Look, I’m not a psychologist. Never played one on TV, and don’t normally play one in here. But Mary Trump sure as hell is a psychologist, a board certified clinical psychologist in fact. And she has spent more time in close contact with her batsh*t crazy uncle than any other doctor in his life. And she has opined on several points I’m going to bring up tonight.
So, wadda I know? Two things. First I’ve spent nine long years living in Traitor Tot’s head, at great cost, so I can tell you how insane he is. And when you spend nine years faithfully observing somebody with the intention of chronicling it, you pick sh*t up. You’ve all been there and done that in some form in your life.
Second, in my long ago youth, about 174 years ago, I was a registered paramedic. And a part of that 9 1/2 month college training program was a little nugget called clinical time. That’s personal time you had to spend in different units of the hospital, in my case the Loyola University medical Center learning hands on. And that included 24 hours in the ER, 8 hours in the burn unit, 12 hours in the labor and delivery unit, 24 hours in the cardiac care ICU, and most importantly for our purpose, 18 hours in the psych ward. And believe me, you learn a lot of shit very quickly when you’re spending eight hours dealing with people not all that firmly tethered to reality.
And those two things are the things that I have combined together tonight to try to show you that there is no longer any doubt. Donald Trump is either in the throes of full on Alzheimer’s, or he’s sliding into the depths of senile dementia. From where I’m sitting, there is no other option. This will be a series of comparisons between the Trump of 2016 and the Trump of 2024.
The Trump of 2016 was basically a force of nature. When introduced at a rally, he strutted onto the stage like Mussolini, spine straight, shoulders thrown back, head up and chin jutting. When he got to the lectern, he pumped his fists, clapped his hands, and pointed at random members of the audience he could see under the lights. Trump literally owned the room before he ever even opened his mouth.
The Trump of 2024 shambles or shuffles out onto the stage. His back tries to be straight, his shoulders are bowed, and his head is either looking down or straight ahead, there’s no uplifted, cocky chin. Worse yet, Trump shuffles about 1/3 of the way to the stage, then stops to turn to the crowd and clap his hands, milking the applause. Then he repeats the same process at the 2/3 way to the lectern. The old insult was, This guy can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. With Trump, it seriously doesn’t appear that he trusts himself to be able to walk a straight line and clap at the same time. And he does this every time now.
The Trump of 2016 was a master showman, likely due to the training of 13 Emmy free years on The Apprentice. He had the mic set pointing high, leaning slightly to speak, and put on The Trump Show. He waved his hands almost constantly, and moved his body as his voice went up and down, leading the crowd in chants while he spoke, and contorting his body to make a point, like he did when faking convulsions while insulting a handicapped reporter who had pissed him off.
The Trump of 2024 claps his hands in front of the microphone, which is now pointed at neck level, After he finishes clapping, Trump leans forward to grasp the sides of the lectern with both hands before leaning down over the microphone to speak. And when he does, teleprompter or not, he speaks in a listless monotone, with little to no emphasis on specific words or phrases to make a point. More tellingly, when he does use his hands to make a point, he stops speaking while he raises a hand or hands to wave around, totally disjointed with the image he’s trying to portray. He literally seems incapable of doing two simple things at once.
The Trump of 2016Â was the best spontaneous, unscripted speaker I’ve seen since the late, great Robin Williams. He’d go on a 4-5 minute Carlinesque rant, only to complete it and swing seamlessly into another complete, coherent rant, then do it again. Trump had no problem whatsoever in holding his audience in a thrall for a smooth hour rally. And the best part was that every rally was different, that’s what kept people going back over and over again.
The Trump of 2024 can’t string a coherent paragraph together. If he’s on the teleprompter, he reads listlessly, like someone reciting the ingredients of a mac-n-cheese box for five minutes before wandering off the reservation, where it becomes a free-for-all. And when speaking unscripted, Trump rambles on semi-coherently for a few minutes, and then stops speaking. He literally vapor locks, his mouth slightly open, his eyes like the marbles taxidermists use for stuffed animals, while he struggles to regain his point. And when he resumes speaking, as often as not his next sentences are on a totally different topic than the one he was speaking about when he froze. And even if he’s in topic, it seems like he skipped two or three lilnes in the script. His cognitive resonance is gone.
The Trump of 2016 was loaded for bear. Whether in a primary debate or an unfriendly interview, Trump spouted his bullsh*t, and then toe-to-toe with anybody who dared to challenge them. Never forget that Li’l Marco, Lyin’ Ted and Low Energy Jeb were mostly spontaneuos barbs unleashed in the heat of the moment.
The Trump of 2024Â is almost unreachable. All of his verbal utterances are either on friendly formats such as FUX News, in rallies where he takes no questions, or disjointed racist ramblings on Bullsh*t Social. And in the few occasions where his campaign sherpas let him get too close to a reporter who asks a question that catches his interest, it’s dealers choice whether the response is even relevant to the question.
Look, I’m dead serious here. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, and by the content I hope you know that I have at least some rudimentary knowledge of the subject, and of Trump himself. Whether it’s senility, Alzheimer’s, or full blown dementia, this man is in the middle of a mental health crisis. And here’s what really sucks.
His f*cking wife knows it, his daughter knows it, his son-in-law knows it, and his two older sons know it. So do most of his close advisors on his staff and his campaign. And nobody around him is doing a f*cking thing about it. Because even if he’s as crazy as a sh*thouse rat, legally he’s still considered of sound mind and body simply because nobody has contested it yet. And Trump’s signature on a check is the fount from which all good things flow.
Which on a personal level is flat out pathetic. I never gave my daughters the monetary and status privileges that his kids have. But if I’m ever in the same situation, I would like to believe that my wife and daughters would treat me with more love, care, and compassion than the pit of vipers around Trump are doing. But then again, as callously and uncaringly as he treated all of them, why would they do anything different?
But in the real world, this is incredibly dangerous. This man is mentally incompetent to even be able to care for himself, if it weren’t for the aid of servants and aides. But there is a dedicated staff of men and women, and 46% of the American voting population that wants to give this sick f*ck access to the nuclear football again. The current political system in this country needs to get itself seriously fixed, most riki-tik.
I thank you for the privilege of your time.
All set for an Article 25 intervention.
If he wins.
Vote Trump, Get Vance!
Murf having worked in psychiatric hospitals for 15 years and with geriatric folks the last four years…you are correct. He’s declining no doubt about it. If he were a regular citizen and had to conduct the business of daily life, as the rest of us do, the family would be discussing placement in a facility or at least caregivers to assist him until it wasn’t feasible. Hard to imagine he has years left…doubt it.
The most frustrating part that I can see, is his supporters think all these things are true of our candidates. Someone, with too much money has been convincing them of these things. Many of my neighbors, besides having trump signs, have ones that say “you can’t fix stupid, but you can vote it out”. At the same time, they are not seeing what we are seeing in the man himself.
Dang, Murf, you broke my brain again. You put it out there in black and white, but the people who need to see this the most aren’t the ones reading it. I have family members who are die hard T fans, and not just can’t, but WON’T, see the writing on the walls. And it hurts to see this, with nothing I can do. That’s absolutely frightening. So I do what I can to ask people to really look at what K is offering. Now if she would stop dancing around policy issues, which is VERY frustrating, if I can open one pair of eyes, it will be worth it. Thank you for saying something in the words I didn’t have.
Dementia is a medical condition that I’m not professionally qualified to diagnose. Trump is, however, indisputably insane. That is the simple, cold fact, and commentators shouldn’t shrink from using that word.
y’all have to watch the apprentice movie this weekend. it’s a humdinger!
My mother in law is in full blown dementia. She “talks” to people through her ear (she truly believes that she is speaking to them and tries to get me to talk to them also). She puts layer after layer of clothes on top of each other. She steals. She lies. She says her doctor told her to stop eating and stop taking her medications because they are not good for her. I know what dementia looks like. Orange menace may or may not be that bad, but he’s not far from it and he’s not someone to elect to the highest office in the land!! Get out and vote against that monster!