Trump’s Debate Performance Matches Symptoms of Early-Onset Dementia
At the risk of joining all the tinfoil-hatted, swivel-eyed loons who focus on minutia to try to long-distance diagnose this year’s candidates, I think maybe we might want to wonder if Trump is starting to suffer from dementia.
If you’ve ever had an older family member “start to slip,” and then gradually become more and more unamangeable, well, read on.
Here are the warning signs of early-onset dementia, as mapped against the persistent characteristics that Trump has been exhibiting over the past year, and that are starting to peak as he comes under increased stress. And yes, stress, in its physical, psychological, intellectual and emotional forms, is an absolute trigger for worsening the progression of this disease.
- Being repetitive. Repetition is common in dementia because of memory loss and general behavioral changes. The person may repeat daily tasks, such as shaving, or they may collect items obsessively. They also may repeat the same questions in a conversation after they’ve been answered.
- Changes in mood. A change in mood is also common with dementia. If you have dementia, it isn’t always easy to recognize this in yourself, but you may notice this change in someone else. Depression, for instance, is typical of early dementia.
- Struggling to adapt to change. For someone in the early stages of dementia, the experience can cause fear. Suddenly, they can’t remember people they know or follow what others are saying. They can’t remember why they went to the store, and they get lost on the way home. Because of this, they might crave routine and be afraid to try new experiences. Difficulty adapting to change is also a typical symptom of early dementia.
- Difficulty finding the right words. Another early symptom of dementia is struggling to communicate thoughts. A person with dementia may have difficulty explaining something or finding the right words to express themselves. Having a conversation with a person who has dementia can be difficult, and it may take longer than usual to conclude.
- Difficulty following storylines. Difficulty following storylines may occur due to early dementia. This is a classic early symptom. Just as finding and using the right words becomes difficult, people with dementia sometimes forget the meanings of words they hear or struggle to follow along with conversations or TV programs.
Here’s what made me think this might be what is going on with Trump:
- Repetition: One of the hallmarks of Trump's speeches are that he says the same words over and over again. "Wrong. Wrong. Wrong." Or "I have much better question judgment than she does. There’s no question about that. I also have a much better temperament that she has, you know? You know, I have a much better -- she spent -- let me tell you..."
- Mood: Look at how he flies off the handle at unpredictable times. Trump gets a little pinprick, and he just loses his shit. For that, look at his behavior with the Khan family, or on Twitter, or during the 2nd half of the debate, or ... well, just about everywhere. This is a really strong indicator that the governor in his head is no longer functioning.
- Change: Not just pissed because the country's changing - although that does describe basically Trump's appeal to his core voting bloc, who are also entering dementia - but his inability to maintain a coherent train of thought. "You don’t know how broke into DNC? But what did we learn with DNC? We learn that Bernie Sanders was taken advantage of by your people, by Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Look what happened to her. But Bernie Sanders was taken advantage of. That’s what it was. Now, whether that was Russia, whether that was China, whether it was another country, we don't know because the truth is under President Obama, we've lost control of things that we used to have control over. We came in with the Internet. We came up with the Internet. And I think Secretary Clinton and myself would agree very much when you look at what ISIS is doing with the Internet, they’re beating us at our own game. ISIS. So we had to get very very tough on cyber and cyber warfare. It is a huge problem. I have a son -- he’s ten years old. He has computers. He is so good with these computers. It’s unbelievable."
- Finding right words: Bigly. Big out the pharma industry. Pick your word salad favorites.
- Difficulty with storylines: Here's what he said about his position on Iraq, "The record shows that I am right. When I did an interview with Howard Stern, very likely first time anyone has asked me that, I said very lightly I don't know maybe who knows. Essentially. I then did an interview with Neil Cavuto. We talked about the economy as more important. I then spoke to Sean Hannity which everyone refuses to call Sean Hannity. I had numerous conversation with Sean Hannity at Fox. And Sean Hannity said, and he called me the other day. And I spoke to him about it. He said you were totally against the war because he was for the war."
Dementia is a progressive disease.
And as the triggers for it continue - as the pressure ramps up in the next month - look for these characteristics (and for the other ones on the HealthLine page that I didn’t list, because this post is already too long) to manifest themselves with greater frequency and intensity.
Trump’s brain - such as it is - is under assault. He’s tired, this isn’t fun any more, everyone’s always yelling at him, he can’t keep things straight, and then something triggers his angry response, and WHOA NELLY!
Just look for this in the next debate.
And now, you may dismiss me as one of these: