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If you spend a lot of time with men entering dementia, it's pretty clear they're two sides of the same coin. Some old men shuffle quietly around, mumble unclear platitudes, and try to be unobtrusive and confusing enough that no one can figure out that they have no idea what is going on. Others get angry, yell, insist that they know what is going on; this works as a coping mechanism because eventually the rest of the family or the people at the nursing home realize that there's no point arguing it'll just upset grandpa more so let's just agree and then we'll figure it out once he's out of earshot.
Both are extremely problematic behaviors in the white house.
I know we sniped back and forth on the topic of the war so I am trying to think of a way to broach this topic in a somewhat non-confrontational way and I'm struggling.
Thinking Trump is in any way immersed in dementia is just tremendously non-credible.
As contrast consider Biden - he was basically hidden from the American people with an aggressive support by all levels of institutions and the press corp to minimize his symptoms. His last primary care note was also extremely concerning. He also barely worked.
Trump has everyone breathing down his neck, is constantly making himself publicly available in a variety of ways, is working a tremendously grueling schedule, and has had leaks of him going about his social life in his usual way.
He may not be the man he was ten years ago, but he's working harder and functioning better than a lot of men half his age. The stress may or may not be getting to him, where it may or may not have been before, but he ain't demented.
The vast majority of 80 year olds suffer from significant memory impairment. This isn't ground breaking news.
Simple way to keep this polite:
If Trump, as Commander in Chief with apparently sole authority to start a war and draft the strategy thereof, starts a war of choice against Iran and Iran ends up controlling better than a tenth of world oil transit in the peace deal, can we consider that simple evidence of cognitive impairment?
Doing things you don't like isn't evidence of cognitive impairment.
Running an incredibly demanding schedule is evidence of no cognitive impairment.
Either way - age related decline in cognition is not dementia.
So we're in agreement that there's age related cognitive decline, but you're correcting my use of the technical medical term in a casual way?
And to be clear, how do we judge a President's mental abilities if not by their fruits?
Major neuro-cognitive disorders (of which "dementia" is an example) are true pathology. They are generally irreversible, progressive, and ultimately life limiting (if something else doesn't get there first).
When someone says "dementia" it evokes the imagery of a dying grandma who can't remember who her kids are, or as you note other ways in which most people have seen family in their life decline.
Trump has probably lost a step and experienced a decline from his functioning ten years ago in a very normal way. It may be tempting to label this as "fine it is an exaggeration" but these are severely different categories. Your uncle Phillip who used to be razor sharp and stumbles over his words sometimes is not the dying grandma.
This is especially important because of what happened with Biden, who by all accounts is actually for real demented and wasn't fit to hold the job, vs. someone who is fit to hold the job in the sense that some people are unhappy with what he is doing and other people are happy. The dementia accusations are a lying TDS slur.
You can hate Trump and his plans without biting on the misinformation and idiocy.
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It's not obvious to me that this would be a worse outcome than them deploying nuclear ballistic missiles.
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