Trump refuses to accept he's not running against Biden anymore

mozz@mbin.grits.dev to politics @lemmy.world – 649 points –
Trump refuses to accept he's not running against Biden anymore
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He probably literally can't. Like MAYBE if his staff hangs around with a cattle prod and teleprompter maybe they can hide it for a while but dementia patients often can't retain new information, they circle back again and again to whatever knowledge/memories that were locked in before their deterioration stepped up to their current slope downwards.

I wouldn't be surprised it this is a huge part of why they're panicking so desperately. This is cataclysmic and I can't wait to watch it unfold

Something tells me that if Biden, Hillary and Obama were to start stumping for Harris and the media covered it, Trump would have no idea who he was actually facing in the election. There's no way his handlers would be able to keep him focused.

It would be a pleasant alternate reality if some reporter who was doing an interview with Trump would start giving him a cognitive test live on air.

You wouldn’t have to make it formal. Just ask a few questions about Obama, get him talking about Obama’s policies, maybe the Iran nuclear deal. And then suddenly ask, “Who’s your opponent, Donald?” Soft and friendly like a serial killer. “Who are you running against in this election?”

“What year is it, Donald? What’s the day of the week?”

“Who’s this, Donald?” and put up a picture of Nikki Haley.

“What year did Covid happen, Donald? Can you remember?”

Give him lots of long silences to try to figure the answers out. Don’t interrupt, don’t distract him, don’t move on. Just let the dead air play out until he can’t stand it and says something. But if it’s not the answer… ask again. Tell him it’s okay if he doesn’t remember, but you want to give him another try.

Before you do it, set up his mic all tangled and firmly fastened, so if he tries to stand up and leave, he can’t get it off, and keep the camera running while he struggles. Keep asking questions while he’s trying to free himself. Politely and calmly, but don’t stop.

A little off topic but I've been listening to the Alex Jones depositions on the knowledge fight podcast (highly recommend) and that was kinda similar. Not in a cognitive test way, but seeing his fish gallop technique running into a wall is so satisfying.

For example the plaintiffs lawyer asks a question, Jones uses that as a jumping off point for one of his famous nonsense rants and they just let him ramble for 2 minutes and then the lawyer answers in a very calm manner - "Mr. Jones, that was not my question, my question was ..." Repeatedly until they got a straight answer, "Mr Jones I have all day to get the answers I need."

Once or twice the lawyer even interrupted him with "Babababab! Please just answer my question!" Or "What are you even talking about?" Jones was so caught in his show persona that he stood no chance of avoiding to answer unpleasant questions.

His dad was way more in control of the court room, giving yes or no answers, keeping it short, like someone who listens to his lawyers should do.

The scariest dude in the depositions was one of his editors, a nice sounding guy, who hated Alex Jones, knew that what they were doing was harmful bullshit but continued to do it for years without caring about the impact. The mundanity of evil.

It's "gish gallop". Don't forget to fix it after the inevitable autocorrect. If you just type "gish" a hundred times... then you'll never be able to write "fish" again.

Nah, they should let it ride. It's one of those silly auto corrections that make me smile.

If you think about it, fish are usually galloping. They’re always running around with all 4 feet off the ground.

Imagining this makes me so happy. This idea needs to spread so some reporter sees it and does it.

Lets be real, he'd walk out. A few years ago I heard an NPR interview with him not too long after Jan 6th and he clearly only took them up on it because he had been mostly de-platformed and was struggling to land interviews right then. He talked over the reporter then hung up. The entire thing was only about 6 minutes long

Yes, if he’s still capable of realizing he’s being played, he’ll either attack back or end it.

He’s doesn’t seem to have the quiet peaceful dementia (yet, maybe). He has the paranoid violent kind where he still likely knows he’s losing it much of the time.

I’ve had 2 different in-laws go through Alzheimer’s. One went from Mr. Rogers nice, to swearing and upset, especially when he lost control of some of his bodily functions. Thankfully Covid got him early in the pandemic and he didn’t have to suffer through starvation.

My MIL however was pleasant and calm, and eventually succumbed to dehydration when she forgot how to swallow. We need proper right to die laws in the US.

My favorite cognitive question ever is when I heard a paramedic ask a patient "Is Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?"

That one got me for a moment. I might need to see a paramedic...

He would just word salad the response and never give a year

It would be hilarious if all three showed up at the debate location (if it even happens) to show support to Harris, I think the orange man would blue screen. :-D

It took him years to get over Clinton. He's got 4 months now, and Biden is still President so he's gonna have an even tougher time trying to keep it straight in his dementia-riddled mind.

It was also visible in the debate. They told him "whatever question comes up, bring up immigrants". If Trump had been forced to actually answer any of the questions, his dementia would have been much more obvious.

...teleprompter....

Speaking of which:
Wasn't there something about Trump's wound being the result of a bullet-shattered teleprompter, not an actual bullet?

What became of that? Not to minimize the heinousness of the act, but he didn't take a bullet...

It was speculated on, but it turns out that he was indeed hit with a bullet and the teleprompter wasn’t even damaged.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fact-check-hit-with-a-bullet-glass-from-teleprompter-did-not-injure-trump/ar-BB1qaE1H

I never heard anything about that, but to the "never took a bullet," comment, I believe that's technically true.

I'm somewhat of an expert in things that go super sonic. While i haven't seen an image of the damaged ear, the images I saw on the day it happened don't indicate the bullet actually hit him. His ear would be way more mangled. The damage to his ear was likely caused by the sonic shock wave off the bullet.

Particularly since he himself said, in a publicly released recording that, the bullet "Felt Like World's Largest Mosquito." Getting any part of your body shot off would feel a hell of a lot worse than a mosquito.

Full Disclosure: I am not an expert and have never been shot nor had anything shot off my body. I have however been bitten by many mosquitos.

My 2x great aunt just died from dementia yesterday. And well Trump is showing the same traits she had a couple months ago.

When people die from dementia, what is the actual organic cause or death? Lile does their heart stop, infection, etc?

Also, how much longer would you give him?

For her it was probably her heart stopping from not eating. They noticed that her pulse was low a couple days ago. She basically did what old animals will do and just kinda stopped eating.

the best part is that they have absolutely no one who could come close to being a match for harris, if the worst (best) were to happen and trump croaks before the election

I guess they were soooo lucky it was the same two candidates as 2020 so they could just rehash it all again.

Almost can't believe "our" luck heh

I think established dems were okay with another 4 years until project 2025 came to the spotlight… then they realized it’s not just gonna be more tax cuts for the rich.