So, we see in the news the new book saying that Biden's closest advisors kept it a secret (or tried to) that Biden was losing his competency to do the job. Of course, this is abundantly clear in Trump's case, as well, and has been for years.
Nonetheless, because conservatives may be likely to agree when it's a Democrat president, I'll lead with Biden. It is becoming increasingly clear that Biden's closest advisors kept his cognitive decline as much a secret as possible.
As someone who has dealt with multiple family members and friends who've entered into cognitive decline in their last years, this is, in some ways, understandable. Loved ones want to support, defend and prop up their friends and family who are suffering from decline. I, for instance, let my father drive way longer than he should have been as he lost his ability to drive safely. I did, eventually, "take away the keys," but I waited way too long.
We want to believe in the best of our loved ones and give them the benefit of the doubt.
And THAT is why, in the case of high level politicians and other important roles, it is vital to have a neutral, fair assessment of people when any signs of cognitive decline start to emerge. Probably, at the least, beginning at somewhere between 60 and 70 years old.
Now, this is of course potentially unfair to the many wise elders who are on top of their game into their 80s and 90s. But that's why we should just institute it as a rule. There's no harm intended, just the recognition that as we age, some good portion of us will start lacking in cognitive ability.
It sure appears that was the case with Biden and it is clearly the case with Trump. This isn't a partisan thing. It's just a rule to gauge capacity for these vital roles.
No doubt, there are many conservatives who will be rejoicing to note that it appears true that Biden WAS in decline. The question is, will they be willing to institute some sort of series of assessments and abide by them when their own candidate is shown to be in clear decline?
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/14/nx-s1-5397210/biden-trump-election-original-sin-book
Sunday, May 18, 2025
The Biden Case Demands Cognitive Testing
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Biden's cognitive decline was obvious to many long before the campaign for 2020. What makes it difficult for some is the fact that he was never an intelligent man and the line between stupid and senile is thus much harder to determine. But by the time he began campaigning in earnest for the 2020 election, only liars would insist there were no signs.
In the meantime, during Trump's first presidency, you lefties were content to accept long distance diagnoses of Trump's mental/emotional condition, rendered solely because those doing the diagnoses were Trump-haters, too.
What liars you are. The perfect blog to publish a post like this.
Trump is obviously impaired, morally, cognitively and emotionally. If he were a Democrat, you'd see it, too, and agree with me. But because he identifies as a "conservative" and a "Republican" and because you REALLY want to believe, even in the face of overwhelming reality, you just don't see it. More's the pity.
The question of this post is: Would you agree that it's time to have some form of mental/emotional/cognitive testing for our presidents? And would you support that even if/when the narcissist was found to be terribly impaired?
As to Biden, there were certainly signs of aging and slowing down (just as with your candidate) but we don't want to disqualify candidates merely for being slower. But at some point, yes, it did become more obvious that he may not be up to the task. The problem I'm identifying is that some in his inner circles deliberately went out of their way to minimize and hide the degree of potential impairment.
Which, again, is why we need independent expert assessments. Because the blindest of partisans will see what they want to see, as you so capably demonstrate.
May 5: President Donald Trump's cognitive ability was questioned again Monday after he rambled his way through a simple question regarding the White House's decision to reopen Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in California.
Trump bizarrely likened the decision to being a "movie maker" when questioned by a reporter in the Oval Office. "Well, I guess I was supposed to be a movie maker. We're talking—we started with the movie making and will end. I mean, it—it represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order," he said.
"Our country needs law and order. Alcatraz is, uh, I would say, the ultimate, right? Alcatraz. Sing Sing and Alcatraz. Eh, the movies. But, uh, it's right now a museum, believe it or not, a lot of people go there. It housed the, uh, most violent criminals in the world, and nobody ever escaped. One person almost got there. But they, as you know the story, they found his clothing rather badly ripped up," he said.
The episode has once again caused Americans to question their leader's cognitive ability. Some even compared Trump's rambling to that of former President Joe Biden. "He can barely finish his thoughts. He confused Nancy Pelosi for Nikki Haley on the campaign trail. He confused Harvard for Harlem during an interview last week," one said.
"He’s visibly deteriorating and someone asks if he’s in decline? He was word salad 10 years ago but could still express a thought on occasion, at least. If you played videos side by side it’s undeniable," a third wrote.
He says SO much that is just nonsense word salad and so much that is just completely detached from reality. Of course, it's hard to say, but my guess based on the known data is not so much that the Felon has aging-related dementia so much as he is so fully malignantly narcissist that he just doesn't care about facts, data, truth or even that he's saying nonsense sentences... it's all about him getting his way, elevating himself, getting "pretty toys" like gold toilets and palace planes, etc... to such a degree that he's not operating with adult reason and hasn't been for most of his public life.
Either dementia or that level of psychotic/sociopathic/malignant narcissism should make someone unfit for office. People have to be grounded in reality to be in such an important office... and WHY does that even need to be said?
As to the Felon's on and off again ability to sometimes make sense, and sometimes just spew nonsense word salad, well, that's one of the problems with dementia and psychoses... SOMETIMES, those dealing with those issues WILL be able to complete a complete sentence, and sometimes not. And one never knows when that person is fully "on" and functioning at their rational best. Which is why it was so wrong for Biden's closest team to downplay and keep hidden (try to) his sometimes decline. And the exact same is true for Trump.
The difference is that Biden has had some plausible deniability because he has been so obviously fully "with it," whereas Trump hasn't demonstrated a connection to reality for well over his ten years in the national spotlight. He's always been clearly detached from reality.
When asked about childcare last year, this was the nonsense he spewed:
"Well, I would do that. And we’re sitting down – you know, I was – somebody we had, Sen. Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that – because, look, childcare is childcare, it couldn’t – you know, there’s something – you have to have it. In this country you have to have it.
...We’re gonna be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as childcare is talked about as being expensive, it’s relatively speaking not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in. "
More word salad, rambling about San Francisco, or something...
“She destroyed the city of San Francisco. It’s — and I own a big building there. It’s — no — I shouldn’t talk about this. But that’s OK. I don’t give a damn because that’s what I’m doing. [cheers from crowd] I should say it’s the finest city in the world — telling ‘Get the hell out of there’ — right? But I can’t do that. I don’t care. You know. I lost billions . . . billions of dollars. You know? Somebody here . . . ‘What do you think you lost?’ I said, ‘Probably two-three billion.’ They said, ‘You think you’d do it again?’ And that’s the least of it. Nooobody [pause] . . . They always say . . . I don’t know if you know . . . [inaudible] Lincoln was horribly treated . . . Uhhh . . . Jefferson was pretty horribly . . . Andrew Jackson, they say, was the worst of all . . . that he was treated worse than any other president.
Also, ANDREW JACKSON was horribly treated? The great killer of our native peoples? I'll be sure to let them know.
Trump's tendency to side with history's villains (Jackson, Hitler, Putin... Hannibal Lecter??!) and against the heroes/good guys, well, that's just another sign of his disconnect from moral decency or reason.
More projection driven solely by your irrational hatred of a better president. Feel free to present examples of Trump's impairments. Be sure to mention your obsession with the thought of him grabbing women by the crotch.
I don't "judge" impairment based on politics. That's what YOU'RE doing. Trump's simply not cognitively impaired. Biden clear was for quite some time and only irrational Trump-haters who wanted Trump gone and would settle for the likes of Biden or Harris would disagree. Now, you liars of the left are pretending it was hidden from you, while the rest of us have been saying it the whole time. It was obvious, though again, the line between his stupidity and his senility might not have been obvious. The question is more a matter of whether stupidity is the cause or consequence of cognitive failure.
And again, you want to pretend that Biden was merely "slowing down". But physical impairments don't indicate mental impairment. He was impaired for decades given his history of stupidity. When "The One" warns that we can never underestimate Joe Biden's ability to "f**k things up", it's clear that even those among his party knew Joe was "cognitively" impaired. When Robert Gates insisted Joe Biden was "wrong on every on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades", Biden's cognitive issues were well known for a long time. That you insist you didn't see it yourself is an indictment of your own cognitive abilities and an example of your own partisan blindness, which has been apparent to so many since at least 2008.
As to requiring mental competency tests, that's rife with Constitutional problems and would likely require an amendment to make it happen. And given how your people covered up both Biden's mental and physical degradation, how would even an impartial examiner guarantee the voters will get accurate info?
Marshal, I've given you some leeway and grace. But a reminder: Unsupported and stupidly false claims (especially claims made as if they were a fact) WILL be deleted.
You can support your claims or you can go away.
As I said here or elsewhere, I believe Trump referred to Jackson having been censured. But you go ahead and pretend he's defending everything Jackson, a Democrat, did. Trump does not "side" with villains. Your party is rife with them.
Post a Comment