What's-his-name

[cactuswatcher]

Trump's performance the last few days has been bewildering enough, that I think others ought to be considering what I've said before: Donald Trump seems to have a form of non-Alzheimer's dementia. He's really not all there anymore, but can act reasonably well, enough of the time, that the people closest to him don't know it. I'm sure he was opinionated his whole life, but he just can't make or understand a rational argument anymore. Someone else wrote his speech from Monday and convinced him to give it publicly. He seemed like he was trying to internalize what he was saying, but just couldn't do it. Yesterday he was back to the rubbish from the weekend, with no comprehension that a bunch of fascists were invading a university campus just hoping to cause enough trouble to get themselves on the news.

I know what Trump was trying to say, and can appreciate it. The problem is he is no longer capable of formulating that kind of argument and that makes what he was trying to say Tuesday sound like nothing but sympathizing with nut jobs. He is no longer capable of understanding that line of argument doesn't fit the situation at the University of Virginia anyway.

It's horrifying to see otherwise well-meaning people project their beliefs onto Trump and loudly proclaim he's doing a fine job. It's no better hearing more realistic thinking people who like Trump where he is, because they know, and are happy as can be, that the government is crippled with him as President. Trump should be in assisted living not in the White House.

Comments

[atpo_onm]

I think for the first time, many Republican members of congress are becoming genuinely nervous-- not just cautious, mind you, as in "What do we do when he says the next wacky, off-the-cuff remark that makes us look foolish when we try to support him", but "What if he really is mentally ill? What if if these last months of behavior aren't just due to a gross lack of experience combined with severe eccentricity?"

I wasn't sure this article from back in April was still on-line, but the link still worked when I just tested it. It's a variant on what you were saying, although at the time the author was mostly considering a set of personality traits as opposed to actual mental illness. Certainly in either interpretation, much of what he wrote seems to ring true.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-the-problem-of-militant-ignorance

One short excerpt:

What is endearing, terrifying and hilarious about Trump is not simply his ignorance, really his militant ignorance, but his complete lack of self-awareness about his ignorance. Trump told a reporter for The Wall Street Journal that his understanding of the problem of North Korea changed dramatically after hearing ten minutes of history from the President of China. Needless to say, Trump didn’t need to admit this. But neither was it candor.

So far the Trump Presidency has been a sort of Mr Magoo performance art in which the comically ignorant Trump learns elemental or basic things that virtually everyone in the world of politics or government already knew – things that the majority of adults probably know. Health Care: “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” North Korea: “I felt pretty strongly that they had tremendous power. But it’s not what you think.” There are perhaps half a dozen examples equally stark.