The other day, I wrote here about a weird story that concerned Trump going on a bizarre social media rant about Jimmy Kimmel hosting the Oscars. It was bizarre for many reasons. One was that the former president, facing four indictments, running for the White House again, was writing about the Academy Awards. Another was that the Oscars had been held five weeks earlier. Also, that he was ranting about something related to the Oscars that had bothered him so much that it was building up angst inside him for five weeks and felt compelled to write about it all of a sudden with no context to anything else. But most bizarre of all -- even more than all that -- is that Trump repeatedly confused Jimmy Kimmel with Al Pacino. In case you missed Trump's rant or forgot the specifics, here it is again, because it relates to what follows. A couple days ago, amid all the hooey swirling around Trump, with his election fraud trial about to start in Manhattan, a thought about this occurred to me. It was that with all the news and headlines and four court events for Trump that week alone (the trial, the bond hearing, the gag order hearing and the start of Supreme Court oral arguments on "total immunity"), this silly, bizarre, loony rant by Trump had faded into the woodwork. It was just Trump being Trump. Trump being obsessive about Jimmy Kimmel. Trump obsessing about the Oscars. Trump getting details wrong. Trump lying. That's Trump -- and you laugh and roll your eyes and shrug and move on to the next lunacy. Business as usual with Trump. Next! Except, then I also thought -- wait, what if this was President Biden? What if President Biden made a long social media post about...the Oscars? And what if it was a rant? And what if it was personal attack on one person? And what if he lied throughout it? And... and...and...and most of all -- what if in that post he repeatedly had confused Jimmy Kimmel with Al Pacino???!!! If that happened, it wouldn't have been a laugh, a bunch of late night talk show jokes, an eye roll, shrug and move on, next! It would have been blasting headline across Fox for days -- and probably would have been notable news covered by all actual news media. And...it should have been! The President of the United States doing all that, even without repeatedly confusing Jimmy Kimmel with Al Pacino. But add in that major confusion. It would have been a huge concern even in the Democratic Party about if President Biden was losing it, losing his perspective, losing his memory, and wondering if this actually was a first step of actual early dementia. But, of course, President Biden didn't do that. Trump did. And people just laughed, rolled they eyes, did some jokes, shrugged and moved on. Next! It's just Trump being Trump. Totally normal. And so Trump gets normalized. Except -- it's not normal. The social media posting was bizarre. And was troubling for what it said about Trump. His choice of what he felt compelled to focus on and rant about while wanting to be the most powerful man in the world, in charge of U.S. security, his finger on the nuclear bomb, on the eve of four court events that very week and four indictment trials. And repeatedly confusing a TV talk show host for the past 21 years with one of America's most famous Oscar-winning actors. If you keep bringing something up lunatic from Trump's past (and there is mountains of things to bring up), even if the "past" is just a week ago, it's dismissed as "old news," and "that was long ago," and "he didn't mean it" and having "Trump Derangement Syndrome" (a weirdly used name, I might note...) An acceptance that perhaps no one else in public life, but especially in politics, and most-especially presidential politics would be graced with. Yet it's the fact that all this lunacy from the past (wind turbines cause cancer, drinking bleach may cure COVID, airports existed in the Revolutionary War and on and on and on) began long ago and had continued on for years and is getting worse that is the very point of the acceptance and normalization of Trump's growing lunacy and, now, possible early dementia. The same illness that struck his father, Fred Trump. To be clear, this social media post isn't the worst thing Trump has done. It's not in the Top Ten. It might not be in the Top 100. Which is one of the main reasons it's laughed at and ignored. And is normalized, Trump just being Trump. While for anyone else -- anyone else -- it would likely be a cause of concern. And to be clear: as much as "Trump being Trump" sounds like a perfectly standard reason to accept anyone (like them or not) for just being himself, Trump being himself is Trump being a racist, pathologically lying, anti-Semitic, obsessively insecure, malignant narcissist -- found liable by two juries for the equivalence of rape and guilty of a decade of fraud, whose charity was shut down for "a shocking pattern of illegality." But hey, it's just Trump being Trump! I completely understand that people can't hold on to every lunacy Trump throws out into the world. The steamer trunk carrying them all would be much too crushingly heavy. But the point is that it was "loony". And it was, arguably further evidence of what many psychiatrists point out are pieces of evidence of early dementia. And that's nothing that should ever be normalized. For anyone. Including the crazy guy yelling at non-existent owls as city buses pass by. But most especially for anyone running to be president of the United States. Truly, just imagine if that post had been sent by President Biden. But...it wasn't. It was sent by Trump. And laughed at, and just moved on from. Next! But while actions like this by Trump should not continually be accepted as Trump just being Trump and normalized, they should be seen (and I would suggest must be seen) as Trump showing his growingly regular signs every day of craziness and, it seems, a mental breakdown and possible early dementia. Because the man does want to be President of the United States, wants to be a dictator, wants to throw out parts of the U.S. Constitution, and is a fascist and a danger to democracy. No, Jimmy Kimmel is not Al Pacino. And it's seriously not normal for anyone to repeatedly think so.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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