Thread by @OurShallowState

THREAD
(updating the Cognitive Decline of Trump)

(1) Most of us don't watch Trump speak. It's hard to. But those of us who do, who are neither radicalized nor hyper-partisan, know (or suspect) they are watching him deteriorate. How will his aides handle that in the coming months? It certainly bears watching closely. It's been only a few weeks now since his gaffes, slurs, phonemic aphasia, and other symptoms of neurological decline got more frequent and noticeably worse.

(2) Yesterday was significant. Because Biden just scored on the SOTU. This added urgency for Trump yesterday. He wanted and needed to show acuity as he ranted. Well, he harped on the Big Lie 1 minute in, indicating he felt defensive off the bat. Then - after a fairly gaffe-free 10 to 15 minutes, he began faltering badly. Neither he, nor the prep or meds given him by his aides, could hold it off. Because Trump IS neurologically decaying, meaning - what he has, is degenerative.

(3) There ARE other things at play here besides his neurology. Trump got crushed in civil court, and the NYAG case (in particular) struck at the heart of his myth. This cuts to his pathology - he definitely has narcissistic injury fatigue. And -- he's obese, in his late 70's, with near-constant rage, rarely sleeps, and washes cheeseburgers down with diet soda and Adderall. All of this contributes to his faltering.

(4) I speak not only from training and observation, but from personal experience. I've lost several family members to dementia - my father, my grandmother, and my uncle. My uncle, for most of my life, was the sharpest tool in the shed. Watching my uncle recognize his own diminishment was hard. Dementia of an Alzheimer's type (DAT) is progressive, with 6 stages. Trump is in an early-middle stage. BUT - the progression of dementia is not linear. It varies by person, circumstance, stimulus ... and meds.

(5) We don't know yet for certain what Trump is being told or what he knows or feels because he's never genuine, even with himself. His pathology doesn't easily allow him to conclude he has any weakness, ever. BUT - we've all heard him talk about cognition more and more. Given that most everything he says is a confession or projection, I think he knows and HAS been told.

(6) As Dr John Gartner, founder of the Duty To Warn Coalition has observed, the types of gaffes/aphasias we've recently seen in Trump are conclusive signs of a demented brain. The MSM has thus far shied away from covering this - they are beginning to point out the gaffes and some have started airing the clips, which is a good thing, but they're not referencing it as a degenerative neurological disorder - or asking psychologists to come on their shows - yet.

(7) I've tweeted many times that after a particularly gaffe-filled performance, we sometimes see Trump disappear for a day or partial day. There seems to be some recalibration being done. Medical. Rest. Detox. Who really knows - the inner circle is nothing if not secretive.
This brings me to the crux of what I wanted to tweet about this morning:

(8) When my father, grandmother, and uncle progressed in their dementia, they didn't have the medical team Trump has. They didn't have all the latest techniques to slow advancement. There certainly wasn't an enormous political consequence tied to their lives. And they weren't medicated and stimulated to put on airs and/or disguise their diagnosis.

(9) Take for granted Trump has dementia, has been diagnosed, is closely observed, and a team of aides addresses it. What would be their function? His long-term health? No - of course not! Their function would be getting him past the election. THAT'S the game, set, and match - and to get there, they need plausible deniability to his true condition.

(10) So - circling back to my original point - Trump bears watching now. His team wants to keep his decline from the narrative. The MSM for now, will do so too. Will he disappear for a time? Will they change his pace/schedule? Will he visibly worsen? What do they do then? Do they keep projecting on Biden to influence the narrative - a week ago, I would have said a resounding YES. And they still will. But Biden's SOTU makes that a tougher sell now.

(11) No way Trump can ever debate from what I've seen. That ship has sailed - answering a question and staying on point? No way. Not that he won't- he CAN'T! Remember - although dementia does not advance on a linear basis, oftentimes when it jumps a level, it doesn't go back. I saw it, firsthand, with people I loved.
Nobody truly loves Trump, so they're not guided by that.

(12) There's a whole lot at stake here. For a whole lot of people. Globally. Like- EVERYTHING. And these people lie professionally. And some are sociopathic. And most of them believe "the ends justify the means."

(13) The Trump team MUST be able to obfuscate and/or plausibly deny his condition through the election, despite all else that is going on. And there will always be lots else going on. We may see him only speak in super-friendly confines. I suspect we'll see him do more of those short bloviating in-house videos - they can edit those a million times until he gets it right.

(14) Those who like to say we live in interesting times, are correct. How Trump is scheduled, medicated, recalibrated, and how his disease (different from his pathology) progresses - this bears watching!
And watch it, we shall!

PS - I made a similar thread to this a week ago. Since then, its content has, in my mind, been reaffirmed. We've had the SOTU. And yesterday's Trump attempt to counter it fell way short. (Also, in the last week - I bit the bullet for Premium here - mostly so I could make threads like this and break the tweets where they broke best.)
Thanks in advance for reading, sharing, and commenting.
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