I have an ancient memory of Fidel Castro beginning a speech to the UN General Assembly with "I will attempt to be brief and to the point." Fidel then spoke for four hours.
Lots of parallels here. Fidel started with promising intentions, and then discovered the personal joys of dictatorship.
Dan, Dan, it's "the weave", it's his dastardly clever way of interpolating a myriad of thoughts into a cohesive whole...it's just that his genius has escaped all of us bar his MAGA people, who delight and respect tRump's discursive style of speech.
Judgment about verbal "coherency" is often subjective. For example, it's often difficult to judge whether much of Mr. Trump's less "coherent" speech reflects some cognitive deficit or just his underlying rhetorical style, especially when he is "riffing" before a live audience.
For instance, Mr. Trump clearly had sufficient self-control to "dial it down" during his debate with Biden, which would not have been possible if he was suffering from the degree of "dementia" some of his critics claim to observe.
His phonemic aphasia, however, is a different matter: it's objectively observable and clearly beyond his control.
This matters because such aphasia often reflects underlying brain damage resulting from dementia, stroke, "mini-strokes," other vascular problems, and similar conditions - though it *could* also be the result of stress, fatigue, or a variety of other more benign causes.
However, many of these possible causes are both non-reversible and progressive.
For this reason, if a medical professional observed repeated examples of such aphasia during a physical exam, they would routinely refer their patient for further neurological evaluation - this is unquestionably behavior that would be routinely investigated if you or I exhibited it at a yearly physical, especially if there was also evidence of tangential thinking.
We don't know if Mr. Trump has received a recent comprehensive neurological workup to investigate his aphasia (this would take a minimum of several hours, likely include imaging, and might involve additional specialist referrals for additional investigation).
But I believe the voters ought to have this information if it is available or an explanation of why this has not been investigated if it has not.
Daniel W. Drezner: There is one worse possibility. Trump wins; not long in the Administration, the 25th Amendment is invoked; Now the ticket is: J.D. Vance/Michael-Johnson-(alias, Alfred E. Neumann, "What me Worry?!").
I’m >90% certain that Trump will not be president on July 4, 2025. Can’t tell you if it will be President Harris or President Vance, but it won’t be Trump.
Happier. You think Thiel can't make JD do backflips... and other things (even without kneepads)? It'll be the Star Trek "Pattern of Force" episode in real time.
That about 1/2 the country is voting for him is the really scary part! Anyone else with a fraction of the baggage would be long gone. SAD!
As depressing as this all is, 1 thing to think of to cheer you up a little. Thank goodness he didn't start when he was younger. Just think how F____ d up we would be if he started younger. Now at least, he'll have a tantrum when he loses, hopefully nothing comes of it... and he will certainly be too old in 4 years to try again. Hopefully the kool aid drinkers will get weaned off his manure.
"Speculation about the degradation of Trump’s reasoning abilities has been a running theme of his political career." Not in the least. This "speculation" started as a bulwark by the Left precisely when the Right started questioning Biden's performance. It is exactly as old as this.
Of course, it was a bad answer to that question. But I judge him, warts and all, on the totality of his campaign. Saying someone is mentally incapacitated is a high bar that I think a medical specialist who has examined Trump needs to assess. I would say the same about Biden.
I cited examples from three separate events when Trump sounded less than coherent. I didn't even get into his appearances on Univision or the Chicago Economic Club, neither of which went particularly well.
Harris and Trump haven't changed at all, rambling and incoherence being classic behavior for any politician : ) What we're talking about is Dr. Drezner's "degradation of... reasoning abilities." Of course partisans see this all the time. But when both sides see it, as with Biden, you know something's up.
I have an ancient memory of Fidel Castro beginning a speech to the UN General Assembly with "I will attempt to be brief and to the point." Fidel then spoke for four hours.
Lots of parallels here. Fidel started with promising intentions, and then discovered the personal joys of dictatorship.
Dan, Dan, it's "the weave", it's his dastardly clever way of interpolating a myriad of thoughts into a cohesive whole...it's just that his genius has escaped all of us bar his MAGA people, who delight and respect tRump's discursive style of speech.
Did I miss anything? Ah...
/sarc
Yes&There truly never were a lot of marbles to begin with
The scary thought is that if Trump leaves the Presidency early because of blatant cognitive decline we'll end up with President Vance.
Judgment about verbal "coherency" is often subjective. For example, it's often difficult to judge whether much of Mr. Trump's less "coherent" speech reflects some cognitive deficit or just his underlying rhetorical style, especially when he is "riffing" before a live audience.
For instance, Mr. Trump clearly had sufficient self-control to "dial it down" during his debate with Biden, which would not have been possible if he was suffering from the degree of "dementia" some of his critics claim to observe.
His phonemic aphasia, however, is a different matter: it's objectively observable and clearly beyond his control.
This matters because such aphasia often reflects underlying brain damage resulting from dementia, stroke, "mini-strokes," other vascular problems, and similar conditions - though it *could* also be the result of stress, fatigue, or a variety of other more benign causes.
However, many of these possible causes are both non-reversible and progressive.
For this reason, if a medical professional observed repeated examples of such aphasia during a physical exam, they would routinely refer their patient for further neurological evaluation - this is unquestionably behavior that would be routinely investigated if you or I exhibited it at a yearly physical, especially if there was also evidence of tangential thinking.
We don't know if Mr. Trump has received a recent comprehensive neurological workup to investigate his aphasia (this would take a minimum of several hours, likely include imaging, and might involve additional specialist referrals for additional investigation).
But I believe the voters ought to have this information if it is available or an explanation of why this has not been investigated if it has not.
Daniel W. Drezner: There is one worse possibility. Trump wins; not long in the Administration, the 25th Amendment is invoked; Now the ticket is: J.D. Vance/Michael-Johnson-(alias, Alfred E. Neumann, "What me Worry?!").
Please tell me it isn't true!
I’m >90% certain that Trump will not be president on July 4, 2025. Can’t tell you if it will be President Harris or President Vance, but it won’t be Trump.
Bill Flarsheim: Hmmm!
Unfortunately, those percentages look about right.
Now, there are physicists who posit parallel universes.
Beam me up, Scotty, to the universe— wherever it is — where Kamala Harris is President!
All MAGA Inc has to do is to keep Trump out of view another 18 days and then Vance can invoke the 25th Amendment on January 21
Might disappoint/outrage 95% of voters but Heritage, Peter Thiel and Musk will be just as happy
Happier. You think Thiel can't make JD do backflips... and other things (even without kneepads)? It'll be the Star Trek "Pattern of Force" episode in real time.
Right; the libertarian plutocrats will clearly prefer having Vance as President to a blithering Prez Trump
Just came across this post.
Losing his marble, singular. 😂
I had a friend that used to say when he had a hangover (age 25), that his brain cell hurt.
That about 1/2 the country is voting for him is the really scary part! Anyone else with a fraction of the baggage would be long gone. SAD!
As depressing as this all is, 1 thing to think of to cheer you up a little. Thank goodness he didn't start when he was younger. Just think how F____ d up we would be if he started younger. Now at least, he'll have a tantrum when he loses, hopefully nothing comes of it... and he will certainly be too old in 4 years to try again. Hopefully the kool aid drinkers will get weaned off his manure.
"Speculation about the degradation of Trump’s reasoning abilities has been a running theme of his political career." Not in the least. This "speculation" started as a bulwark by the Left precisely when the Right started questioning Biden's performance. It is exactly as old as this.
Watch a video of Trump from years ago vs. today. He was always a con man, but he used to be sharp.
There's an excellent article to be written as an historical overview of this election written 50 years from now.
Or course, they kept Reagan propped up for at least 4 years.
By "Pocahontas," he presumably meant Liz Warren... or Pocahontas. Where's Richard to tell me that equals "competent?"
Just mimicking the latest Harris attack line. I gave you more credit.
Hey, if you want to defend the cogency of Trump’s answer on grocery prices, be my guest. Persuade me that it’s a good, on point answer!
Of course, it was a bad answer to that question. But I judge him, warts and all, on the totality of his campaign. Saying someone is mentally incapacitated is a high bar that I think a medical specialist who has examined Trump needs to assess. I would say the same about Biden.
I cited examples from three separate events when Trump sounded less than coherent. I didn't even get into his appearances on Univision or the Chicago Economic Club, neither of which went particularly well.
And here's Politico this AM on Trump's continued media withdrawals from everything not associated with FOX: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2024/10/18/trumps-media-backout-00184324
I'm not trying to diagnose Trump with anything; I'm saying he's flunking the eye test of being a cogent leader.
I believe I could say the same about Harris’ frequent rambling and incoherence. Just do a Google search on Harris and verbal incoherence.
Harris and Trump haven't changed at all, rambling and incoherence being classic behavior for any politician : ) What we're talking about is Dr. Drezner's "degradation of... reasoning abilities." Of course partisans see this all the time. But when both sides see it, as with Biden, you know something's up.
But it's a pattern and not a one-off; and it's not a mere "bad answer". Read the whole thing. Anyone who says he's intelligent or sane is lying.
Xi and Putin are salivating.