. In our winner takes all society bullies win.
This makes me feel that I’ve lived in a different universe my 83 years. I’ve always had a real faith in American democracy. Kennedy’s assassination opened my eyes to another reality, but didn’t really dim that faith. I believed in the election system, until W. Had hope again with Obama, until arrival of Trump. It’s like a film was lifted from my eyes and ears. I’ve become rabid, even as my physical abilities begin diminishing. The Heritage Foundation and Project 25 is absolutely terrifying. I feel we now know the real enemy and need to proceed with great strength and every source at hand to defeat them. I’m certainly hoping this current court case is going to add speed to Trump’s cognitive decline and make it impossible for him to be the real presidential candidate. How’s that for wishful thinking? Gartner’s group of mental health experts need greater recognition and voice.
A lot of tfg’s supporters are people scared for their future. Not excusing that they’re propping up a wannabe dictator; just saying that they begin “othering” the unknown and directing mayhem toward those others. Which feeds into the takeover plans of oligarchs like Jamie Dimon, Elon Musk, Koch, etc. Researchers have found that a huge portion of those inclined to support tfg are prototypically the least educated among us. Which is why we must defend and improve public education.
I’ve given some thought to that too—the attraction
to authoritarianism. I think many of them have been brainwashed—seriously. And/or it’s a fad. And/or for whatever reason, they think they know what it is but have no real idea, just like most Americans have no
clue how our government works. If Trump is elected
I fully expect a chaotic, grifting free for all among the Cabinet members. Steve (new world order after we burn it all down) Bannon and Stephen (put kids in cages) Miller will fight each other over which of them
gets to torture political rivals and they’ll probably end up pushing them out of high rise windows,
Lack of independent thinking skills, lack of knowledge-understanding of how government works-civics-the speed and volume of misinformation-the ease of and addiction to social media, a tool that needs to be used wisely rather than mindlessly to group think and organize around conspiracy theories ... lack of thinking skills with lots of INSECURITY- fears, And insecure facts on the ground-the grotesque inequality in America all add up to resentments and seeking revenge with simple solutions. If you look at the research, it's not just Republicans that are inclined towards authoritarianism. In 1941 Eric Fromm wrote Escape From Freedom. That escape happens even in our most liberal of universities.... Schools of thought can become-have become cults.
Thanks for such a detailed account of his madness. I like to refer people to his radio interviews with Howard Stern. If you listen to them, you hear a guy who is clearly a jerk, but he's a jerk who can string paragraphs together and stay on point. This is no longer the case at all.
I'm sure Mr. Gartner is correct. He'll be a vegetable before his term is up. I thought he would be by now, based on his previous term, but he's hung in there somehow. I have witnessed dementia up close and personal. I don't like using the word, "vegetable," to refer to someone who is suffering, but in his case, it is we who are suffering. He needs to be shut down, and I appreciate Mr. Gartner's efforts. I also relate to Mr. Gartner's not wanting to be involved with politics. I look forward to the day when I can ignore politics, too.
The stress of the civil suits clearly pushed him to the edge. His behavior in those courtrooms demonstrates that he lacks even the limited self-control that he once possessed, and he was only in court for a handful of days, apparently trying to intimidate witnesses during their testimony.
For the criminal trials, he will have to be at the defense table whenever the jury is present. I think it will be maddening for him. Perhaps his people will give him a mild tranquilizer each morning.
Yes. During the rough periods of the pandemic (and sometimes now with lesser hearings), proceedings were/are done remotely. When it's considered safe, defendants in most cases must be in the courtroom when the jury is, unless the judge excuses them. That usually only happens for emergencies.
Technically, it's for the defendant's benefit. If they don't observe the proceedings, they can't have timely consultation with their attorney or judge the quality of the defense offered. Of course, it also allows the jury to see the defendant's behavior during the proceedings. Jurors are instructed to reach a verdict based solely on the evidence, but they're allowed to form an impression of the defendant's ... sincerity, I guess you can call it.
He made a statement recently after 1 of his Many recent court cases, that he would do more evening rallies. (for $donations$)
So that will put his sundowner symptoms, after a frustrating day in court, on full display to his supporters, if they even notice. Cameras need to be in full focus, liberal news needs to share what the right leaning media will hide from their public. Along with the Many obvious lists of dementia symptoms & possible diagnosis from the actual experts! Republicans have aging parents, too. Usually with lax Red state Healthcare to help...
Right. Any of us who have been around the symptoms, and I think that's a lot of us on all parts of the political landscape, will recognize the various traits. If only a small percentage of his former voters become alarmed, maybe they'll at least sit out the election.
Thank you (and the others who signed the document you cite) for your courage and thoroughness in summarizing all of this. Those of us who don't watch the rallies or speeches or read them, other than as passing references in the mainstream press - and all too rarely there - are able to parse together this clinical picture. When he was president, I did read the mainstream press, and was shocked at how each would edit his words so they made sense. I wondered then why they were doing that. In your post today, I also appreciate your reflection: "One day, in silence, in my garden, I felt the Universe, God, the Force, whatever you want to call it, communicate with me."
Thank you for a very helpful and detailed coverage of an important issue. Sad that the mainstream media is so terrified of actually committing journalism that they won't ever consider covering the issue.
This likely helps explain why he is so terrified of a debate. Having to be on stage side-by-side with Prez. Biden would make it blindingly obvious to everyone watching just who the doddering "old man" was . . .
“actually committing journalism” is a great way to say it! It’s sad that we can’t depend upon the media to tell the whole truth! If it weren’t for Substack writers I’d be lost!
"If you can’t trust doctors, when we’re talking about a medical condition, then who can you trust?" This is yet another reason why Republicans have been anti-science. I'm also old enough to remember Ronald Reagan's second term where he appeared less and less often in public. It was later learned that he had dementia and others were actually running the country.
This made me think of the second Reagan term as well. I don't think he was as far along in his decline as Trump clearly is, but he definitely had better handlers and he didn't start out as a narcissist, which makes Trump very dangerous indeed.
I think his acting training helped him cope better. He could deliver his lines and his handlers could get him out of the room before any questions started.
Thank you for being so clear with this important information. Some of us knew and saw the deterioration but did not have the professional, clinical words to talk about what we were seeing.
He also misidentified E. Jean Carroll as his former wife and stays up all hours of the night posting on his fake twitter account. His makeup application lately has been especially egregious, reminding me of my 96 year old grandmother applying too much “rouge” and thinking it is beautiful.
These indicate sundowning, or maybe abusing some types of stimulants like Adderall. Some think he is using Ozempic to lose weight and this may be causing his dementia like symptoms, but that seems to be a cop out to me. I truly believe the signers of this document are precisely on point.
The make-up! Where is that coming from?? Ever since his trials have begun, the makeup is like that “96 year old aunt” you mentioned. I didn’t understand why his “people” didn’t “fix it for him” but then remembered it’s Trump. No one can tell him anything - so they don’t cross him.
This is one of the most terrifying articles I have ever read, it made my blood run cold. Dementia is awful, but a demented TRUMP in the WH would be a disaster for our country.
It will be someone handpicked by the Heritage Foundation and The Federalist Society, someone who will aid them in the suspension of the Constitution and destruction of democracy, to be replaced by an authoritarian oligarchy.
A hand picked non elected President,answering to his handlers only ! That is a frightening scenario, but a very possible one! The traitors in Congress will be tripping over each other to sign up for their slice of the new American Corporate Governance!
That's what they're doing now with violating the Court's Gag Orders for Trump by dressing like him and mouthing off in front of the building. Little Trumpian Clones.
Thank you! Many of us who've paid attention to this man have noticed these changes but did not have the medical expertise to define it. I do not believe Trump will be re-elected due to many other factors but he's too close to the oval office. It's likely to be a nail-biter election and there's much foul play afoot to cause confusion and mistrust.
I think he won't be elected. He's going to get worse and only his cult will vote for him. He'll lose the people who aren't blinded.
Plus he's responsible for Dobbs and that is going to cut into quite a lot of votes.
A lot of families have used or will need to use IVF and then there are the women who have pregnancies go bad. That whole mishegoss is going to sink not only trump (who's proud of what he's done) but a lot of other Republicans as well.
Wouldn't they just use AI to make images of him and giving speeches? I'm not an expect by any means of this technology but could they use it to fool his foolish supporters into thinking he is ok? I'm sure if this were possible, they have people to implement this. Scary........
Frighteningly I think you might be right about that possibility. What a world of illusion and mistrust and resultant chaos and division we seem to be upon the brink.
This might be possibly the most cynical thing I will write this week.
Consider the possibility that the GOP, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, etc. have all noticed Trump's increasing dementia and are all agreed upon it. They also all recognize that Trump is still their "big ticket item" for getting GOP turnout, and that without him the Republicans will not galvanize their base and get the voter turnout that they need to win in November. They are using Trump as their spearpoint for project 2025, and are fully prepared to invoke the 25th amendment once he gets into office. Once they have captured the government, they don't need him anymore.
I don't think it is cynical so much as it is a rational explanation for what is happening in terms of his "support." I love that John Gartner is doing this. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. I think it's very important.
But a lot of us can see what is going on with Trump's brain. It is incredibly obvious to non-experts, so that means it is obvious to the people working on efforts like Project 2025 to take over the government. It's a great answer to the "why" Republicans helping him. It's not that they're "blind." They are perfectly content with his madness.
Charles, I had the same thought as you and Douglas and it makes me ponder who might be the Republican VP candidate. If left entirely to Trump, that person could believably be a “Yes” person to all of Trump’s ideas and demands. Alternatively, a team of advisors serving as a VP search and vetting committee could conceivably suggest a name that they could sell to Trump but in reality be the person the backers of Project 2025 feel comfortable with assuming the office of president when Trump is sidelined by the 25th Amendment. If a search and vetting committee is formed, we will need to see who are the key players on that committee, as it could be likely, the VP suggested could be one of them and pre-determined from the start. That’s how Cheney picked himself to be GWB’s VP.
Yep, that's why I downloaded the Project 2025 PDF document. I haven't read most of it yet. But it is chock full of names of the people responsible for it so that when Biden wins, we can take go all out Jacobin on them (no guillotines, just prison for the those who colluded with Russia).
No guillotine? Even with a name like "Bastille?"
Pen name. Happens to be my birthday, and sometimes my writing is even subversive enough to justify it. But I'm a pacifist so it all falls apart there.
There can be a peaceful revolution. He simply #GeneralStrike #OccupyEverything #NoCompromise.
Punishing the despotic totalitarian criminals is a completely different matter.
No. Heads on pikes. The taxpayers should not have to feed and house those bastards. It’s not about punishment anyway it’s about accountability. Do the right thing, either guillotine or heads on pikes lining the mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol steps and this shit won’t go down for 1000 years. Entire government have lost their heads for what we consent to every week. Rightly so!
Study policy, bro.
I'm more of the feeling that we should put the entire lot of them out at Alcatraz and airdrop supplies to them. If they eat, they eat. If they can clean the place, they clean the place. If the plumbing works, great, but if not, oh, well. It's high time these entitled folks learned how the rest of us live. Think of it as a sociological experiment. How long can a bunch of highly self-centered, ego driven people survive on their own before they realize that society has to be INTER-dependent and that walking over others does not guarantee your survival in the long run. Many of them are "survivalists" with elaborate bunkers and think they can survive a nuclear holocaust. Great. Let them put those "skills" to use sans the bunkers. I'd bet those idiots can't make tea.
I like your thinking.
I'd like to know these names. About the only one I've heard so far is Stephen Miller.
As an anti-Semite, you are obviously aware that Trump's son-in-law is an Orthodox Jew. Doesn't that just make your skin crawl? $45's grandkids are Jewish. I know that makes him cringe when he plays Papaw. Also, notice none of $45's family besides Lara is present in his courtroom or rallies.
Trolling.
I was thinking that.
That’s exactly what will happen or is happening.
That's treading too close to murky Rightwing waters...
They need to go to a secluded dark place for a very long time.
If we do Our absolute worst, they will retaliate with the same, probably on unarmed citizens. Like cowards do.
If they do, they will be wiped out to the last person. Check your Russian agitprop bullshit Putin cocksleeve nonsense out of here. I’m not having it
frightening!!
In that case, in looking for their choice for VP, we'd probably be looking at the most devious but perhaps unassuming. Vance, Cotton & Carlson would probably be the more obvious popular choices among these people, but I wonder if someone like Tulsi Gabbard, Byron Donalds or Ben Carson might win out by appearing less threatening than they are & possibly appealing to constituencies they might not otherwise get.
I happen to know that Reagan was cognitively impaired during his presidency (I worked in the Federal government at the time and had direct contact with “for the President’s eyes only” briefs)—but most of the public was kept unaware. So the GOP has been down this road before
While they may have been down this road before, Reagan wasn't a dangerous, chaotic narcissist. They are not going to be able to control trump, hell they can't control him now.
You seem to repeat your hatred here. Have you been cognitively tested for dementia? If not, you might consider it.
Reagan, as misguided as he was, was genuinely concerned about the fate of the world and the country (he was, for example, said to have been deeply moved by the Jason Robards movie, "The Day After." I would argue there's a big difference between putting a shield around someone like that, and covering for a sociopath.
He might have cared about the parts of the country who weren't dying of AIDS.
He was a misguided soul, but what I thought I was saying was that he was interested in the direction of the country (and very prejudiced against a lot of different groups of people).
Google "Operation Able Archer." In the fall of 1983 Ronald Reagan brought us closer to World War III than at any other time in history. I was living and working in West Germany at the time. "The Day After" came out after that, and scared the crap out of him.
That’s a completely illegitimate take, if ever seen one. He was a self-serving convenient idiot.
How was he convenient? And to whom? That sounds like something I'd read on a bad Twitter feed.
He was quite convenient to the industrial military complex as is Biden. He’s the first person in the history of legal tender to spend $1 trillion defending us from a sovereign that was imploding of its own weight. Also, he was nothing more than a puppet for his Criminal advisers and lifelong large scale grifters. You are aware there was a Backchannel deal made with the Iranians about the hostages long before the election right? He was certainly convenient to the donor class being the first President of the United States to openly implement fascism. Being the corporate control of government on a department level. He was convenient for the fossil fuel entities.
Basically, he was convenient for the entire donor class because he had experience standing in front of a camera and saying nonsense. He just had to do it without a chimp.
He started this entire train rolling towards totalitarian despotism. Do you remember who was part of that unelected shadowy unannounced staff members assistance of assistance?
Roger Stone, Manafort, Ari Fleischer
HELLO
Definitely. But I think Reagan's training as an actor helped him keep it together better. And while I don't really have much good to say about Nancy Reagan, she did love him and she shielded him and the world from his decline pretty well.
Don’t forget, the rumor around Hollywood during that area was, she had no gag reflex…….
I'd forgotten about all those rumors!
That’s on “we the people” as this is entire debacle is. The electric chose a scene I’ll be right after who ruined the California economy just recently over a man with calluses on his hands and had placed his peanut Farm in a blind trust. Let me say that again,
placed his peanut Farm in a blind trust.
“We the people” are the government. We are beyond derelict in our duty.
There was only one caveat issued to the citizenry from the framers. We couldn’t even do that one single thing. “A Well informed and educated electorate”
whomever labeled us a “confederacy of dunces” overestimated us. We are straight up Dumbphukistan.
Hey! Donald Trump has joined the conversation.
Beep, Boop, Boom. Waggle wiggle. Fromme
Nebulous bullshit is all you’ve got? Really really fucked up stupid nebulous bullshit, even.
If bloody ever sees your work, your address will be BFE, Siberia forever
You can't tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks ...
Andy Borowitz's "Profiles in Ignorance" paints a pretty scary portrait of Reagan.
Genocide joe cant be the one we vote for either, so niether
Genocide Trump ordered his House lackies to help Putin by blocking Ukraine defense aid. He would simply let his bestie, Netanyahu flatten Gaza. At least Biden has a limit to his support of Netanyahu's offensive against Hamas, and has been pushing to get needed aid to the Palestinians.
You are suffering from the illusion of choice fear demand big and dark money be removed from politik and the barriers to access the ballot the same. That is the only pass to restore the Republic.
Don't vote for Biden then get Trump. Vacation in a relocation camp while enjoying your purity of non voting.
Lying Trump Putin GOP agitprop cocksleeve is it terrible optic. No wonder your mother is so disappointed
Then who?
Very sad but sure seems to be the case. In my mind he has always been a deeply insecure and disturbed person. I think we see the exaggeration of these traits in his declining cognitive ability.
The value in this article is that most of us refuse to listen to Trump anymore, so to have a compilation of his slurpy talk and cottage cheese thinking is invaluable. This attention to his slip and slide into dementia must keep coming, God forbid that President Biden decides to debate this mushroom!
Oh, I'm most definitely not arguing against the value of the article. My point was that if people like me, with no psych qualifications other than my common sense, notice Trump's decline, the people who are closer to him and interact with him much more frequently than I do (I can't watch more than a minute of him without wanting to throw something), are fully aware of his decline.
I believe the Trump campaign is already trying to reduce his live speaking events and move toward taped, and edited I'm sure, as quickly as possible. But there will likely those off the cuff pre and post court live rants.
The big elephant in the room is, will they let him debate? That will be a disaster for him unless he has a "good day." People who've been around dementia know what I mean by that, but it's not a predictable occurrence.
I think there’s going to be plenty of evidence of TFG’s decline during the trial. Court is exhausting, generally. I can only imagine how much stress TFG will be under, simply trying to pay attention, or at least look like he is.
Then when court recesses, he’ll go bonkers on TS. The timing will be optimal for seeing evidence of sundowning.
A debate would be an excellent showcase of TFG’s declining cognitive function. And for precisely that reason, I’ll be awfully surprised if it ever happens!
If he does, we can give him a wattle and a lollipop to suck on.
The Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society power players behind Project 2025 and oligarch donor money are the ultimate controllers of Speaker Johnson and The Party of Putin in Congress as Trump becomes more of a Weekend at Bernie’s standup straw figurehead sinking into dementia.
If Trump’s decline is obvious to us, as painful as it is to endure more than ninety seconds of seeing and hearing him, as others have stated here it’s obvious to those in politics around him and logically accounts for limited public appearances and sheltering at Mar-a-Lago. But there will be no stating the emperor has no clothes as long as the Project 2025 masters are behind the curtain controlling all.
They probably won’t let him debate and although there is the possibility of an off cue one off impromptu inside of or leaving the courtroom, defendants needn’t say much unless directly required to reply to the judge. So don’t look for many sound bites there.
But how is Trump in a normal one to one conversation, away from cameras and crowds? British foreign secretary David Cameron visited Trump this week. As far as we know, Cameron is not beholden to Putin or Project 2025. We can only hope someone in the British press asks.
Charles, you may be interested in this group hoping to Stop The Coup 2025: https://www.stopthecoup2025.org/
I loved the visual chart of Leonard Leo!
Thank you!
I repeat, be where the VP pick
Please provide examples of Trump actions that demonstrate his loss of metal acuity..
The original article is chock full of them. Did you read it?
I read all of it..like so much of this propaganda it provides no references to specific speeches or events..Biden cannot speak coherently without a teleprompter..
You should stay on Truth Social where you won't be mocked for your cult membership.
"Biden cannot speak coherently"
"No U!" stopped being a good comeback in second grade, Duggles.
The article that you insist that you read ALSO provides a thorough explanation of the difference between President Biden's normal aging and Trump's cognitive decline.
Second grade and you other post put in in the category of blocked..
Uncle Bosey eaten by cannibals and other strange mumblings of Biden...Biden cannot speak without cue cards..when was his last press conference with open questions?? Biden will not do a debate. It would not be possible for him..Trump speaks all of the time without que cards and is capable of debating...forget either flawed candidate...vote for the best candidate..see JFK jr..he has a real chance.
It’s full of comms. Trump provides breadcrumbs and comms but unless you are really diligently seeking the truth, You just don’t understand his skills of playing chess on a 5D level. If you’re ever interested in doing your own research in your own discernment, go to Rumble follow badlands media. Listen to eye of the storm follow SGT report. Listen to some of the stuff find the truth go research it then come back and say that Trump is declining. Everything he says is for a reason just like when he said Pelosi and Nikki it was to get the news papers, the news stations, the reporters to all say that Pelosi was the one in charge of January 6, because no one would say it was a happy day for us , and make it sound like he’s losing his mind. There are so many things in this article that I could explain in detail as to what he was referring to. When he makes comms, he hast to stretch out the words he hast to do something or say it in a way for it to be picked up on . Taken to the Q and decoded. You can like my reply or not, but if you’re this far and deep into things, why not due to a little bit more research. Why not want to know so many people realize what he and the white hats are doing for this country and he has saved our lives and is continuing to. Learn about Biden and the things that he has done. Biden beat Obama because Obama was bad but Biden is far worse. In so many evil evil corrupt ways they couldn’t give it to you all at once. It’s being unveiled slowly in the meantime you guys think that Trump is getting hit with all these indictments and stuff when it’s a showcase where our country has gone and how our rights have been stripped away and how unfair, the political system and the governmental system is. It’s to teach us what our rights are. Half of the people in the world can’t name the three branches of government. This is all been done slowly in order to show people what has been going on behind the scenes and Biden is a puppet. He’s a puppet of the ministration, but he beats Obama hand down when it comes to what he was doing to us Americans. And I do say was as in past tense and I firmly believe that. Just do yourself a favor a little further do a little more research. You’ll learn that everything Trump does for a reason. He’s way up there playing chess and you guys are way down here , not knowing what’s going on because you haven’t dug deep enough or maybe you just don’t really wanna believe that the q movement was all for a reason.
Come back when you learn how to make paragraphs, pookie. Of course, that's the third grade, so the election will long be over by the time you get there.
You expect me to read your mess with no paragraphing and improper punctuation. I just randomly read 2 or 3 sentences. They were so bad and ungrammatical that I stopped reading.
Are comms comments?
I don't know Jeanne. Maybe he means communists. ???
You are in a cult. You have detached from reality if you believe a single word you typed. On the other hand, it was comical reading, so maybe you were being sarcastic?
You need to go back to school.
Who are you addressing your request to? The author of the article? He lists literally dozens of examples, and goes into specific detail as to exactly why and how the examples he lists are problematic.
Maybe read it?
I would recommend reading DM's comment (if you have a strong stomach) to get a full glimpse of what we are up against. To put it kindly, there are people who belong in straight jackets who will be voting in November.
I did and I was gobsmacked. I think DM may be in the throes of dementia as well. Several words were simply unnecessarily abbreviated or simply made up. The amount of tangential misinformation and the level of narrative incoherence is frightening.
But it got us to "gobsmacked," which is one of my favorite words. :-)
Marissa, I give you great credit for having the stomach and fortitude to read DM's crazy comment. I couldn't do it!
Unfortunately, they also breed.
Who's DM?
Look up the thread a bit. Or search the page using your browser's Find tool for "It’s full of comms"
Yes..dozens examples with no references..also most are trivial. Biden is far worse off mentally than Trump.the author is bias. Neither is a great choice.
Doug: "Give me an example."
Half a dozen commenters in this thread: "500 psychologists with expertise and experience gave examples in the article. That was LITERALLY the point of the article."
Doug: "No, not like that."
The article would have been 4x longer if exact speech locations were provided. You should try google, if you want video proof. It works! (Everyone else reading has seen the videos, heard the gaffes, witnessed the decline in speech and cognition. Sorry for your inability to process reality.)
The article is not balanced..Biden has dementia and is a very forgetful old man...uncle bosey eaten by canibles..etc..He will not do a debate and cannot speak coherently without cue cards. Forget either flawed candidate vote JFK jr. He has a real chance..
Read this https://open.substack.com/pub/thinkbigpicture/p/john-gartner-trump-cognitive-decline?r=2si9m&utm_medium=ios
Assessment of psychiatrists
Injecting bleach and shoving a full spectrum high UV light device up your ass did it for me…..
And genocide joe is an ok guy?
The term "genocide joe" is used by people who don't understand foreign relations, and sometimes by paid Putin trolls. Where is your outrage over Netanyahu? Do you have any familiarity at all with Israeli politics or why Israel is where it is? Have you expressed your outrage at Israelis consistently electing far-right ethnic cleansers into office during the last thirty years? Are you even aware of it?
The "genocide joe" lunkheads also ignore that Trump enabled Netanyahu's behavior BY MOVING THE AMERICAN EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM, which should be an open city for all religions.
Ignorance is inexcusable in a situation like Gaza. Read. Stop looking at TikTok videos from Putin's Internet Research Agency.
How many more times will you repeat this? It's stale already, but somehow I don't think you're capable of cogent debate.
I spent from 2015 to June of 2023 watching Alzheimer's take my father. These symptoms djt is exhibiting remind me of 3-4 years ago with Pop, especially the confabulation and speech issues. My father was an engineer by trade and watching the lost ability to figure things out was devastating. The decline is steadily subtle at first and then all at once, it's exponential. I don't think what you are saying is cynical at all. I've always felt that man is just a means to an end for a much darker group.
I feel for what you went through, it's truly devastating. I am watching stroke related dementia take my mother. She doesn't have the memory issues seen in Alzheimer's patients but her cognitive decline is apparent. But because she can pass the standard "dementia test"- she knows day, month, president and "why she is here" answers- I can't get a diagnosis from a doctor. Her decline is in the more exponential state now and yet most times she makes more sense than TFG.
Vascular dementia took my aunt, and it took forever to get a diagnosis—please keep looking for doctors, and I am so sorry. ♥️
Thank you!
Such a horrible thing to watch someone you love become someone they aren't.
Watched a dear friend go through that one. He was a medical professional and had to give it up. His dear wife is truly a warrior as he's now in his 9th year of this.
I’m so very sorry. 😔
My mom had, it turned out, lesions on her brain due to Korsakoff’s Syndrome, a kind of dementia, the result of her being a decades-long alcoholic. She could easy “pass” at first when being examined, which why it was important for a family member to accompany her to & sit in on exams. After extended/multiple interactions most medicos finally “got it” & it opened the door to more appropriate diagnosis, treatment & referrals. She ended up in a locked facility after wandering away from a nursing home once (she was found sitting in a car of the hospital across the street—she tried all the doors and got in the first unlocked vehicle thinking they could drive her home), and an unlocked assisted living facility twice (police found her wandering the nearby streets) —this last place finally said “get her out of here, we can’t be responsible for her any longer”.
Thanks so much. It's a beast. Frankly, we are still recovering from that last year with it all.
Recovery takes a long time and some forgiveness to yourself for the times you lost patience or wanted to just run away from it all. Know you are not alone. Find humor in memory of the really absurd moments.
I share a similar experience and your current concern.
I've been thinking the same thing. He's just a tool to them.
Somewhat like Reagan.
I remember an old saying that I believe to be true - "When it comes to money and politics, no matter how cynical you are - it isn't cynical enough".
I have been considering this possibility since that appears to have happened under Reagan as well once he had dementia. It was hidden and the people around him just went right on governing, I presume aided by Nancy Reagan. Since I, a stranger have figured out that he appears to have dementia although I did not know the causes, drugs, or aging alone, and that he had aphasia, and wondered whether he has had a stroke, I can imagine that people around him must really notice the things going on with him. Jeff Tiedrich in his Substack reports tirelessly about the ways in which Donald Trump's mental and physical faculties are slipping, with videos so one can hear his speech and see his mannerisms. It becomes so obvious even from small clips. https://substack.com/@jefftiedrich
So, we need to have an alternative plan to the Right Wing Fascists nefarious doings. This is the Nazi Party developing all over again. I call these groups and politicians The New American Nazi Party, because Nazis is the most apt description for the Republican Party under Trump and those who support it.
Cynical? I would say more like reality. What is the best way for the elite to protect and insulate themselves from the masses? Get the masses to fight among themselves. How does a leader unite the people behind him? Go to war against a perceived enemy.
It is all psychology that is out there, researched, published and understood.
Trump IS NOT the elites hero. He is their puppet.
However, sometimes the puppet develops a mind of its own and goes off the deep end.
There is a historical precedent. However, before I tell it, there are many who highly dispute this history but, as you will see, they have very strong reasons to dispute this story that has nothing to do with the truth.
In the Persian world before ISLAM, the religion was Zorasterism. With any religion, different groups think differently and seek power for their beliefs. One such group were the astrologer-priests called the Magi. These were supposedly the three wise men at the manger.
This Magi group was not in power but they came up with a plan. They needed an easily influenced person, not too bright, to be their spear to go to war against their enemies in Persia. Somebody similar to Trump. They found their guy, and spent a lot of time convincing this guy he was hearing the voices of angels giving him the word of god. Of course, these Magi write down these revelations as their guy was illiterate.
They created a new religion that was a spear to attack their enemies. However, these Wise Men did not know about the butterfly effect from chaos theory and this religion not only conquered their enemies but, also, conquered them.
The oligarchs in Russia helped put a guy in charge to control the masses and protect their fortunes. Now Putin can kill them. This in what happens when one creates a Frankenstein monster.
So hopefully people will understand that Trump and his court jesters at Fox Noise are all tools. When this election is over, if Trump defeated, focus needs to be in the direction of the real enemies of this country, preventing it from evolving towards an ideal—ideals do not really exist except in the mind of Plato and those he influenced—of a country that we were all lied to and told we already were.
Hopefully, then we as a people can start dealing with our original sin and our other sins.
Douglas Brown - further to this - I completely agree with your speculations, and find them not at all cynical. it’s my contention that the choice of VP to Trump is of vital importance - his “handlers” fully intend to replace him in fairly short order after he’s sworn in. In fact, it’s not inconceivable that they’ll bypass the succession altogether and go straight to something like a ruling junta. If not replaced by a 25th Amendment invocation, a highly visible and public assassination would have the dual value of ridding them of Trump, and galvanizing the base in anger against the “libs.”
And as I say these things, I recognize how “conspiracy theory “ based they are. It’s all speculation, but it’s based on observable phenomena. What is virtually certain, however, is that Trump is not in control either of himself, or his campaign and possible future presidency. I keep hoping I’m wrong, but I can’t convince myself that I am.
That will backfire if they try it. Trump's 2nd term will be about putting himself beyond anyone's control. He is going to install only people who will defend him, whether or not P2025 planners like them. Theofascists can prepare a throne for their planned king, but if Trump doesn't like it he'll have acolytes ready to deal with the situation. Trump is planning a dynasty.
Dennis McD, I can’t agree. Trump is literally controlling nothing now - he’s being permitted to think he is, because it’s useful to the Flynns and Millers and Bannons and many more who we don’t know about. This is not, perhaps never was about Trump.
I think this is exactly what will happen. He is their useful idiot.
Their big input will be into who they choose for his VP. That's the person they are going to use to get things done. It won't be trump's choice, he's not the money guys.
No doubt, this is what is going on.
i absolutely believe this is true.
but i am more worried that T$#@% won't make it to the gen election and that a shiny, articulate, younger, Project 25 adherent will take his place and the GOP mods now planning to vote for Biden to avoid T$%#$ will return to the GOP.
we have to foreground Project 25.
I absolutely agree. We cannot let ANY Republican win the White House in this contest.
MY EXACT THOUGHTS. After all the GOP has a history of finding this sort of President (ignorant puppet) VERY useful in the past: i.e. Reagan & GW Bush...not to mention easily manipulated Trump in his previous term....
Wow! You’ve made a good point!
I’ve always agreed with the sentiment that trump has always been a ‘useful idiot’ to the real movers and shakers on the right.
You better consider the possibility that those people know it and be careful of his VP pick
One small correction, the former guy DOES NOT HAVE AN MBA. He attended the undergraduate business school at UPenn, which also known as Wharton. He did not attend the Wharton graduate program.
We have corrected this reference. Thank you.
I noticed that you simply stated he “attended” undergraduate school…
😉
Obvious due to his exceptional business acumen. Facetious comment intended.
And he paid someone to take his entrance exams
I think more than just his entrance exams!
Rumored to be his sister, the eventual judge …
I want to say that I had heard she had done his work for him, but I'm not sure if it was earlier or later.
They’re making huge strides. KenStarr spent 90 billion bucks on a blow job and Trump has whittle it down immensely.
While 1 of his professors said he was the blankety blank dumbest student he'd ever had, so he may have Bought his graduation grades. Like everything else.
Really glad to hear that,my dear friend.Don't make Trump sound better than what he truly is.And may God in the nmae of Decency kindly Stop Trump & his MAGA Creeps very ,very Soon!
Soon after he became president I decided I needed to watch him give a speech, hoping to understand his plans as president and his thought process better. After about ten minutes I understood all I needed. He couldn't finish a thought or even many sentences. I really had no idea what his message was. And this was in 2017.
I believe people do have a duty to warn. Thank you for this article.
Exactly, this. I doubt I've watched him for more than 5 full minutes at one sitting. He's been incoherent for a long time.
Consider words like ‘hamberder’ and ‘confefe’. He used both during his term in office. Four years later, he is visibly declining.
'confefe' launched a million memes, lol. Wasn't that originally in a tweet?
Yes, in fact it was the tweet. Just that one ‘word’
“Covfefe” launched a thousand online comedians.
And there were reasons for it. Play five D chess onTrump‘s level and the white hats levels so that you can discern the comms.
He’s not declining, he’s providing more comms. That’s the problem. You guys give him five minutes, but you don’t spend five hours doing some research to discern the truth. Be fiction. If anyone is declining, it would be Biden if you were even here probably.
You keep telling yourself that, sweety. Good Luck.
Wake up. T’s thought processes are a rambling, incoherent mess. You must be deaf & blind.🙉🙈😳
Could not agree more.
Correction: This article originally referred to Trump an "Ivy League MBA.” We have corrected it to read "Ivy League graduate,” as his degree from Wharton degree was an undergraduate degree.
What concerns me more than Trumps mental illness is the American vulnerability/inclination to be attracted to authoritarianism. Authoritarian personality traits are strong in 35 percent of the American population. Scholars like Jonathan Weiler and Matthew MacWilliams have found that ONLY about 25 per cent of the American population are on the non-authoritarian end of the spectrum.35 per cent are somewhere in the middle and 30-35 per cent are on the authoritarian end of the scale. That’s the bigger picture that keeps Trump so much in the picture and leaves so much left out of the picture and that keeps our debates so narrowly framed.
Balanced inclusive deliberative thinking is replaced with shortcuts, stereotypes with strong men with simple solutions. The fragmentation of social media and politics has the space for thoughtful discussion becoming smaller and smaller as we go faster and faster with increasing volumes of algorithmic information. The loudest unbalanced voice gets rewarded with the most attention in our attention economy. In our winner takes all society bullies win.
Yikes! We have work to do to come to another conclusion. We shouldn’t let bullies win!!
This makes me feel that I’ve lived in a different universe my 83 years. I’ve always had a real faith in American democracy. Kennedy’s assassination opened my eyes to another reality, but didn’t really dim that faith. I believed in the election system, until W. Had hope again with Obama, until arrival of Trump. It’s like a film was lifted from my eyes and ears. I’ve become rabid, even as my physical abilities begin diminishing. The Heritage Foundation and Project 25 is absolutely terrifying. I feel we now know the real enemy and need to proceed with great strength and every source at hand to defeat them. I’m certainly hoping this current court case is going to add speed to Trump’s cognitive decline and make it impossible for him to be the real presidential candidate. How’s that for wishful thinking? Gartner’s group of mental health experts need greater recognition and voice.
A lot of tfg’s supporters are people scared for their future. Not excusing that they’re propping up a wannabe dictator; just saying that they begin “othering” the unknown and directing mayhem toward those others. Which feeds into the takeover plans of oligarchs like Jamie Dimon, Elon Musk, Koch, etc. Researchers have found that a huge portion of those inclined to support tfg are prototypically the least educated among us. Which is why we must defend and improve public education.
I’ve given some thought to that too—the attraction
to authoritarianism. I think many of them have been brainwashed—seriously. And/or it’s a fad. And/or for whatever reason, they think they know what it is but have no real idea, just like most Americans have no
clue how our government works. If Trump is elected
I fully expect a chaotic, grifting free for all among the Cabinet members. Steve (new world order after we burn it all down) Bannon and Stephen (put kids in cages) Miller will fight each other over which of them
gets to torture political rivals and they’ll probably end up pushing them out of high rise windows,
emulating their role model Putin.
Lack of independent thinking skills, lack of knowledge-understanding of how government works-civics-the speed and volume of misinformation-the ease of and addiction to social media, a tool that needs to be used wisely rather than mindlessly to group think and organize around conspiracy theories ... lack of thinking skills with lots of INSECURITY- fears, And insecure facts on the ground-the grotesque inequality in America all add up to resentments and seeking revenge with simple solutions. If you look at the research, it's not just Republicans that are inclined towards authoritarianism. In 1941 Eric Fromm wrote Escape From Freedom. That escape happens even in our most liberal of universities.... Schools of thought can become-have become cults.
Thanks for such a detailed account of his madness. I like to refer people to his radio interviews with Howard Stern. If you listen to them, you hear a guy who is clearly a jerk, but he's a jerk who can string paragraphs together and stay on point. This is no longer the case at all.
I'm sure Mr. Gartner is correct. He'll be a vegetable before his term is up. I thought he would be by now, based on his previous term, but he's hung in there somehow. I have witnessed dementia up close and personal. I don't like using the word, "vegetable," to refer to someone who is suffering, but in his case, it is we who are suffering. He needs to be shut down, and I appreciate Mr. Gartner's efforts. I also relate to Mr. Gartner's not wanting to be involved with politics. I look forward to the day when I can ignore politics, too.
His trial(s) might accelerate his decline...
The stress of the civil suits clearly pushed him to the edge. His behavior in those courtrooms demonstrates that he lacks even the limited self-control that he once possessed, and he was only in court for a handful of days, apparently trying to intimidate witnesses during their testimony.
For the criminal trials, he will have to be at the defense table whenever the jury is present. I think it will be maddening for him. Perhaps his people will give him a mild tranquilizer each morning.
Is that correct? . . . . Is he legally required to be present at his criminal trail? . . . .
Yes. He has to be there. Or at least be logged into zoom to watch.
Yes. During the rough periods of the pandemic (and sometimes now with lesser hearings), proceedings were/are done remotely. When it's considered safe, defendants in most cases must be in the courtroom when the jury is, unless the judge excuses them. That usually only happens for emergencies.
Technically, it's for the defendant's benefit. If they don't observe the proceedings, they can't have timely consultation with their attorney or judge the quality of the defense offered. Of course, it also allows the jury to see the defendant's behavior during the proceedings. Jurors are instructed to reach a verdict based solely on the evidence, but they're allowed to form an impression of the defendant's ... sincerity, I guess you can call it.
Thank you.
He made a statement recently after 1 of his Many recent court cases, that he would do more evening rallies. (for $donations$)
So that will put his sundowner symptoms, after a frustrating day in court, on full display to his supporters, if they even notice. Cameras need to be in full focus, liberal news needs to share what the right leaning media will hide from their public. Along with the Many obvious lists of dementia symptoms & possible diagnosis from the actual experts! Republicans have aging parents, too. Usually with lax Red state Healthcare to help...
Right. Any of us who have been around the symptoms, and I think that's a lot of us on all parts of the political landscape, will recognize the various traits. If only a small percentage of his former voters become alarmed, maybe they'll at least sit out the election.
Thank you (and the others who signed the document you cite) for your courage and thoroughness in summarizing all of this. Those of us who don't watch the rallies or speeches or read them, other than as passing references in the mainstream press - and all too rarely there - are able to parse together this clinical picture. When he was president, I did read the mainstream press, and was shocked at how each would edit his words so they made sense. I wondered then why they were doing that. In your post today, I also appreciate your reflection: "One day, in silence, in my garden, I felt the Universe, God, the Force, whatever you want to call it, communicate with me."
ALL LAME-STREAM MEDIA IS CORRUPT.
Thank you for a very helpful and detailed coverage of an important issue. Sad that the mainstream media is so terrified of actually committing journalism that they won't ever consider covering the issue.
This likely helps explain why he is so terrified of a debate. Having to be on stage side-by-side with Prez. Biden would make it blindingly obvious to everyone watching just who the doddering "old man" was . . .
“actually committing journalism” is a great way to say it! It’s sad that we can’t depend upon the media to tell the whole truth! If it weren’t for Substack writers I’d be lost!
ALL LAME-STREAM MEDIA IS CORRUPT.
"..the mainstream media is so afraid of commiting journalism that they won't even consider covering the issue.".
Is the best description of the situation I've heard.
Excellent article and one that should be shared on all platforms. The American people need to know these warning signs.
"If you can’t trust doctors, when we’re talking about a medical condition, then who can you trust?" This is yet another reason why Republicans have been anti-science. I'm also old enough to remember Ronald Reagan's second term where he appeared less and less often in public. It was later learned that he had dementia and others were actually running the country.
This made me think of the second Reagan term as well. I don't think he was as far along in his decline as Trump clearly is, but he definitely had better handlers and he didn't start out as a narcissist, which makes Trump very dangerous indeed.
I think his acting training helped him cope better. He could deliver his lines and his handlers could get him out of the room before any questions started.
Thank you for being so clear with this important information. Some of us knew and saw the deterioration but did not have the professional, clinical words to talk about what we were seeing.
He also misidentified E. Jean Carroll as his former wife and stays up all hours of the night posting on his fake twitter account. His makeup application lately has been especially egregious, reminding me of my 96 year old grandmother applying too much “rouge” and thinking it is beautiful.
These indicate sundowning, or maybe abusing some types of stimulants like Adderall. Some think he is using Ozempic to lose weight and this may be causing his dementia like symptoms, but that seems to be a cop out to me. I truly believe the signers of this document are precisely on point.
The make-up! Where is that coming from?? Ever since his trials have begun, the makeup is like that “96 year old aunt” you mentioned. I didn’t understand why his “people” didn’t “fix it for him” but then remembered it’s Trump. No one can tell him anything - so they don’t cross him.
Trying to fix my relative's make-up, clothing or check hearing aids meant getting slapped really hard.
I'm waiting for him to add lipstick to his routine.
Yep!! Girdle…check, hair extensions…check, shoe lifts….check, foundation makeup….check, lipstick!!!! which color goes with orange?
This is one of the most terrifying articles I have ever read, it made my blood run cold. Dementia is awful, but a demented TRUMP in the WH would be a disaster for our country.
Thanks to the 25th Amendment, Trump's VP pick may prove to be historic.
That frightens me as well.
It will be someone handpicked by the Heritage Foundation and The Federalist Society, someone who will aid them in the suspension of the Constitution and destruction of democracy, to be replaced by an authoritarian oligarchy.
A hand picked non elected President,answering to his handlers only ! That is a frightening scenario, but a very possible one! The traitors in Congress will be tripping over each other to sign up for their slice of the new American Corporate Governance!
That's what they're doing now with violating the Court's Gag Orders for Trump by dressing like him and mouthing off in front of the building. Little Trumpian Clones.
Thank you! Many of us who've paid attention to this man have noticed these changes but did not have the medical expertise to define it. I do not believe Trump will be re-elected due to many other factors but he's too close to the oval office. It's likely to be a nail-biter election and there's much foul play afoot to cause confusion and mistrust.
I think he won't be elected. He's going to get worse and only his cult will vote for him. He'll lose the people who aren't blinded.
Plus he's responsible for Dobbs and that is going to cut into quite a lot of votes.
A lot of families have used or will need to use IVF and then there are the women who have pregnancies go bad. That whole mishegoss is going to sink not only trump (who's proud of what he's done) but a lot of other Republicans as well.
Two words - women and anamnesis.
I just hope you’re right that it’s enough to keep Pres. Biden in, and L’enfant Orange out, of office.
I really hope you are right. But I don’t mind admitting that he scares me. Anyone who openly says he admires dictators scares me.
My dad was in the oil industry and I grew up under a dictator, in Venezuela, in the 1950s. We do NOT want that here!
I hope I'm right as well! :D
The people that think they want him as a dictator are not factoring in what it really is to live under a dictator. They will not be safe.
Personally, I ran out of nails some time ago.😬
I noticed that Trump's only general public-facing presentations, (not his MAGA-loving rallies,) seem to be highly edited videos.
I wonder if he'll functionally collapse, and then all ANYBODY will see of him will be highly edited videos from Mar-a-lago.
Where's Waldo???
Wouldn't they just use AI to make images of him and giving speeches? I'm not an expect by any means of this technology but could they use it to fool his foolish supporters into thinking he is ok? I'm sure if this were possible, they have people to implement this. Scary........
I've considered this as well. I'm concerned AI videos will play a disturbing part this election cycle.
Frighteningly I think you might be right about that possibility. What a world of illusion and mistrust and resultant chaos and division we seem to be upon the brink.
He loved his rallies, but his people have realized that he can't keep it together for them.
But they may try switching to afternoon rallies while he's still fresh as the campaign gets going.