What about Trump’s dementia?
The media should be reporting on his growing paranoia, persecution complex, and cognitive impairment
Friends,
On Saturday, during a campaign speech in Durham, New Hampshire, Donald Trump invoked Vladimir Putin (of all people) as proof that he’s being persecuted:
“Putin says that Biden’s — and this is a quote — politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia, because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.”
Some commentators see this and other Trump assertions about being persecuted as calculated efforts to fuel his base.
But what if Trump really thinks he’s being persecuted? What if he has a persecution complex? What if he believes his paranoid fantasies?
Trump is not facing nearly the same scrutiny for his age as is Joe Biden, yet Trump should be — especially as to increasing signs of dementia.
Biden is sane. He’s getting major bills passed. He’s negotiating with world leaders.
But Trump — who has a family history of dementia — is increasingly incoherent and unhinged.
He has confused Biden with Obama so often that he’s had to put out a statement that the slips have been intentional.
In September, Trump suggested that the way to prevent wildfires in California’s forest lands is to keep them damp. Here are his exact words:
“They say that there’s so much water up north that I want to have the overflow areas go into your forests and dampen your forests, because if you dampen your forests you're not gonna have these forest fires that are burning at levels that nobody’s ever seen.”
Hello?
He also said that under his administration, shoplifters would be subject to extrajudicial execution.
“We will immediately stop all the pillaging and theft. Very simply, if you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store.”
In October, Trump warned his supporters that Biden will lead America into World War Two.
He has also claimed that Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group, is “very smart.” That whales are being killed by windmills. That he won all 50 states in 2020. That he defeated Barack Obama in 2016. That the outgoing chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be executed. That MSNBC’s parent company is guilty of treason, and will “pay.” And that he will only be a dictator on “Day 1” of a new term.
The most telling evidence of Trump’s growing dementia is found in his paranoid thirst for revenge, on which he is now centering his entire campaign.
On November 11, he pledged to a crowd of supporters in Claremont, New Hampshire, that:
“We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections and will do anything possible — they’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American dream.”
Are these the words of a sane person? Or of an aging paranoid megalomaniac? Even if it’s unclear to which category Trump belongs, shouldn’t this question be central to the coverage of his campaign for reelection?
When I’ve asked members of the media why they’re not covering the increasing signs of Trump’s dementia, they say it’s “old news.”
After all, back in 2017, 27 psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals concluded in The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump that Trump’s mental health posed a “clear and present danger” to the nation.
Members of Trump’s own Cabinet — horrified by the January 6, 2021, violence at the Capitol and Trump's lack of urgency in stopping it — discussed whether to invoke the the 25th Amendment to remove him from office due to mental incompetence.
But just because Trump has shown mental instability in the past doesn’t make his mental problems any less relevant now that he is seeking reelection. They’re more relevant. He appears even more delusional and unhinged than before.
If Biden’s age is fair game, why aren’t Trump’s age and apparent mental decline?
Biden may appear frail at times, but he’s rational. The growing evidence of Trump’s dementia and paranoia, on the other hand, poses a potential danger to the future of America — if he’s reelected. At the least, the media should be investigating and reporting on it.
Mr. Reich,
I thought this might be something worth a look. John Fugelsang interviewed Andy Norman on his podcast last week. Andy Norman was talking about how the human mind is susceptible to beliefs that can harm us and others because we don’t want to either take the time to verify what we hear or because we want to be a part of tribe that believes certain things even if they are not true! I entertained his website and found it very interesting and informative.
https://mentalimmunityproject.org
Before we knew about germs, our ancestors lived in constant fear of infectious diseases. Smallpox. Tuberculosis. Cholera. Typhoid. For a long time, these seemed unavoidable: a necessary part of the human condition.
Then something amazing happened. We learned about germs. We learned how to control their spread. (Wash your hands, people!) We even discovered we could teach our bodies’ immune systems how to fight off the nasty little buggers. (That’s what vaccines do.) The science of immunology transformed the human condition, saving hundreds of millions – perhaps billions – of lives, and spared humanity untold suffering.
We’re ALL susceptible to mind-infections, and neither intelligence nor education can make you immune. The good news? We can all take steps to reduce our susceptibility. The trick is to keep your mind’s immune system functioning well. This means thinking about your thinking.
The body’s immune system is activated, of course, by germs; the mind’s counterpart is activated by information that conflicts with existing beliefs. Healthy mental immune systems manage such conflict in a particular way: a calm, reflective way that promotes learning, adaptability, and growth. They listen to doubts, consider reasons, seek objective touchstones, and adjust beliefs accordingly.
Digital connectivity made our computers vulnerable to distant hackers. It also networked our minds, exposing them to mind-bugs for which we lack immunity. The following principles will help you care for your mind’s immune system. Put them to work and they’ll protect you from infectious and manipulative information…
You may have heard someone say they have a “right to believe what they want” or that they’re “entitled to their opinion.” Maybe you’ve said it yourself. Legally, this is true: in a free society, we have the right to our beliefs. But as Eleanor Roosevelt reminded us, “With freedom comes responsibility.”
Our beliefs drive our behaviors and inform our decisions. Holding false beliefs can cause us to act in ways that cause harm. For example, a parent who believes in homeopathy may deprive their child of life-saving cancer treatment. Believe you can drive drunk and you might very well harm yourself or others. Our beliefs not only impact us, they can impact those around us, either directly or indirectly. Therefore, we have an obligation to believe responsibly, and to identify and shed problematic beliefs.
What if we could solve today’s “infodemic” problem the same way? Why not afford our minds the same protections we afford our bodies? What if we helped everyone boost their immunity to “viral” misinformation? Imagine the world we could build if mis and disinformation weren’t constantly warping our worldviews and setting us at odds!
Mental immune deficiencies occur when the mind fails to generate the antibodies – doubts, reservations, objections, etc – needed to fend off problematic ideas. If you’re too trusting or gullible, bad information tends to get past your filters.
Mental autoimmunity occurs when the mind’s defenses attack good information, perhaps because it threatens our identity. The mind’s security team, in other words, can become overzealous.
As the saying goes, we want to keep an open mind…but not so open our brains fall out. We can be too gullible AND we can be too critical for our own good. Those with healthy mental immune systems strike a balance.
These are some of the points brought by
Andy Norman
author of “Mental Immunity” and CEO of
mentalimmunityproject.org And his team
Mental health professionals have been warning us from the start that he is unfit for office- afflicted by malignant narcissistic personality disorder which in actuality. is composed of: narcissism,sociopathy,paranoia,and sadism.He suffers from the same disorder as Hitler and Mussolini and as such poses a clear and present danger to all of us and to the country.