The Degenerational Divide

Watching clips from Trump's Sunday interview on "Meet the Press," one other thing stood out for me beyond just disastrous, problematic statements he's been making -- led by his "I don't know" when asked if a president needed to uphold the U.S. Constitution.  But besides the answers (which is a lot to put aside, given him obsessing with dolls and pencils and photoshopped tattoos, not to mention all the "I don't knows" and the whole upholding the Constitution thing), I was struck by how tired and old and almost bored he looked, and sounded.  And I noticed the same the next day when he was sitting with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, who kept politely, but bluntly pushing back on Trump's lies and foolish comments.

(Keep in mind that if he looks tired and old and bored now, he's only three months into his four-year term, and it's his honeymoon period.  And he'll be 82 in that fourth year.  And dementia is degenerative.)

While it's easy to think much of that perception is reading things into Trump that aren't there, it's not something I've seen as much in the past.  Though he had as many, if not more age-related and cognitive issues than President Biden, Trump always "seemed" more vibrant and Joe Biden more frail.  But what I'm seeing now appears to be very different.  And ultimately, I have to assume that the pressure of historically low poll numbers during his honeymoon period, the stress of his tariffs' impact on prices rising, the stock market plummeting, losing in court regularly, Putin not helping end the war in Ukraine, and the huge drop in MAGOP support during Special Elections all take their toll.  And that's before mentioning him having early dementia, which is degenerative, and being a month away from being 79.  It all adds up.  And the pressure of it all has to be problematic when layered on his physical and mental issues.

And up to now, there hasn't been much written about it by the press.  Trump skated through the elected with only occasional mention of his "glitches" or his dancing for a half-hour at a town hall.  All the while the press focused on President Biden's cognitive issues -- which were real, but were age related, not medical.

So, it was good to finally see the press begin writing about it in regards to his "Meet the Press" appearance.  An article in Raw Story addressed many of the press pieces, titled, "'Huge issue': Trump's new interview spurs growing calls to cover his 'cognitive decline'

Excerpts include --

His answers, the article noted, "led numerous high-profile observers to question Trump's mental capacity."

"There should be coverage of Trump’s cognitive decline. Massive coverage," former congressman Joe Walsh said. "Because it’s an issue. A huge issue."

Independent journalist Aaron Rupar said that Trump's "Meet the Press interview was just the latest illustration that dude's brain is gone."

MSNBC's Mehdi Hassan wrote, "I have a very similar piece to this coming out tomorrow, well done Public Notice for beating me to it lol. But we all need to keep the pressure on the rest of the media to focus on Trump's clear cognitive decline and nonsensical statements."

And Democratic House insider Aaron Fritschner noted the interview and several recent highly-awkward actions by Trump, including the White House reposting an AI-graphic of Trump dressed as a pope, and wrote that if any previous president had ever done all of these things, it "would have rightly caused widespread open speculation from the press and the public that something was genuinely wrong with their brain."

There's a bit more, and you can read the whole article here.

And it continued, because -- after writing this -- I watched last as night Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC dealt at length and in detail with what he said appears to be Trump's "severe neurological decline."  And how tired Trump looks.

None of these comments are evidence of anything.  Nor are they professionally damning.  But given how little Trump's cognitive failings are been referenced by the press, it actually is notable to see them all.  And, as Mr. Fritschner wrote, rightly so.

I'm sorry that, pointed and blunt as the comments were, none still have gone so far as bringing up the elephant in the room, Trump's early dementia, which is degenerative.  But any mention of his cognitive decline and that "something was genuinely wrong" with his brain" is an important starting point.