A Clear and Present Danger: A Man with Dementia Dominating the World
When Fox & Friends asked President Donald Trump, “Why did you do this this morning?” (clearly meaning why did he kidnap Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on that morning), Trump confusedly replied, “Are you talking about calling you people, or the shot?” The Fox & Friends hosts, covering from his dementia-addled mind, all gave out hearty laughs, as Trump added, “Because I’m not sure which is worse, if you want to know the truth.” One of the hosts then let out a boisterous guffaw. Trump then aimlessly said, “I’m calling you because Charlie Hurt1 has been a great friend of mine for a long time. He was with me when it was not fashionable. And those are the people I like. Charlie was with me when it was not at all fashionable, so that’s the reason I’m doing this, and your show is great, and you’re doing a great job. You have a great team.” One of the hosts had to steer him back to the original question.
Meanwhile, as Trump riffed on Charlie Hurt and told them what a great job they were doing, Fox & Friends showed a split-screen (see below) of Carcaras being bombed on one screen and Nicolás Maduro on the other. A chilling and terrifying reminder of the realities on the ground in Venezuela for Venezuelans, as the man responsible for all that damage there rambled on about his “friends” at Fox & Friends. It’s also a reminder to us of the situation in which we all find ourselves: stuck with a cognitively declining president who is violently lashing out here and abroad. But if you’re on Fox & Friends, you pretend everything is stellar and fine with the president!
Seriously, what is going on here, folks? This situation is worse than the Emperor with no clothes.
The most straightforward question, evident to anyone, one that should have been painfully obvious to the president who had just ordered the kidnapping of a leader of a sovereign country and attacked that sovereign nation, could not be cogently answered. And it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of Maduro, his politics, or how he was handling Venezuela; the United States shouldn’t have kidnapped him and his wife. That point aside, the answer could not be evinced from a man who is cognitively declining. We’re in deep shit, folks, as those who have surrounded him continue to act, in their own interests, as if Donald Trump is functioning normally. The U.S. also killed at least 40 people in Venezuela during that operation, a country that has never attacked us.
Even more telling, the day of the kidnapping, Trump struggled to stay awake standing up during a press conference. While General Dan Caine spoke about the military operation, Trump stood behind him, bobbing back and forth, his eyelids heavy.
Again, what are we doing here? We have a man dominating the world, and he can’t even stay awake or make sense of something significant, such as an attack on a sovereign country, right now.
Late last year, I interviewed a neurologist, one who doesn’t treat Trump, who thinks it is highly likely that he is suffering from frontotemporal dementia. One of the things that patients with this form of dementia do is act impulsively. What’s more impulsive than kidnapping a president from a sovereign nation? (And, by the way, I don’t need a condescending lecture on the U.S.’s past in Latin America. I’m well aware of what has been done there. Despite that historical context, which remains despicably outrageous, there’s something different about how this attack and kidnapping feels.)
Additionally, now Trump is threatening to invade other countries, too. And who’s going to stop him from doing it? Certainly not Congress (where are they anyway?). Certainly not the “highly esteemed” military—they seem more than happy to be taking his orders. (More on this point in a moment on who needs to stop him.)
As Aaron Rupar noted, last night on Air Force One, Trump threatened a second strike on Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, and Greenland. That sure sounds like illogical, impulsive, dangerous thinking to me.
At one point, when News Nation asked him about attacking Colombia, which I argue is like planting ideas in his bewildered, sick mind when asked such questions, he said, “Sounds good to me.”
Folks, we’re in serious trouble right now. But there are folks out there offering ways to fight back right now. If you don’t follow Christopher Armitage, he’s offering great ideas on how to combat fascism. So is your weirdo friend. Your weirdo friend reminds us all: We are the only ones who can save ourselves, and, shit, do we need saving.
The next few weeks and months will be intense. I know I’m not the only one wondering, “Which country is going to be attacked next?” As Trump worsens, his behavior will worsen, and everyone around him will abet him. That means all of us need to get serious about how we’re going to respond, because none of this is okay—none of it.
Charlie Hurt is a commentator for Fox & Friends.
As a neurologist, it is clear to me that he has dementia. I think it is clear to anyone who has any familiarity with dementia. Most of us have had a family member or friend that has unfortunately gone down that path. Unfortunately for our nation and the world, the man in charge is becoming increasingly impaired. He was so discombobulated and disconnected during that press conference about Venezuela. He wasn't even sure what the press conference was about initially. And you must realize that this is him at his very best. He is being propped up and curated by those around him. One can only imagine how he looks without all support structures. I predict that over the next few weeks to months we will see less and less of him as his mind continues to fail him. His team will keep him behind the scenes.
I am glad you alerted me to the dialogue you had with the neurologist. Psychologists, notably John Gartner while an expert on malignant narcisssim is not an expert on dementia. We need to hear from more actual exerts in dementia.
I have been recommending that all my Substack readers read "DAMMIT It's Not Alzheimer's! Here's Why It's A Far Worse Nightmare Scenario
You deserve the facts, not conjecture. Alzheimer's diminishes a person. Trump's not diminishing, he's escalating, and you need to know the frightening reason why." It is by an expert in dementia, Dr. Frank George. https://frankgeorge8675309.substack.com/p/dammit-its-not-alzheimers-heres-why-c9f
Now I will add your neurologist interview as a recommendation to all of my Substacks. See the bottom of the page of the current one here: https://halbrown.substack.com/p/trump-may-be-known-as-the-kidnapper