Warning: possibly lifeless horse flogging to commence in this comment.

Responding to a question from MsJ about the whole “Trump is demented-no, seriously, as in medically demented” — about whether I’ve done a compare/contrast between Trump in his 80s/90s heyday, and Trump now … yes I have. (Text of reply to MsJ’s polite and very thoughtful question copied below)

Going back to the - admittedly limited - archive of things from the 80s, he showed no signs of the volatility, repetition and meandering that now mark his public appearances.

Then again, most of his video appearances from that epoch were scripted.

Then again again, most of his appearances these days are scripted as well. He just lacks the self-control to stick to the script.

Oprah Winfrey Interviews Donald Trump in 1988

Check out the faster pace of his sentences. And yeah, he jumps from subject to subject, but there *is* a throughline there, and the sentences come out in an order that has a beginning-middle-end. Nothing there about a 10-year-old kid who is great with his Apple IIc, or a 400-lb person on a bed, or Rosie O’Donnell (or the 80s equivalent, which would be Ruth Buzzi).