Dem
50
GOP
50
The New York Times has come in for a lot of criticism this cycle, primarily for being a bit (or more than a bit) too willing to normalize Donald Trump. Maybe they have taken that criticism to heart, because the Gray Lady has been hitting the former president pretty hard this week.
Like anyone who follows politics, the Times is well aware of the perception that Trump has shown a significant mental decline since leaving office (and he was no great shakes even while he was IN office). Not only does he ramble and seem to lose track of his train of thought, Trump also makes a lot of serious mistakes, from confusing Iran and North Korea to confusing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Of course, anyone can make a mistake (or ten), especially when they are on camera as much as Trump is. So, the Times decided to try to put things on a more objective basis, and did a computer analysis of his speeches. Here are their findings:
All of these are potential signs of dementia, or some similar impairment. For example, the increased reliance on swear words is called disinhibition, and can reflect a loss in mental discipline and/or the use of swear words as a distractor to keep hearers from noticing a person's mental lapses. Similarly, people with dementia tend to lose short-term memory, while long-term remains intact. It is common for such a person to recall (and even to think they are in) a past era, while showing a lack of awareness for the present.
The Times talked to a number of people who know Trump well, but are no longer in his orbit, like Anthony Scaramucci, Gen. John F. Kelly (ret.) and author Ramin Setoodeh, who interviewed Trump many times for a book on The Apprentice. They are unanimous in thinking that Trump is much worse than he was 4 or 8 years ago. The various experts that the paper consulted were in agreement; they just couldn't say if it's normal aging, or if there is an underlying condition, as well.
The Trump camp, meanwhile, had two, contradictory responses. Many of Trump's underlings, such as spokesman Steven Cheung, said there's been no change, and that anyone who says otherwise is peddling fake news. Others complimented Trump on his deliberately chosen word-salad strategy, which Trump himself calls "the weave."
For our part, we believe the numbers, and we believe our own eyes and our own ears. As to what this means, should Trump become president again, we do not know. On one hand, if he becomes even more incoherent, he may struggle to do the most damaging things on his to do list. On the other hand, if he becomes even more incoherent, that may invite more capable and cunning underlings, people like Stephen Miller, to fill the void. Further, Trump is just a means to an end for many of these folks, and if they have cover to get rid of him under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, and to replace him with J.D. Vance, they just might do it. It's yet another giant wildcard, for a man that has so many of them. (Z)