Trump has dementia?

[Stonepounder]

Trump wasn’t always so linguistically challenged. What could explain the change?

It was the kind of utterance that makes professional transcribers question their career choice:
“ … there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but I can
always speak for myself — and the Russians, zero.”
When President Trump offered that response to a question at a press conference last week, it was the latest example of his tortured syntax, mid-thought changes of subject, and apparent trouble formulating complete sentences, let alone a coherent paragraph, in unscripted speech.

When President Trump offered that response to a question at a press conference last week, it was the latest example of his tortured syntax, mid-thought changes of subject, and apparent trouble formulating complete sentences, let alone a coherent paragraph, in unscripted speech.

He was not always so linguistically challenged. STAT reviewed decades of Trump’s on-air interviews and compared them to Q&A sessions since his inauguration. The differences are striking and unmistakable.

Research has shown that changes in speaking style can result from cognitive decline. STAT therefore asked experts in neurolinguistics and cognitive assessment, as well as psychologists and psychiatrists, to compare Trump’s speech from decades ago to that in 2017; they all agreed there had been a deterioration, and some said it could reflect changes in the health of Trump’s brain.

Full article at:
https://www.statnews.com/2017/05/23/donald-trump-speaking-style-interviews/

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Note: For some reason my posts are not formatting properly. Even though I included 'bolding' for the first line, since it was the headline, and tried to 'blockquite' from the article, none of it worked. I really do only have (I think) 4 paragraphs. Sorry about the formatting - or rather the lack thereof.

[uppityperson]

1. Since the last hack, those formatting things have been shut off. It's leading to odd posts

[Stonepounder]

2. Thanks. Good to know. n/t

[C Moon]

10. They turned off the HTML ability, from what I recall.

[Ilsa]

18. And I was thinking my tablet was getting

Old or was infected. Hadn't thought about the timing with the hack.

[dalton99a]

3. You know, whatever ailment he has, I have zero sympathy.

Donald Trump has no business being president. He has no business destroying our country. His family has no business profiting from it.

[SunSeeker]

4. Yes, it is pretty obvious he has deteriorated.

And he didn't have a whole lot of room to fall. He has never been erudite nor eloquent. But the deterioration has rendered him unintelligible at times, unless speaking from a teleprompter.

[Stonepounder]

5. And sometimes he is too 'exhausted' to even read correctly from the teleprompter!

At least Ronnie had the grace to just sleep and let his cabinet and Nancy run the Government. (And he understood how government as well.)

[Alice11111]

8. Yeah, it would be good if DT would sleep, but then

Ivanka would be running the government. Her role seems to be increasing as his dementia increases.

[FarPoint]

16. I don't care.....

I really don't want to let him off​ the hook due to " illness"....

[Stonepounder]

23. I wasn't thinking about 'letting him off the hook' due to illness,

I was thinking more of the 25th Amendment, Section 4:

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

[FarPoint]

24. I got ya...

I was thinking other's may drift there...

[Judi Lynn]

6. I was surprised to see it was gone, too. Hope it returns, for all our sakes. n/t

[Alice11111]

7. He has deteriated since the primaries, and again in the

last few weeks. The fact that he was a no show and Ivanka had to fill in for him in Saudi Arabia says a lot.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Booting him via 25th Amendment might cause the least pain to us, his followers, & the system.

The other investigations and prosecutions can, should, and will continue.

[MFM008]

11. That would infer

He has something in his head.

[griloco]

12. Perhaps Format has an adverse reaction to the abominable

malevolence of the word "Trump" reflected by demented presentation?

[pablo_marmol]

13. Interesting.

I once stumbled across a pair of videos comparing W's speaking -- one recorded while he was gov of Texas, the other as pres. The difference was astonishing. In his earlier years he lacked that vacant look he later became known for, and he was speaking perfectly eloquently.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Personally, I do not think he has demetia.

I do believe that he has a very limited vocabulary and even more limited intellectual ability based on his years of never reading anything and total reliance on others to tell him what exactly is going on.

For one thing, to ascribe his various gaffes or limitations to Alzheimer's or any other form of dementia is to absolve him from responsibilty for what he's said and done over the past however many months.

He knows exactly what he's doing. His limited vocabulary is more connected to his very limited reading and connection to the outside world than any limitations of his own.

In short, he does not have Alzheimer's or any other dementia. He's a man of very limited intellect and even greater limits on his connection to the real world.

The other thing that makes me angry about any Alzheimer's or similar diagnosis, is that any such diagnosis essentially gives him a free pass. It says he doesn't really know what he's saying or doing. Horse pucky. He knows exactly what he says and is doing. Do NOT let him get away with anything on the dubious notion that he has dementia.

[Chemisse]

17. We can't really pick whether he has dementia or not, based on our desire to hold him responsible.

Personally, I think he does have some degree of dementia, based on the evidence that we see from afar, but not enough to absolve him of any crimes or excuse his complete assholery.

Dementia happens along a continuum. In his case, it may make him more careless about concealing his wrongdoings, it may prevent him from keeping his personality disorders in better check; it may make it impossible for his already incurious mind to learn new information.

Early dementia is no excuse for anything he has done so far. It is a warning sign of worse to come, however. Dementia usually progresses.

[Ilsa]

19. Excellent post. And the decline could be rapid unless

he is taking medications like Namenda (memantine) or Aricept (donepezil). And based on what we hear about him sleeping very little, I doubt he is on either drug.

His family is NOT doing a thing to watch out for his health, from what I can see.

I think there is plenty he can still be held accountable for, even with a diagnosis of early dementia or alzheimers.

[pansypoo53219]

15. too much fux gnewz kills brain cells.

[yardwork]

20. Stress can cause this kind of stilted syntax and memory loss.

Who knows all the things wrong with Trump. It's certain that he is suffering from a lot of stress, though. He himself has complained that his new job is a lot more work than he expected.

All his life he's been able to order people around and bully them into giving him his way. He's a terrible businessman. All his businesses fail, but he inherited enough money to maintain the shell game and appear to be "winning."

Now for the first time he has a political position - the biggest one in the world - and he is completely unsuited for the role. The bully who always got his way is suddenly pushback he never expected. Congress won't do what he says. He even fired that FBI guy and people are complaining about that!

Personally, I think he probably does have some kind of dementia on top of everything else - personality disorders, ignorance, lack of education and intellectual curiosity - but who knows. Stress is definitely playing a role in his tortured syntax, I'm sure if that.

He is at risk for serious health events.

[Orsino]

21. Let's just say that dementia wouldn't make him a worse president.

You have to keep in mind that he is really dumb.

[genxlib]

22. I think the dementia angle it overblown

I think he is a bullshitter out of his depth.

He is used to controlling the narrative and the audience; campaign rallies, edited TV, business deals.

He no longer controls the narrative so his BS is completely transparent. It makes him sound like the unprepared idiot that he is.

He is what he always has been. He is just in the middle of a shitstorm that he can't begin to understand.