Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Friday, October 13, 2023

Armchair diagnosis

 I used to think it was a slowly progressive form of frontotemporal dementia, rather than Alzheimer's disease, but now I'm starting to suspect that the frontotemporal dementia and severe personality disorder are indeed complicated by Alzheimer's, and that the rate of progression is increasing. I don't have anything to add to that personally, the guy has clearly lost his marbles. Not that he ever had a full bag.


What is disturbing is that the cultists applaud and cheer uproariously for his incoherent ranting, and even completely incomprehensible, unintelligible passages accompanied by bizarre gestures and sounds. Faux News continues to try to cover for him and prop him up. I want to say it's becoming hopeless, but the cultists are disconnected from reality. They just do not see what the rest of us see.


At some point, however, he won't be able to stand behind a lectern and produce anything resembling a speech. That's how it works. Dementia is inevitably progressive and this particular individual is getting close to the point being unoriented to time and place, barely communicative, and needing custodial care. Is it possible to run for president without making any public appearances, relying totally on TV advertising, social media, and proxies? In this day and age it just might be, but then the question arises of who will actually exercise the powers of the presidency? Definitely something to think about.



1 comment:

Chucky Peirce said...

Warren Buffet is lauded for his savvy investment strategies at the age of 93. Voldemort retired from running Fox at the same age. Biden's stutter hurts the way he comes across, but his adamant insistence on pushing for bipartisanship despite Republican tantrums is the mark of a wise statesman. He has been amazingly effective so far given the narrow margins in both houses.

He'd help his cause though if he acknowledged concerns about his age and laid out a clear process for identifying and managing succession should he become incompetent during his second term. This might include finding a less polarizing VP.