"Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia"

[marmar]

"Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia"
"Trump looks blank, stops in mid-sentence (or mid-word), his jaw goes a little slack"

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED MARCH 1, 2024 6:00AM (EST)


(Salon) Since at least 2016, some of the world’s leading mental health professionals have been sounding the alarm that Donald Trump appears to be emotionally and psychologically unwell – and perhaps even a sociopath or a psychopath. Unfortunately, throughout Trump’s presidency, the COVID pandemic and his willfully negligent response to mass death and suffering, the Jan. 6 coup attempt and the attack on the Capitol by his MAGA forces, and now several years beyond, their warnings have repeatedly proven to be correct. Donald Trump only appears to be getting worse, not better, as he ages, and the pressures of his multiple criminal and civil trials and the 2024 presidential campaign grow heavier.

....(snip)....

In a recent conversation with Dr. John Gartner, a prominent psychologist and contributor to the bestselling book "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President," the former faculty member at Johns Hopkins University told me that based on Trump's speech, memory, recall, and other behavior, he appears to be “hypomanic” and cognitively deteriorating at a rapid rate:

I had to speak out now because the 2024 election might turn on this issue of who is cognitively capable: Biden or Trump? It's a major issue that will affect some people's votes. Not enough people are sounding the alarm, that based on his behavior, and in my opinion, Donald Trump is dangerously demented. In fact, we are seeing the opposite among too many in the news media, the political leaders and among the public. There is also this focus on Biden's gaffes or other things that are well within the normal limits of aging. By comparison, Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia. This is a tale of two brains. Biden's brain is aging. Trump's brain is dementing.

....(snip)....

We spoke last week about how Donald Trump's apparent mental and emotional challenges and pathologies appear to be getting much worse. That conversation was widely read and circulated — including by the British and other foreign news media. Why do you think your warnings gained so much traction?

Most of us have known someone, possibly in our own families, who’s had Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia. The diagnostic signs are not subtle. My warnings and conclusions about Trump simply confirmed what many people had already observed and concluded for themselves but didn’t have the authority to assert. I was giving voice to what ordinary people see with their own eyes, and they were grateful for validation from a mental health professional.

....(snip)....

In our last conversation, you warned that Trump is suffering serious cognitive decline as shown by his speech, memory, and other behavior. Almost on cue, Trump manifests these symptoms at CPAC and at other events over the course of several days. Once you see this pattern of aberrant behavior you can't unsee or otherwise ignore it.

.....Trump manifested a number of phonemic paraphasias. He was trying to say evangelist, for example, but haltingly said "evangelish.” He was trying to say “three years later," but said, “three years, lady, lady, lady.” Trying to spit out the word “lately,” he sounded like a car with a bad battery struggling to turn over. When Trump can't find a word his whole demeanor changes. It’s almost like someone pulled the metaphorical plug. Trump looks blank, stops in mid-sentence (or mid-word), his jaw goes a little slack, and when he starts to talk again, he slurs, speaks haltingly, and often looks confused. Trying to get the word out, he shifts to a non-word that is easier to pronounce. When people are losing their ability to use language they use non-words, They start with the stem of the real word, and then they improvise from there. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/03/01/like-someone-pulled-the-metaphorical-plug-dr-john-gartner-on-accelerating-dementia/

[Lonestarblue]

1. I wish he would just accelerate into full-blown Alzheimer's so his family could put him in assisted living.

[NBachers]

6. I hope it happens too late for the pukes to put anyone else in the running for President.

[SergeStorms]

23. I don't.

Imagine if somehow, some way, Trump wins the election. Do you think anyone in his family or administration would let it be known that he's non compos mentis?

They'd hide that fact until the very last second before it finally came out. There's the Treaury to rob, below-board deals to be struck with every dictator on the planet. There's the rights of American citizens to repeal, and the wrongs of christian-nationalists to enact into the law of the land.

No, he could be dead for months, years, before they'd give anyone a hint that something was even amiss.

If he's going to lose all cognitive ability I want to know NOW!

[Roy Rolling]

24. Reagan had Alzheimer's disease

He was propped up in his final years by his wife and sycophantic Republicans. They overstated his competency to a laughable degree, thus we are stuck with Saint Ronnie.

Being diagnosed with dementia is not a dealbreaker for Republicans.

[Trueblue Texan]

10. I wish he'd accelerate to a full-blown...

hemorrhagic stroke and we can call it a decade.

[IbogaProject]

18. A mild stroke that leaves him disabled

I want him stuck in that style of how he mocked that disabled reporter. I want him to remain as lucid as he can be to suffer with his inability to give a speech or even have normal conversations with his criminal associates. But I want him awake and very aware of his losses in court and with his overall finances especially in ways that affect his esteem. He is a think turd that needs to be nudged into pieces before it fits down the drain. I want the GOP to have to figure out what to do and have all out intraparty strife where the media can't put a spin on it.

[Dulcinea]

19. That can happen the day after Election Day.

The shock of losing yet another election may do the trick.

[infullview]

2. +1

[KS Toronado]

3. All I gonna say is.......

[et tu]

4. nailed it!

just like donnie demento~

[MontanaMama]

7. Kicking.

[Botany]

5. "Donald Trump is dangerously demented."

And this news now? Anybody who makes them self look like he does and looks in the
mirror and thinks, “now that is a good look” is bat shit crazy. I would go with tertiary
syphilis as one of the causative factors. And I have said so since 2016.

[MontanaMama]

8. From the department of No Shit.

SMDH.

[Botany]

9. Look @ the symptoms of tertiary syphilis and he has all of them.

Such as trouble moving, slurring his speech, balance problems, cognitive decline,
and what looks like shankers on his hands.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-syphilis-rumors-doctors-weigh-1861983

[MontanaMama]

15. I don't doubt he has it for a minute.

At first I thought the photos of the sores on his hands were photoshopped but there are too many of them out there now. I do wonder how long this can go on before he has a complete come apart?

[ShazzieB]

27. The article you linked to is inconclusive at best.

After talking about the rumors and describing the stages of syphilis, they finally get to what the doctors said. Here's one example:

Physicians with expertise in sexually transmitted diseases who spoke to Newsweek disputed the claim the photos published this week show syphilis symptoms, adding that there is too little information to make a diagnosis.

Dr. Philip Chan, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Brown University and medical director of a publicly-funded STD clinic in Rhode Island, told Newsweek that the image was "not consistent with secondary syphilis."

"So I think the truth of what's being speculated upon is that, yes, the rash on the palms of one hand is a strong indicator in people of secondary syphilis. That's very, very true. But if you look at, if you look at like pictures on the Internet, for example, you're going to see it's usually evenly spread out on the palms."

There's more, including a photo of someone's hands with syphilitic lesions that really don't look like the marks on TSF's hands. Other doctors are quoted as well, and while not all of them completely ruled out syphilis, none of them emphatically said that's what they thought it was.

Tbh, I've never found the syphilis rumors to be convincing. Among other things, the disease is highly curable and has been since the 1940s, when doctors discovered that penicillin could eliminate it very easily and reliably. Since that time (basically TSF's entire life), death from syphilis has become extremely rare in the industrialized world, as is going undiagnosed and untreated long enough for it to get to an advanced stage.

So yeah, I'm just not buying it. I find it very hard to imagine a wealthy man with ready access to topnotch medical care contracting a highly curable disease and going undiagnosed and untreated for years and years as has been speculated in Trump's case. Is it completely impossible? I guess not. But it seems vanishingly unlikely to me.

[Hekate]

11. KnR

[orleans]

12. "dangerously demented" diabolical donnie demands democracy destruction deeds daily

a tongue twister

[sop]

13. Sounds like Trump will make the perfect puppet for the various special interests controlling the GOP.

Trump's obvious mental decline is the reason corporate media has made Biden's age such an issue.

[RussBLib]

14. Excellent article

It's becoming more and more obvious that the harping on Biden's age and alleged mental decline is yet more Republican projection. Their candidate is deeply flawed, so they have to accuse their rival of being deeply flawed.

It's juvenile behavior, but it works, with some people.

https://russblib.blogspot.com/?m=1

[peggysue2]

16. Sadly, I have observed these symptoms in my own family

Trump is definitely on the cusp of full blown dementia. The signals are all there despite the media’s aversion to calling them out.

As I’ve said before, The Don and his campaign may think they can outrun the clock but they can’t outrun the inevitable. The disease process will have its way. They can prop him up with drugs and Trump can continue his bizarre Excuse Tour but Alzheimer’s doesn’t care.

Because I’ve witnessed how this ends, I would normally be empathetic. But for Donald Trump? Nada. He’s getting the exit he deserves.

[Uncle Joe]

17. When *rump used to make mega-bucks and get his rocks off by telling everyone "You're fired" wasn't

he a sociopath/psychopath then?

As far as I can tell, *rump has always tied his self-esteem to the idea of being rich, that's his total identity.

Thanks for the thread marmar

[Hassler]

20. Maybe Dementia J Loser caught something from Moscow Mitch

[malthaussen]

21. My roommate had a very rapid dementia decline...

... in May, he was mostly normal, and by September he was incoherent. Then in December, he was dead, but that was thanks to Covid.

It's no fun watching someone decline that rapidly.

-- Mal

[ThoughtCriminal]

22. He could bea drooling zombie and MAGAs would not notice

or not care.

[Mr. Mustard 2023]

25. Narcissists Will Do Anything Before....

...admitting mistakes. Narcissists never admit mistakes because they can't. They have a learning disability, if you will, and they will burn everything down before admitting they are the problem.

You all know this already, but it is important to remember how dangerous narcissits can be. Some more than others and Deadbeat Donald - The Traitor is a Malignant Narcissist, the worst type in my opinion.

I have first hand experience with Narcissism because of a family member. That person in my immediate family inherited a small fortune and blew it on nothing.

My narcissist destroyed every marriage, including a very good spouse - who I loved - because those sane people said "No, we're not going to blow money, and you may not have affairs and betray our vows". You see, that is paramount to telling a narcissist to harm themselves. You don't tell a narcissist no, or that they're responsible for their behavior.

When you try, they fly into rages, call you stupid, then when pressed flee. If they cannot flee, they try retribution, and eventually have a cognitive melt down.

It's a mental illness and my narcissist had everything. Money handed to them, more than one spouse willing to share their lives with my narcissist, including one special spouse. But NOOOooooo.....

Those sane people, including me and other family members dared say "Don't do that again, you're betraying people we love and wasting gobs of money", and THAT is not allowed in my narcissist's world. Who fled across country 3 times, only to return to their home state with the same complaints. "That person out west is mean and stupid."

My narcissist is now elderly, broke and alone where no one will help them. When I do talk to my narcissist out of compassion, they basically hiss at me how I am "so mean" and "stupid". Never any self awareness. Not one moment of introspection. Not one.

Therefore, as many predicted, including myself, when Deadbeat Donald - The Republicon Traitor is cornered he will melt down and go insane.

We must do it. Make him go insane to end his insertion into our lives, but be ready because he will not back down and will try to burn America to the ground before admitting error and of course defeat.

For what this is worth.

[cayugafalls]

26. Personally, I prefer turdump accelerate towards a concrete wall...dementia is slow.