Trump oldest nominee for U.S. president in history and his cognitive decline
Former President Donald Trump, 78, became the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history after President Joe Biden decided to step aside. Trump’s cognitive confusions and inability to keep to true statements now return as a focus of of 2024 campaign.
According to Dr. John Gartner, a prominent psychologist and author, the ex-president’s recent gaffes show something beyond your typical age-related cognitive decline.
Gartner has pointed out Trump’s frequent display of what is called a “phonemic paraphasia” — the substitution of a word with a nonword that preserves half of the intended word. Instead of “missiles” Trump might say “mishes,” and instead of “Christmas” Trump would similarly say “chrishis.”
But the Trump-related gaffes that are much more concerning to Gartner involve Trump confusing one person for another, in a way that is not just the result of a name slip, but an actual confusion of one person for another.
Trump’s former Republican rival Nikki Haley suggested Trump may be mentally unfit for holding office because — during a campaign speech in January — the former president seemed to repeatedly confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump accused Haley of turning down security for the U.S. Capitol offered by his administration on Jan. 6, 2021, and then destroying “all of the information, all of the evidence.”
This example is perplexing because Haley and Pelosi are on opposite sides of the political spectrum and have little in common other than being female politicians. Most notably, Haley had no official role whatsoever during the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
This isn’t the first time Trump has mixed up two women with whom he’s quite familiar. In Trump’s deposition during his civil rape case last year, he identified the supposed victim E. Jean Carroll as his ex-wife, Marla Maples.
What appears more worrisome is Trump confusing Biden for former President Barack Obama over and over again in different speeches. According to New York Magazine, it has occurred on at least seven different occasions. On March 2 during a rally in Richmond, Va., Trump said “Putin has so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word.” Of course Obama hasn’t been president for almost 8 years.
These are just a few examples showing Trump’s continuing dementia, which is true danger in addition to his endless lying.
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