Donald Trump is acting like a sloppy, belligerent drunk.
Trump looks more robust than does Joe Biden. Trump is heavier and his voice is stronger. But, increasingly, Trump is the one who appears to lack the capacity to serve as president.
Donald Trump has a schtick. His one-man show mixes cheerleading, policy, humor, and rambling riffs on whatever crosses his mind. It is personal, unscripted in a way that few politicians' appearances are. His Truth Social posts seem to come directly from the heart.
It is a high-risk/high-reward strategy. It is appealing in its authenticity, but he lays bare his weaknesses. Trump acts manic, frantic, and crazy. Four years ago he was often funny and charming. Now he acts like a sloppy, belligerent drunk.
In Iowa this week Trump criticized electric cars, then went off track. I have been in gatherings where someone was "in his cups." Imagine you are a server in a restaurant, and the man at the head of the table dominating the conversation ordered another bottle of wine, and began saying this.
I say, ‘What would happen if the boat sank from its weight, and you’re in the boat, and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery’s now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?’“By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately, do you notice that? Lot of sharks. I watched some guys justifying it today: ‘Well they weren’t really that angry, they bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact that they were not hungry but they misunderstood who she was.’ These people are crazy. He said, ‘There’s no problem with sharks, they just didn’t really understand a young woman swimming.’ No, really got decimated, and other people, too, a lot of shark attacks.“So I said, ‘There’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards, or here. Do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking? Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted, or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?’ Because I will tell you, he didn’t know the answer.“He said, ‘You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.’ I said, ‘I think it’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water.’ But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark. So we’re going to end that, we’re going to end it for boats, we’re going to end it for trucks.”
We watch Joe Biden for signs of confusion or frailty. We need to watch Trump with the same attention, but now focusing on the indicia we use for evaluating executive function. Trump sounds sloppy. He stumbles over words. He doesn't focus. He sounds intemperate. Here is his Memorial Day greeting.
Trump's behavior is not normal or healthy. Trump's incapacity is as great or greater than Biden's, but they come in different directions. He doesn't seem frail, which is the concern with Biden. Trump seems to have lost sober judgment. He is steady on his feet, but he has lost self control. A server in a restaurant hearing him wander in his speech or reading his Truth Social posts would see the red flags the Oregon Liquor Control Commission people warn servers about in their training. It is time to cut him off.
Trump is losing executive function. He is sober, but he hasn't the judgment necessary to drive a car.
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14 comments:
“Trump's behavior is not normal or healthy.”
Much of it isn’t even legal and his rhetoric, besides being deranged, is hateful and violent. That’s what his supporters love about him. If he wasn’t such a sociopath, they wouldn’t find him so appealing, but Republicans have decided that his signature brand of contempt for the truth, elections and the rule of law best represents their values. That’s why they're as contemptible as he is. Without them, he’d just be another two-bit scam artist.
I agree that he is losing executive function and what he has left will become more diminished over time. Some dementia patients become more aggressive and volatile requiring the use of a type of incarceration. They can’t really be fixed with meds. When you lose your brain you lose who you are. Imagine a potential war situation with a diminished Trump in charge.
How could Trump--how could anyone--possibly press Submit given the state of that half-crazed Memorial Day message? It screams out "half-literate" and "poorly-educated" even if the substance makes coherent sense, which it does not. It is verbal diarrhea; scattershot, serial flailing at various personal afflictions. And "Happy Memorial Day"?! "Alison Cooper", apparently conflating CNN's Anderson Cooper and Alisyn Camerota?! Points in this blog entry well-taken.
I see a clearer scenario now.
The Republicans have embraced a Christian nationalist agenda, which isn't really a governing principle but simply pandering to all that they have left as a base. Trump is near the end but still popular and desperate to gain the shelter of the White House to avoid the Big House. You don't get much more transactional than that.
The one thing that puzzles me though, is that why, after the example of Nazi Germany, they are going down this path again. Is there some weird self-destructive impulse that comes with wealth? As if the fundamental immorality of it ultimately drives one insane?
Anyway, another point in all of this is that in the event of the President becoming incapacitated we have an extremely competent VP. Lord knows what we'll have if Trump is elected and flames out ala Nero. Tim Scott? JD Vance?
Yikes!...
never-Trump vs never-Biden evolves...
It's now old and unwell vs old and infirmed.
Who will be the stron leader when WW III makes its debut?
Re: Anyway, another point in all of this is that in the event of the President becoming incapacitated we have an extremely competent VP.
Since you didn't mention the VP by name, you couldn't possibly have meant the incompetent VP who was named early on to address the southern border issues which have exploded since she was named.
Also missing is a list of any accomplishments, other than the broad use of an annoying giggle, and displaying several misinterpretations of what is happening in Israel.
And yes, a vote for Biden is a vote for wanting and thinking that VP Harris will be an excellent replacement. There are many, many silent Democrats who have voiced their extreme disappointment with her. In confidence, of course.
From a recent poll, showing Harris having even less approval than Biden:
...the findings suggest that Harris is unlikely to quell anxiety among voters about what would happen if Biden became unable to serve.
Hmmm...Republicans...25th Amendment...?
Never mind, how would they know?
From what I have heard about Trump’s potential VP picks (JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Doug Burgum), I’d prefer any of them to Kamala Harris.
But I’m still hoping for a clean sweep of the Democratic ticket at their convention.
If Vice President Harris was a man and had an R after her name you'd be thrilled.
“never-Trump vs never-Biden evolves...
It's now old and unwell vs old and infirmed.”
That’s the epitome of false equivalence from someone who sounds like he’s trying to rationalize voting for the guy who claimed that his lies about election fraud justify “the termination of all rules ... even those found in the Constitution.” (Dec. 3, 2022).
It's true that Vice President Harris didn't resolve the border problem. Of course, it's also true that it's Congress' job, not the Veep's. But I can see why some might prefer a Trump psychophant like J.D. Vance over a woman of color.
I don't mind hearing the "whys" when someone doesn't like a candidate.
Every candidate has plusses and minuses. We all have wants, and hopefully we compare those wants to what a candidate offers.
Who knows, perhaps a candidate has a negative that violates one or more of your requirements.
As for Trump and Biden, most of us like most of the policies and "promises" of one over the other. A single negative, though, shouldn't always be a disqualifier.
Most of the comments here don't examine both candidates in the same context. Many here, reading my comments, assume I am a Trump supporter, and against Biden.
I don't donate to any specific candidates, and am definitely not happy with the choices we have so far.
When it comes down to voting, there's still a lot that could happen in the weeks and months to come. Sometime in early November, I will have to make a choice.
If I had to vote today, I wouldn't vote for either.
If I had to vote right after the upcoming conventions, it would be after the debates, and I could then make a choice that had more context.
In the meantime, I encourage everyone to NOT be a single issue voter. I spend some of my idle hours reading as much as I can about the candidates, and what their positions are for the issues facing Americans here in the US, and what should/needs to be done to help in the rest of the world.
It's the worldwide actions that will affect us all.
I'm retired and comfortable, and hope to continue to be.
"As for Trump and Biden, most of us like most of the policies and "promises" of one over the other. A single negative, though, shouldn't always be a disqualifier."
That depends on the single negative. If I were buying a house, a single negative such as a crumbling foundation would be deal-breaker. By the same token, we'd have to be idiots to vote for a presidential candidate eroding the foundation of our democracy - elections and the rule of law. Anybody who trusts the promises of such a compulsive liar is as crazy as he is.
It doesn’t take a mind reader to deduce the prejudice of one who likes to hammer home his disdain for those actively attentive to issues of racial and social justice.
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