Expect Trump to pop off as trials pick up: "No governor between his addled brain and big mouth"

Donald Trump is not the same man he was eight years ago. Moreover, he is not the same man he was even three years ago in terms of his apparent mental, emotional, and cognitive health. The ex-president and now de facto 2024 Republican presidential candidate is under enormous pressure. He is facing hundreds of years in prison for his political crime spree. He has been ordered to pay almost 500 million dollars in civil penalties and fines. His desire to be America’s first dictator is as much a function of his megalomania and obsession with obtaining revenge against his “enemies” as it is an existential need, literally, to get ultimate power so that he can avoid being put in prison for the rest of his natural life. In all, such pressure would bend if not outright break the average person’s emotional, mental, and physical health.

Trump is 77 years old. Beyond the normal impact of aging on one’s mind and body, at his recent rallies and other events, Trump has been manifesting what appear to be extreme challenges in speaking, memory, and thinking. Like many of us, Donald Trump also has a family history of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Trump has not always had the best diet or otherwise taken good care of his physical health and he was “gravely ill” and could have easily died from the COVID-19 virus in 2020.

In a recent series of widely-read conversations here at Salon, 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," has concluded that based on Trump’s public behavior, he appears to be suffering from some type of brain disease – one that is rapidly worsening:

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.

Dr. Harry Segal, who is a clinical psychologist and a senior lecturer at Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medical School, shared his concerns with me via email about Donald Trump's apparent cognitive challenges, where he concluded that the ex-president should withdraw from the 2024 presidential campaign: 

There seems to be an emerging difficulty maintaining linguistic control that may well be caused by his incapacity to manage the stress caused by his multiple indictments, court appearances, and huge legal fines. In addition, his daughter and son-in-law are no longer supporting him, and his wife hasn’t appeared with him in public at any of his rallies or victory speeches. This lack of support may be contributing to what appears to be his intermittent cognitive disorganization.

First, I would recommend a full neuro-psychological assessment to identify the deficits in his cognitive functioning. Given those results, I would then recommend limiting his daily activity, scheduling tasks that require high-level cognition early in the day to avoid “sun-downing,” and psychotherapy to explore the sources of stress contributing to mental difficulties. I would certainly recommend that he immediately cease running for president.

Ultimately, a person does not need to be a medical professional to see that Donald Trump appears to be cognitively impaired. Moreover, to witness a leading public figure struggle in such a way is retraumatizing and triggering for those of us who have personal experience with loved ones and other people we care about who have suffered (or are suffering) from such an affliction.

In an attempt to make better sense of Donald Trump’s obvious cognitive challenges and related behavior in the context of the country’s democracy crisis and the 2024 election, and what may happen next, I recently asked a range of experts for their thoughts and suggestions.

D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters." His website is Enough Already. 

I’ll be honest, I can’t stand the sound of Donald Trump’s voice. I already know what he is: repulsive.

The little I catch, mostly via soundbites, he’s the same racist, loudmouth he has always been since his days bankrupting casinos and selling steaks in my home state of New Jersey. There is no governor between his addled brain and his big mouth. He can say whatever he wants because everything he says has lost all meaning. He doesn’t even believe half of what he says because he’s a huckster and B.S. artist. He has no command over any subject matter of importance. He’s the guy at the end of the bar who won’t shut up, and talks, and talks, and talks until he finally gets a reaction. Anybody who talks that much is invariably going to stumble and massacre complete sentences. Hell, he might even say something that occasionally makes sense. But who cares as long as he is the center of attention?

As shown by his actions, Trump has proven he is abusive, a thug, a traitor, a sellout, a racist, a terrible businessman, a tax cheat, a fraudster, a horrible president, and a spoiled baby. That is what everybody should pay attention to. 

It goes without saying that we are facing the greatest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. It would be really great if the media started treating it that way given the first thing that will go if our democracy falls is a free press. There are no second chances when an authoritarian regime gains power. This should literally be the only thing that matters right now because everything else that matters will be destroyed in the event Trump wins. 

It’s still incredible to me how badly Merrick Garland failed to bring this man and his crooked associates in the Republican Party to justice. If our democracy goes, the blood will be on his hands. I could stand to hear a helluva lot more about that, too. How and why did the Department of Justice let this happen?

At this point, I’ve completely given up on most of the media. I take no pleasure typing that. I spent decades working among them. They have completely lost the thread, and what their responsibility is to their readers, listeners and viewers. In every story about Trump this paragraph or a close approximation should be included:

“Despite losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden by more than seven million votes, Trump lies about the results every chance he gets. This lie, his refusal to concede that election and his many failed attempts to have it overturned have ripped America apart, radicalized his base, and resulted in the worst attack on our Capitol since 1812. Federal and state charges are pending in the attack that resulted in the deaths and beatings of law enforcement officers and sent lawmakers running for their lives.” 

You simply cannot write a story about a man who is running for the president of the United States, without mentioning his open hostility to America and her democracy, and his sympathetic treatment of dictators like Russia's Vladimir Putin and others like him across the globe.

Biden has stood up for that democracy for 47 years in public office. Seems like a worthy accomplishment that might be worth mentioning. 

The American people need to ignore all these endless polls. They have become a cancer on the American landscape. They are almost always wrong and are now used as a political club to drive false narratives. The New York Times, for instance, will spend three news cycles promoting polls they conducted. Instead of reporting on the news, they are trying to make news. What kind of journalism is this? And do you know that buried inside the endless coverage of their polls they insert this: “The limitations of polling are well known, especially almost a year before an election.”

Absolutely pathetic. 

Steven Beschloss is a journalist and author of several books, including "The Gunman and His Mother." His website is America, America.

We have witnessed for eight years the constant pathological lying and the deeply ugly and hateful condemnations and scapegoating of anyone whom Donald Trump perceives as his enemy. We have also watched millions of cult followers sticking by him despite or perhaps more sickeningly because of his malignant verbiage and his desire to end our form of government. Given this, it’s hard to see how the obvious cognitive decline illustrated by his failures in memory and speech will change their minds; this underscores not just their cultist admiration for him and attraction to strongman leadership, but their profound hostility toward liberals and the depth of their angers and resentments more broadly. Honestly, I think Trump could be foaming at the mouth and it still wouldn’t change their minds about wanting him back in the White House.

I’m among those who tried to minimize the amplification of Trump’s daily degradations and desecrations. But I am increasingly convinced it’s necessary to expose as much of this malignancy as we can tolerate to reach the sliver of Republicans and the proportion of independents who still believe in democracy, expect some iota of decency and are capable of imagining the horrors of a dictator on day one.

I also think this can clarify for some Democrats still unsure about their need to get off the couch and vote in November. It’s appalling to watch the mainstream media continue to proffer the false equivalencies between Joe Biden’s age and Trump’s behavior—or worse, treat Biden’s physical signs of aging as somehow more problematic than Trump’s openly voiced intention to end democracy. It’s as if they remain unable to grasp this is not a political horse race but an explicit existential threat to the American democratic experiment—a reality that requires them to stop the tired tropes and the dangerous both sides-ism. We must demand better from the media, while there’s still time for responsible journalism.

Cheri Jacobus is a political strategist, writer, ex-Republican, and host of the podcast "Politics With Cheri Jacobus."

Donald Trump has never been a grand physical specimen, as evidenced by his insecure need to blatantly and obviously lie about his height, weight, cholesterol and other health-related issues. He is in perhaps the worst physical shape of any modern president.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

But his apparent mental decline is on full display, making it impossible for him to lie about it with credibility with anyone outside of the hard-core MAGA cultists.  That Nikki Haley was openly and publicly discussing Trump's alarming cognitive decline is an indication of widespread concern within the establishment GOP, and importantly — donors. The only ones seemingly obtuse and unaware of Trump's dementia are the media, who still desperately want 2015/2016-level Trump ratings and are willing to ignore the peril that exists on many levels.

Trump's vile-ness and legal woes are finally beginning to show some fraying around the edges of what conventional wisdom long claimed was an immovable, cemented 35% base of support. I never bought it, confident that at least some of his voters simply were not accessing accurate information, if they only watch FOX News and are not active on social media other than for recipes, sports scores, or cat videos. Over time, many of them have come to understand that Trump is a liar, rapist, criminal, cheat, adulterer, conman, and traitor.  (And they suspect those may be his good points!)  But close elections are won or lost in the margins. Many Nikki Haley primary voters are saying if Trump is the nominee, they will either vote for President Biden, or not vote at all in the presidential election. 

Trump has no path to winning the popular vote — not surprising since he's lost it twice already.  And he can't win without independents. Given that out of the $300 million spent so far in the GOP primary, $100 million has been spent against him, Trump isn't as strong as the media would have us believe. Polls have been way off, with President Biden receiving more than 30% more in South Carolina than polls predicted, as just one example. 

In a healthy society and democracy, we would not find ourselves in this position.  But if our better angels prevail, the GOP will ensure they have a "back up" to Trump in Nikki Haley, and even be willing to endure a brokered convention to save the country from him and Putin.

The American news media harping on Biden's age while Trump is essentially the same chronological age, yet decades "older" physically and mentally, is embedded in their ratings-hungry DNA, creating a controversy where none exists. Why? Because Biden's performance as president has been spectacular, especially on economic issues that Republicans traditionally have cared about, leaving literally no room for legitimate substantive criticism. As well, it serves as a racist, sexist "dog whistle" for his MAGA base — a stab of "fear" that should something happen to the president, the Black woman Vice President would then become President of the United States — an unfathomable notion for MAGA. The media doesn't shy away from double standards if it helps feed the ratings and clicks beast, or they'd be grilling Melania on why she didn't leave her cheating husband the way they did Hillary Clinton.

The wholesale takeover of the Republican National Committee by Donald Trump and his family ensures all resources will be funneled to his campaign, leaving literally nothing for GOP House and Senate candidates, let alone those running down ballot across the country. That may start to rub big GOP donors the wrong way.