Thread by @duty2warn

1/19 The medical evidence for Trump's dementia:
An interview in Salon with Dr. John Gartner.
"In my opinion, Trump is showing a level of symptoms where no real expert would think that there is not something seriously wrong with his brain."
salon.com/2024/03/01/lik…

"This weekend, Trump showed more evidence of his accelerating dementia. Trump named the wrong month for the primary, said that Putin would rather see Biden as president and he agreed with him, and that he made Israel the capital of Israel. But most important are the fundamental breakdowns in his ability to use language."

Overall, he shows a shocking decline in verbal fluency from his previous baseline. Where he was once highly articulate with a sophisticated vocabulary and spoke in polished paragraphs, his vocabulary is now impoverished, he often has difficulty finishing a sentence or even a word. Like all dementia patients he repeats himself, overuses superlatives and filler words.

More specifically, Trump is showing formal signs of thought disorder we only see in organically impaired patients. "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."

"I asked several highly specialized experts about Trump's use of language, and they told me that what Trump is doing in total, but especially the phonemic paraphasias, were almost certain evidence of brain damage. This is not minor, or within normal limits, like forgetting who the president of Germany is, for example, as Biden has been pilloried for. Trump is evidencing formal thought disorder, where his basic ability to use language is breaking down.

"Trump is also showing signs of ‘semantic aphasia’ where he is using words in the wrong way. For example, when Trump talked about 'the oranges of the investigation.' We saw an example of that this weekend, as well. Trump said, “We’re going to protect pro-God….” In mid-sentence, he goes blank and looks at the ceiling. The words he uses to complete the sentence don’t really make sense: '…context and content.'"

He also shows evidence of "tangential thinking" where he drifts from one unrelated thought to another, and sometimes tries to confabulate them into a story. But the narrative is literally incoherent. For example, when he started talking, for no apparent reason, about the S.S. Gerald Ford aircraft carrier. What the media doesn't show you is the entirety of his nonsensical word salad.

$100 to the person who can tell me what this means:
"I could tell you about aircraft carriers, where they use electric catapults. They couldn’t go to the steam, which works better for about 1/100th the price, you know? The electric catapult, you know that story? I could tell you about the elevators on a tremendous carrier, the Gerald Ford, and they decided not to use hydraulic like the John Deere tractor, they decided to use magnets, “we’re gonna use magnets!” to lift up the elevators with seven planes. We need them fast, these massive elevators. They used magnets, they wanted to try it for the first time. This was a ship that was supposed to cost 2.5 billion, it cost 19 billion and didn’t work, and still doesn’t work right. They had a $900 million cost over on these stupid electric catapults that didn’t work. They had almost a billion dollar cost over on the magnetic elevators. Think of it, magnets. Now all I know about magnets is this, give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that’s the end of the magnets. Why didn’t they use John Deere? Why didn’t they bring in the John Deere people? Do you like John Deere? I like John Deere."

Forgetting names and dates is normal for people who are aging, like Joe Biden. But the Dementia Care Society says "confusing people and generations" is a sign of advanced dementia. Recently, Trump confused Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi. I don't mean he made verbal slip and called one by the wrong name. He said he was running against the person in charge of security at the Capitol. 7 times he said he was running against Obama (and later made a lame excuse). He didn't look like he was joking the 7 times he said it. Trump also confuses generations. He said his father was born in Germany, when that was his grandfather. Michael Wolff who wrote a book about Trump said he often doesn't recognize old friends.

"Trump is bragging about passing the MOCA, a screening test for dementia, as if it made him MENSA, when it’s a test any kindergartener should pass. Specialists tell me a patient can be in steep diagnosable organic decline for an extended period before they fail the MOCA. Someone with an advanced degree from an Ivy League school, for example, has a lot of IQ points to give before they hit kindergarten level. If you pass the MOCA it certainly does not mean you’re cognitively equipped to be President of the United States."

"Trump can’t even name the current president of the United States. Seven times he’s said he’s running against Obama. That’s not a gaffe or joke. That’s hard clinical evidence of serious organic brain damage."

In addition, Trump shows evidence of a "wide based gait" where he swings his right leg that is commonly found among patients with dementia

"One of the things that's most notable is Trump's lack of awareness when he makes these mistakes. He very rarely corrects himself or goes back, typical for someone with this kind of organic decline. Ironically, Trump boasted that “If I were cognitively impaired, I’d know it,” but actually he wouldn’t, and he doesn’t. Sometimes a patient with organic brain damage will have what we call a "catastrophic reaction," where they suddenly realize "Oh, my God, I can't think!" They'll then have an anxiety attack or begin weeping because their denial has been broken through and suddenly, they realize just how serious their condition is."

"I don’t want to say the mainstream media is covering up Trump’s cognitive disability, but they certainly aren’t covering it like the 5-alarm fire it is. The media will show Trump being combative and saying something outrageous and his audience reacting to it — but they are consistently not showing the parts of Trump’s speeches and interviews where his eyes go blank, his jaw goes slack, he looks confused, and slurs words, uses non-words, can't finish a sentence, rambles, perseverates, confabulates and babbles incoherently. That’s what should make the 6 o’clock news. Doesn’t the media have a duty to warn the public that the man who wants the nuclear codes back (not including the ones he probably stole) is publicly displaying unimpeachable evidence of a broken and deteriorating brain?"

"There are natural things that happen with aging such as occasionally using the wrong word or calling someone the wrong name because they remind you of someone you worked with. President Biden is confusing names, not people. The Dementia Care Society says “mixing up people and generations” is a sign of dementia. Recently Trump confused Nikki Haley and Nancey Pelosi, for example. He also mixed up the generations in his own family when he said his father was born in Germany, when it was his grandfather. Michael Wolff said Trump frequently didn’t recognize old friends."

"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."

"I've been reaching out to several colleagues who are real experts in this area. They were happy to share observations and diagnostic conclusions about Trump’s severe organic mental decline, privately, but even among colleagues who were once outspoken, there's a new high level of fear, not to mention exhaustion, that we didn’t see before. Each of these experts convinced me they weren’t being paranoid when they believed there was a good chance, they would lose their jobs if they went on the record, not to mention other forms of retaliation, especially for those who live in red states."