Unwoven

The other day, Trump spent 10 minutes at his rally talking about golf legend Arnold Palmer’s genitalia.  Ten minutes.  This would be have been disturbing and problematic for a presidential candidate if it had only been for two minutes.  Actually, it would have been cause of concern for a presidential candidate if it had been just one sentence.

For that matter, it would have been troubling if anyone spent 10 minutes talking about this in any public speech. But then, in truth, it would have been deeply worrying, creepy and inexplicable for anybody to do for 10 minutes at any time, anywhere, for any reason.

But there Trump was, the self-proclaimed very stable genius, onstage at a rally, talking about a golfer’s penis for 10 minutes, making its part of his case to be elected president of the United States, commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, and the most powerful man in the world, with his finger in control of nuclear bombs.  Meanwhile, MAGOPs still try to deny and ignore and deflect something as basic and brain-dead obvious as Trump even just having cognitive decline, let alone what psychologists and psychiatrists say (and write in articles and books) far transcends that and are signs of early dementia.

Willful ignorance is no virtue.  It's just Trump being Trump they cry.  Well...yes, they're right, it is.  That's exactly the problem.  And so the MAGOP eyes close shut, and the hands cover the ears, and the voices bleat  out "nah-nah-nah-nah" white noise to drown it all out.

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil has become the MAGOP playbook, as much as fascist Project 2025 is.  Ignoring all that evil, though, doesn't mean it doesn't exist -- especially when you have knowingly made it the special invited guest at your Party.

It's the “weave”!  The weave, Trump says -- clearly recognizing to himself that he keeps wandering far off subject into strange weird lands, and desperately needs to explain away that he keeps spinning off into Hannibal Lecter, windmills giving cancer, being eaten by sharks, getting electrocuted under water, solar power not working at night, immigrants eating pets, spending 39 minutes swaying and dancing on stage to music, a golf legend's genitalia for 10 minutes, and more. 

Make no mistake -- he knows.  And keeps trying to explain it off, beyond just "the weave."  Only yesterday, the 78-year-old Trump told his rally, "I'm not 80 and I'm not that close to 80."  He knows.  At the same rally, he tried to convince others and himself that all is well...and did the opposite in the attempt, insisting, "I have no cognitive. There's no cognitive problem. Got no cognitive."  He knows.

It’s not the cognitive, he tries to insist, it’s not dementia, it’s not a total inability to stay focused, it’s not “paraphasia” -- making up words that sound like the words he can’t think of that’s a sign of dementia, it's not talking junk.  It’s “the weave”.  

He knows it's not "the weave."  It's the unraveling.

But MAGOPs find themselves stuck with "the weave" as their one flim-flam, and so now others around him are picking up the phrase to try to hide the serious problem which only serves to flim-flam his most cultish minions.

Putting aside everything else for the moment – including his 39-minute Dance Party and cancelling a “60 Minutes” interview, canceling a CNBC interview, refusing a second debate and more -- talking for 10 minutes at a rally about Arnold Palmer’s penis is not “weaving.”  It’s a disturbing sign of cognitive failure at best for those who are the most blind, loyal adherents, and one more sign of early dementia for all others.

And if reading the word “penis” is uncomfortable here – and it is to just type it – imagine now a presidential candidate talking about it for 10 minutes at a rally.

That’s the deep hole MAGOPs have found themselves in, while trying to ignore the problem they’re trying to foist on the country, putting the nation at risk – a risk to join the fascism.

That’s the hole Speaker Mike Johnson was in when a guest on CNN yesterday.  Host Jake Tapper tried to discuss the issue – and yes, a presidential candidate talking about Arnold Palmer’s genitalia for 10 minutes at a rally is an issue, a significant one – and the usually composed Mike Johnson, who presents himself as so deeply pious when it’s convenient for him – was profoundly uncomfortable and kept trying to change the subject, finally burst when Tapper used that word, “penis” one more time.

“Don’t say it again.  We don't have to say it, I get it," Johnson at last spat out and then continued. "There's lines in a rally – when president Trump is at a rally, sometimes you'll speak for two straight hours. You're questioning his stamina, his mental acuity. Joe Biden couldn't do that for five minutes. That's how you we started this segment. You said, what if Biden was in a rally like that? He couldn't fill the room, Donald Trump does.”

To be clear, people give very long speeches all the time, and don’t veer off into talking about other people’s penis for 10 minutes.  And if they ever did, it worth suggesting they shouldn't talk for two hours.  Furthermore, a) Joe Biden isn’t running for president, b) one of the reasons Joe Biden isn’t running for president is that his “mental acuity” has slowed (though slowed from age, which is normal, not from dementia which is not normal), and c) Joe Biden wouldn’t talk about Arnold Palmer’s penis for 10 seconds, let alone “for five minutes” – let alone 10 minutes.  Nor would Kamala Harris.  Nor would almost anyone.  Nor would Mike Johnson.  Mike Johnson can’t even bear hearing the word!  Moreover, "room" size has nothing to do with the problem Mike Johnson is trying to ignore and deflect.  The problem is Trump spending 10 minutes at a rally talking about genitalia size.

Here's the mess of a hurdle that Speaker Mike Johnson and MAGOPs have:  if Mike Johnson couldn't handle simply being asked about Trump talking for 10 minutes about Arnold Palmer's genitalia, that by itself speaks far louder for how disturbing Trump was than if Johnson had condemned what he couldn't even talk about.

Besides, imagine his outrage if VP Kamala Harris had done it.  The sanctimonious hypocrite wouldn’t have been able to stop talking about it.  "Don't say it again" is the last thing you would have heard Mike Johnson say.

Though Johnson wouldn’t have used the word “penis.”  But he’s okay with Trump talking about it for 10 minutes in public.

(Side note:  I thought about titling this article, "Trump and His Johnson Problem", but decided that was too easy.)

And another thing Mike Johnson is okay with is Trump suffering from early dementia.  While trying to help make the fascist the president of the United States.  Commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, the most powerful man in the world, with his finger in control of nuclear bombs.

The problem for Mike Johnson, the MAGOP and (if Trump is elected) for the country – and world – is that however much you try to hide dementia and ignore it, dementia is degenerative.

As psychologist Dr. Jack Gartner, who taught at Johns Hopkins, has written and said at length about Trump, “I tell people to look at him today, because it’s the best you will ever see him.”

And people thought Trump stopping answering questions and just swaying and dancing to music for 39 minutes at a Town Hall was bad.  (It was.  Very bad.)  But at least with that you got some nice music, Ave Maria and a gay anthem.  Now imagine listening to him talk about other people's genitalia for 10 minutes!

And now, imagine it for four years.

And he will -- if not about this, then something else demented, while he sways away to music, zoning out in his own little delusional world -- because this isn't Trump at his worst.  This is as good as you will ever see him again. Because dementia is degenerative.  It will only get worse.

No, sorry, make that -- "keep getting worse."

Not just for Trump.  For everyone.

And the MAGOP is okay with this.  Which explains who the MAGOP is.  It's entirely on them.  Headed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson running interference. 

Running interference even as we now know McConnell called Trump in private "stupid," a “despicable human being" and a "narcissist" while protecting him to ensure he didn't get convicted at this second impeachment trial which would have legally ended Trump's political career, and as Johnson cries out, “Don’t say it again.  We don't have to say it, I get it." 

He does get it.  They both get it.  Anyone being honest and sentient gets it.  They just don't care.