Thread by @duty2warn

1/7) "'Demented Trump incapable of doing the job." Former Johns Hopkins psychologist says Trump would almost certainly become incapacitated in office, if elected.
mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/d…

2/ "Trump is very manic. He's got all this energy and charisma," Gartner told the Mirror. "But actually, he's more like the Wizard of Oz. He appears strong, but pay no attention to that demented man behind the curtain. Once you pull that curtain away and people see him for who he really is, not strong but so cognitively weak, I would say he's no longer just unfit for the job — he's now incapable of doing the job."

3/ Gartner, a psychologist who used to work as a part-time assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, said Trump simply "does not have the mental capacity to understand the job," adding that he could be "easily manipulated by virtually anyone.

4/ So, Gartner created a petition on , restricted only to medical or mental health professionals, which he titled, "We diagnose Trump with probable dementia: A petition for licensed professionals only." It was shared widely across social media by Gartner and his political action organisation, Duty To Warn, which was created to serve as a "warning NOW about TrumpISM."Change.org

5/ "Nobody with the right letters after their name was stepping forward to correct the misimpression that the press has been giving us," Gartner said of the reason he created the petition, referencing media reports that have been reluctant to address the former president's mental condition, instead of ragging on Biden

6/ "I think the press has been gaslighting us. They’ve been telling us two lies — they’ve been pathologising Biden’s normal memory lapses while normalising Trump’s gross signs of dementia," Gartner said. "I felt this narrative was false and that it needed to be corrected. Someone had to step forward, and no one was, and so I was called, as it were."

7/ "I knew there were thousands of other medical professionals who saw what I saw and were screaming at their televisions," he said. "I needed to give them a platform. I needed to give them a vehicle to express what they know and what they see to a public who is being gaslit."

“Gartner listed four signs of dementia he and other experts say they've noticed in the former president — language use, memory fallacies, behaviour and motor performance.”

Language:
“Experts who signed the petition said Trump constantly makes language mistakes called phonemic aphasias, which Gartner said are "strongly indicative of dementia." A phonemic aphasia occurs when the root or stem of a word is present but the word actually used doesn't exist — for example, when Trump tries to say a word like "Christmas," but it comes out as "Chrissis" or something similar.”

“Trump also makes semantic aphasias, which are similar but pertain to the definition of a specific word. For example, he might say something along the lines of, "You can see the truth in the oranges of the case," Gartner said, where he misuses the word oranges.”

"If you look at videos of Donald Trump speaking in the 1980s, he had a rich vocabulary. He spoke not just in complete sentences but polished paragraphs," Gartner noted. "Now, he can barely complete a sentence. He can barely complete a word. Sometimes, he doesn’t use words at all — he just waves his hands and says sounds: 'whoosh,' 'boom,' 'bang.'"

"The man is unable to use language to think or communicate, which means he’s probably developing dementia, which means he’s going to continue to get worse," he said. "This is a harbinger. This is a warning sign of something that is a rock rolling down a hill."

Memory:
Both Trump and Biden have been known to forget names here and there — but it's when Trump mixes people up that concern grows.
For example, if Trump were to call his son Eric Donald Jr, that wouldn't be a sign of dementia, Gartner said, nor would Biden calling French President Emmanuel Macron by the name of his predecessor, François Hollande. Those are just simple memory gaffes that come with ageing.

But when Trump confuses Nikki Haley, his opponent in the Republican race for the presidential nomination and his former UN Ambassador, with the leader of security at the U.S. Capitol, that's a sign of dementia, he said. Mixing or combining two individuals or transcending generations is deeper than a simple memory gaffe, Gartner explained.

“This is not someone who’s capable of managing the simplest aspects of life or understanding them, and yet you’re talking about having the hardest executive functioning job in the world when he has no executive functioning left? It’s insane," Gartner said of the former president.

Behavior:
“Shifts or changes in behaviour are also hallmark signs of dementia, Gartner said, noting the way Trump has been more confused, more irritable, more paranoid, more impulsive, more aggressive and more impaired than usual.”

“Insiders who used to work with Trump in the White House have come forward and said the real estate mogul behaved aggressively, and in an over-the-top manner, at times when it wasn't appropriate.

Gartner also highlighted Trump's outbursts in court, including his tirade during the defamation suit brought forth by writer E. Jean Carroll,

Motor functionality:
“Another obvious sign of dementia is a decrease in motor functions. Gartner noted Trump's "wide-based gait" in which he swings his leg around in a semicircle when he walks, as if his leg is a "dead weight."

“Trump is also pictured frequently leaning forward, which Gartner said could be a sign of frontotemporal dementia, or a form of the syndrome that impacts the frontal lobe of the brain.”

“Videos that went viral during and after his presidency show Trump struggling to hold water bottles and glasses, too, shaking as he attempts to sip from them, even as he holds them with two hands. A video of him struggling to drink Fiji water went viral during his tenure in office.”

Trump vs Biden:
While Trump exhibits many concerning symptoms, so too does Biden, but Gartner said there's a fundamental few differences between them.

“Trump's memory gaffes mix up people, while Biden's are much more surface-level, he said. Biden is still sound in his judgement, and though he forgets things, they aren't massive gaffes.
"He’s not making memory errors that would suggest dementia. He’s making the minor memory errors that would suggest ageing," Gartner said.

"Comparing Trump to Biden is like comparing apples to rotten oranges. Biden’s brain is ageing. Trump’s brain is dementing. It’s not the same thing."