# Trump wasn’t always so linguistically challenged. What could explain the change? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 25, 2017, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402 "2017-05-25T06:01:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/21 "2017-05-25T17:56:32Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > It may run in the fambly. His father had Alzheimers. Fred Trump was already 87 years old at the time he was diagnosed with Alzheimers ([http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/26/nyregion/fred-c-trump-postwar-master-builder-of-housing-for-middle-class-dies-at-93.html](http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/26/nyregion/fred-c-trump-postwar-master-builder-of-housing-for-middle-class-dies-at-93.html)), and 1/3 of people over the age of 85 have Alzheimers ([Alzheimer’s Statistics | Alzheimers.net](http://www.alzheimers.net/resources/alzheimers-statistics/)), so it’s unlikely that it’s hereditary. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/22 "2017-05-25T18:25:22Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > Fred Trump was already 87 years old at the time he was diagnosed with Alzheimers ([http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/26/nyregion/fred-c-trump-postwar-master-builder-of-housing-for-middle-class-dies-at-93.html](http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/26/nyregion/fred-c-trump-postwar-master-builder-of-housing-for-middle-class-dies-at-93.html)), and 1/3 of people over the age of 85 have Alzheimers ([Alzheimer’s Statistics | Alzheimers.net](http://www.alzheimers.net/resources/alzheimers-statistics/)), so it’s unlikely that it’s hereditary. > [@](#): > > Those who have a parent, brother or sister with Alzheimer’s are more likely to develop the disease. The risk increases if more than one family member has the illness. When diseases tend to run in families, either heredity (genetics) or environmental factors, or both, may play a role. [What Causes Alzheimer's Disease? | Alzheimer's Association](http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_causes_risk_factors.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/23 "2017-05-25T18:48:59Z")
His favorite voters are uninformed voters, he’s said - you know, morons. The more he’s a gibberish-flinging moron, the more morons he’ll gather to his Cheeto bosom and the more power he’ll have. More power = more money, so as long as it works he’ll keep it up. It helps that he’s lazy when it comes to learning about things so this kills two birds w/ one stone; being informed and sounding informed would only handicap him as far as he’s concerned, he doesn’t dare sound like the New York elitist he is when it will sock him in the wallet. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/24 "2017-05-25T19:05:14Z")
> [@](#): > > so as long as it works he’ll keep it up so, your theory is he is\* intentionally \*talking like a demented person? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/25 "2017-05-25T19:38:25Z")
I don’t know about the rest of you but I found his thinking that he had coined the use of the phrase “Prime the pump” as an economic metaphor quite disturbing. In itself it is very minor, but what does it say about his cognitive abilities? ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/26 "2017-05-25T20:11:11Z")
Discussed here: [Donald Trump: Cognitive decline or TDS?](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=32844) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/27 "2017-05-25T20:40:42Z")
Not only does the V the Visitor alien not have more than a 1000 word vocabulary…its skin doesn’t even look right. Cant believe it took you guys this long to notice. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/28 "2017-05-25T20:47:56Z")
The man is one big orange ball of stress. He takes anything negative anybody says about him badly. He can’t let it go. This was a problem when he was merely a notoriously crooked businessman and “reality” TV host. Since getting into the race the amount of negative stuff has shot way up. And so has his anger quotient. He tweets at 4 in the morning! The guy isn’t sleeping much, is angry all the time, and knows he’s in way over his head. That’d turn a 30 year-old’s brain into goo. Being in your 70s speeds it up a lot. It’s one thing to lower your vocabulary to match your voters, but it’s another to just ramble on in [incoherent world salad fashion](http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com/strip/archive/2017/05/14). ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/29 "2017-05-25T21:19:59Z")
> [@](#): > > That’d turn a 30 year-old’s brain into goo. Being in your 70s speeds it up a lot. as does his obesity ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/30 "2017-05-25T22:06:51Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > as does his obesity So, he stays up late eating, watching Fox news and tweeting? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/31 "2017-05-25T22:13:35Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > so, your theory is he is\* intentionally \*talking like a demented person? :dubious: My theory is he doesn’t bother to engage the part of his brain that gathers thoughts into coherence; that mental rough draft (I hope) we all do has been dispensed w/ b/c he finds it pays better. He’s getting away w/ being a tubby, imbecilic psychopath b/c he makes rich people even richer. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/32 "2017-05-26T03:51:03Z")
Could he just be drinking or on drugs? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/33 "2017-05-26T04:11:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s a difference, though, between direct speech that is coherent and plain, simple speech that runs around in circles like his does in unscripted situations. It really is odd. The Premier (Governor) of my state for over 19 years (Joh Bjelke Petersen) used precisely the same technique. In public and particularly in press conferences he would repeat stock cliches, talk in circles, and make repetitive simplistic comments. He sounded barely mentally competent. But my father’s colleagues who worked in government said that in private, he was articulate, clever, and highly effective. And neither my father nor his colleagues were fans: quite the opposite actually. In fact there are many ways in which Trump reminds me of Bjelke Petersen. None of them pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402/34 "2017-05-26T10:57:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Could he just be drinking or on drugs? Please. Stop badmouthing drugs and alcohol. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wasn-t-always-so-linguistically-challenged-what-could-explain-the-change/787402.md?page=1)