There are ten days until November 5th, millions of Americans have already cast their ballots, and finally–finally–the media has begun to focus on the fact that a major-party candidate for President is bat-shit crazy.
Do MAGA voters even care? Or does their hatred of “those people” [fill in the minority of your choice] outweigh the very real prospects of domestic autocracy and potentially, World War III? Do they even understand that Trump’s mental breakdown means they are actually voting for a JD Vance presidency?
Google “Trump’s mental breakdown” or something similar, and Google obliges with numerous hits. Even the New York Times, which has been inexplicably unwilling to hold Trump to the same standards they applied to Biden, has noted the evidence. Under the headline “Trump’s Speeches, Increasingly Angry and Rambling, Reignite the Question of Age,” the Times noted Trump’s age and the fact that
the 78-year-old former president’s speeches have grown darker, harsher, longer, angrier, less focused, more profane and increasingly fixated on the past, according to a review of his public appearances over the years.
Other outlets have been less restrained. The Boston Globe addressed the seeming reluctance to call a lunatic a lunatic:
We can see the decline in the former president’s ability to hold a train of thought, speak coherently, or demonstrate a command of the English language, to say nothing of policy. So why are Republicans and the press holding Trump to a different standard than Biden?…
President Biden, after struggling with his answers during a June debate with Trump, ended his bid for a second term in July. That decision came after Democrats publicly voiced concern about Biden’s cognitive fitness and the press pursued the controversy breathlessly for weeks. Editorial boards, including the Globe’s, had even urged Biden to step aside.
Yet neither the media nor Republicans have shown that kind of urgency as Trump has repeatedly shown himself to be, to put it kindly, unwell. That is not only unfair and irresponsible, it is dangerous for the future of our country.
Forbes —hardly a Left-wing publication–has also weighed in, noting that
In interviews and speeches that have grown progressively longer during his third White House campaign, Trump often leaps back and forth from one topic to the next, appears increasingly unhinged, and mixes up and mispronounces words.
The article went on to catalog the reasons for concluding that Trump’s senility has become too obvious to ignore. And the New Republic–which is Left of center–recently noted that efforts to normalize what is decidedly not normal have finally given way to concerns over Trump’s very obvious mental incapacities.
Newsweek has also covered Trump’s decline. The article quoted Trump’s niece and fierce critic, Mary Trump, a psychologist by training, who pointed out that her uncle is “the oldest person in American history ever to run for the presidency,” and that “he can’t pronounce words or stay on topic,” and “engages in a worrisome degree of tangential thinking.” Huffpost ran a similar critique by an unrelated mental health expert,. who warned that Trump’s “diminishing cognitive ability can’t be ignored.”
“There’s reasonable evidence suggestive of forms of dementia,” clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis told the website. “The reduction in complexity of sentences and vocabulary does lead you to a certain picture of cognitive diminishment.”
There’s much more, but the relative recency of these articles is unnerving, because rational observers have noted his mental issues–including an inability to engage in complex thought or analysis– for far longer. Yet the same media that hounded a much more mentally-competent Joe Biden out of the race basically engaged in what has been aptly called “sane-washing.”
As a September article from Mother Jones put it:
In recent days, I came across what seems to be a new term to describe much media treatment of Donald Trump: “sane-washing.” This is similar to the more common phrase “normalization,” but it extends beyond what we’ve seen for years—the media reporting on Trump as if he is a regular politician who operates within the conventional bounds of political spin and human actions—to covering up (or sidestepping or downplaying) Trump’s apparent cognitive flaws.
Among other examples, the article cited Trump’s claim that schools are providing sex change operations to children without their parents’ consent. Direct quote: “Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, ‘Jimmy, I love you so much. Go have a good day in school.’ And your son comes back with a brutal operation. Can you even imagine this? What the hell is wrong with our country?”
What is wrong with our country is the prospect that this lunatic will get millions of votes.
Professor-many of my friends are Republicans, but they are the Republicans whose party left them. Truly, I believe that when they vote, they will reluctantly vote for VPOTUS Harris and, she will win….not necessarily in a landslide, but a solid victory. They will vote for VPOTUS Harris because their country is more important than a vote for a person who claims to be a Republican , but is far from that. I do not want former POTUS Trump to be murdered, or even go to prison. I just want him to go away. I might be your most naive friend, Professor, but I am truly confident that VPOTUS Harris is my next President.
It is far past time to call things by their right names. I recall a line from the Nixon years: “In your guts, you know he is nuts”
The Republicans that matter—tho se in the Senate and a handful in the House that aren’t equally as bat shit crazy as TFG— won’t call him out because their only real interest is maintaining their positions. Their powerlust is first and foremost, and he is the means to their ends.
Another side of the coin (who knew a coin could have so many sides?) is that his mental capacity is of no concern to those running the show, and I’ve stated this before: all that’s needed is to get him elected and inaugurated, then the dark forces behind P-2025 and their good, obedient little soldier, JD, will take it from there (and with full support from the trump kids and their spouses, who are every bit as transactional as their old man).
A side note: I thought early voting would be relatively quick when I went to the site at Cool Creek Park in Westfield yesterday afternoon. I and my husband stood in line for two hours—TWO HOURS! There were many people directing traffic and parking, like it was $2 Tuesday at the State Fair. A poll worker said it was the same the day before. Considering how many “Blue” signs I’ve seen posted in various yards in my area, I found the turnout encouraging, especially considering Indiana’s history as a low-turnout state. Hopefully, this phenomenon is occurring statewide. 🤞
Terrific piece by Ms. Kennedy! As a former Hoosier who considered moving back to my home state for retirement, until hearing some of its politicians, it is encouraging that residents like Ms. Kennedy are there to enlighten the public through their writing. Brava!
I’m “Bat SHIT” scared for our nation. !
One of the quotes said that Trump was the oldest person to run for POTUS, but Biden made that claim. #GenocideJoe even won a primary and was completely unfit at that time, yet they received millions of votes from Democrats. I guess both sides of the political aisle are lunatics. 😉
And there is a pretty funny video of the media lying and covering for Joe’s cognitive decline, all clamoring, “President Biden is sharp as a tack!”
Those same media outlets stopped covering for Joe after the horrendous debate with Trump.
On the other hand, Trump failed miserably in their debate against Kamala. Even sycophantic Lindsey Graham said he was worried about Trump’s disastrous performance. The media is reluctantly reversing their course about Trump’s mental capacity. Do you think the right-wingers will care?
Of course, they won’t. They’ll see it as another attack by the “deep state-owned media.”
I saw a lengthy post on FB shared by a relatively sane female supporter of Trump, and it was all about George Soros’s connection to all things media and the Democratic Party. Although no credit was given, the only person so obsessed with Soros is Glenn Beck. How Glenn can lament about Soros while ignoring Koch causes him to lose all credibility. Do you think his loyal supporters care?
From what I’ve heard on social media from both sides of the aisle, the reason for the early voting is people are concerned about the potential for violence on Election Day. I’m too curious to vote early. I want to see what happens on the first Tuesday in November. 😉
I’m sorry, Sheila, but there are hundreds of millions of ignorant people in this world—maybe more. Some people are educated with four years of college and are still ignorant of how the world functions because their learning stops upon graduation. Those who stopped learning upon graduation from high school are just lost souls entrenched in their gullibility.
G mornin, today our guest is president by appointment,j.d. vance. since the president elect has gone into a steep mental decline and passed the torch via congress to j.d.vance… then i woke up screaming…. seriously, this isnt something to laugh at…trumps speeches always seem to just talk down to anyone. no graphics to a real issue or need. just a demeaning barking of cheap retoric and BS. yea, hes from NYC but they threw his tired ass out. half the country sees his talk somehow to be encouraging? only if your standing for tax breaks and living in America for free,after you used the system to benefit your bottom line. the rest, define him as themselves. catch 22 anyone?
the talk of inflation, and better under trump? the demos have tried repeatedly to tax the mega profits and greed, (and slow down or halt)since covid ,to be blocked by republicans to sans any attempt to draw a win for the left. Biden has a plan, johnsons congress has stalled that attempt. while trump uses it in his daily lies..(as the sheep follow judas to the slaughter..)
“The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” by Brandy Lee, M.D., M. div. published what now seems like a lifetime ago, the case for his mental illness was clearly spelled out. At the time, various people raised the issue of the “Goldwater Rule,” as none of the M.H. professionals who contributed tot the book had actually interviewed Trump. Now, that perspective is being questioned, as his “Case” has become so much worse, and so much more obvious. Dementia is, clearly a different diagnosis than a personality disorder, but it creates an obvious layer of a further break from reality.
I’m not going to tempt fate and say what I’m hoping for. I’m going to say a word about tfg’s speech last night. He opined that the world sees us as a garbage dump. He also said that the US is a stupid country. If he wins, both will be true.
Even when Biden’s cognitive issues became abundantly apparent, I still would have voted for him. The alternative was just too awful to consider. In fact, I’m not sure the reason for Dems turning on Biden was as much about his cognitive problems as much as it was the prospect that he could lose the election (because of his cognitive problems).
I don’t think it’s different for the MAGA crowd – except Trump doesn’t seem to be in too much danger of losing the election over the issue. And one of the problems with a “cult of personality” is that they invariably clear the bench of any competition. If not Trump, who?
I hate to make an apples-to-apples comparison, because that’s not the case. But I do think if we are being honest, we understand why the MAGA crowd would vote for someone who has obvious cognitive issues at this point.
Will enough of trump’s minions and sycophants finally hit the wall regarding the danger their messiah represents? That is the question, and I just hope that ithe answer is yes, adding to what I believe to be a blue wave a’comin’. See Michael Moore today for a healthy dose of sunshine.
I want to apply a word rarely associated with Trump and Vance.
They are both needy for the same reason: they came from dysfunctional families, and to quote an oldy but goody, apples don’t fall far from their trees.
They are both very high-maintenance, requiring constant attention and adoration. Do we ever enjoy a day without being interrupted by one or both?
What’s impressive is that Trump has had nothing to do for the last four years except play golf and demand attention, and Kamala caught up with him in two months. Walz caught up with Vance in less time. The only reason that Reds are in the running at all is arcane rules dangled in front of slave states to get them to ratify the Constitution so there would be the United States.
We geezers are wrestling with what we’ve always known: humans don’t age well. We decline. Some rapidly.
So we have a pair of needy people who come from dysfunctional families who have been parading themselves in front of us because the only thing Trump can do anymore is play golf, and they have been lapped in two months. We got this.
These posts and comments get more laughable by the day. The media can’t tell the left the TRUTH because they will come unhinged…. they gotta keep you hangin on.. If you believe Kamala is going to win, I almost feel sorry for you. She can’t even answer the WHY questions and she still claims Joe is cognitively able.
BTW – they forced Ole Joe out and he hates Kamala- his wife probably hates her more.
If K loses, J gets to keep at least some credibility from his presidency.
Well..
I’ve been told Trump is a fascist. A racist. A con man. A reincarnation of Hitler. A malignant narcissist. A rapist.
Yet,,,, for decades, Trump was a friend to the Bill and Hillary Clinton. This is not speculative,there’s plenty of photographic evidence,etc.
Why would they befriend such a man?
Moreover, it has been just barely a week since Chuck Schumer sat next to the rapist,con man,Hitler redux,fascist and Russian agent.
Schumer,whilst sitting next to the aforementioned miscreant is seen enthusiastically laughing at said miscreants jokes. How can that be?
Kayfabe.
mic drop
Becky and Ian. Both ridiculous. Literally. Deserving of ridicule. As unhinged and delusional as Trump himself.
The ballots are all printed! Your Choices are:
Trump
Harris
Stein
and depending on location one or more other names
Stein has said publicly that she continues to campaign to teach the Democrats a lesson. None of the others is going to register more than a blip.
That leaves Trump and Harris as the only potential winners. Now consider:
Trump is promising to visit retribution against all of his opponents.
Harris has promised govern for the benefit of everybody, even her opponents.
If we want to Make America Great Again, then there is only one logical choice in this election: VOTE FOR HARRIS, AND BLUE DOWN THE BALLOT!!!!!
Becky and Ian deserve our pity but not our respect.
Continue to work to GOTV. It is the most important election we as a nation have faced since 1860.
Working the early polls down in the Indiana toe – long lines at the start of each day that usually last without break until the polls close. One day it took over 1.5 hours to clear out those in line when the polls closed. Of course we don’t necessarily know how people will vote, but of people asking how to vote a straight ticket, the “I just want to vote for Trump” folks outnumbered the “I just want to vote straight Democratic” by 2 to 1. Note the difference in phrasing. It’s a small number of voters, but I thought it notable.
As I have written, here, numerous times:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mental-health-professionals-donald-trump-letter_n_671b5e66e4b00589e7dca555
It is about time this gets wide distribution!
Delusional? Actually,I’m voting Dem down ticket with the exception of Harris. I’ll vote for Stein,leave it blank or write-in Jimmy Dore.
I know the good Germans here at the forum just absolutely hate this…But, it’s my vote. You don’t have to like my choice(s) but you must accept that it’s mine to make. That’s democracy. That little thing y’all keep mentioning you wish to preserve.
Mic drop
I do agree with Becky on one thing; some of you work tirelessly to embarras yourselves
Have a nice weekend!