Exactly! We’ve all seen and heard it for ourselves. We see it every single day, several times a day. :rolleyes:
This is why I object to people who say you can’t diagnose thump’s mental/psychological condition from afar. He doesn’t hide anything about himself. It’s all right there in the open, on Twitter, in his public statements. All of us know more about what goes on in thump’s head than we likely do about the friends/family we see all the time. Why? Because most normal people occasionally hold back from time to time. They don’t say everything they’re thinking without, well, *thinking *about it first. They don’t express every emotion, hurt feeling, dumbass unfounded opinion just as soon as it pops into their heads. Thump is a living, breathing example of free association. He just urps it ALL out for the world to see, hear, and comment on-- and he does it all day, every day.
When normal people visit their therapist, psychologist, or doctor, sometimes it takes the client a while to open up. They try to be the “good patient/client” and conceal their deepest and darkest thoughts until they come to trust the practitioner. THAT’S the basis of “don’t diagnose until you meet the person.” Because you don’t know all there is to know about the person.
But that rule doesn’t apply to the president-- he just lets it all hang out. He hasn’t hidden his real self-- EVER! He has always been like this, except that recently his mental function is clearly deteriorating. Those of us who have watched a parent sink into dementia over a period of years can see it. As can any and every mental health professional. This isn’t rocket surgery, peeps! The man is mentally, emotionally, psychologically unbalanced. (And yes, I do have an MA in psychology-- not that anyone needs one to see what he is.)
I agree ThelmaLou. I’ve dealt with family members sinking into Alzheimer’s as they hit their 70s, and that’s exactly what Trump’s been reminding me of, ever since the Washington Post published the transcript of their meeting with candidate Trump back in 2015. The unconnected word salad was strikingly similar to some conversations I’ve had with relatives with Alzheimer’s.
I just meant caution about the reporting on internal WH discussions. Clearly Trump is dangerously unstable. The story was only notable to me for its insider quotes. Other newspapers have published similar stories, so it’s likely pretty accurate. But hell, I dunno.
But McConnell an apologist? He’s not defending Trumps fuck ups from what I can see. All of the republicans in the Senate are his lap dogs however. Not quite sure in what way McConnell is broken as a human being, power trip I guess, and perhaps a few more million in the bank.
"Former National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read blasted NOAA leadership Friday night on his Facebook page calling the situation “so disappointing” and saying he would comment because NOAA employees were ordered to be quiet.
“Either NOAA Leadership truly agrees with what they posted or they were ordered to do it. If it is the former, the statement shows a lack of understanding of how to use probabilistic forecasts in conjunction with other forecast information. Embarrassing. If it is the latter, the statement shows a lack of courage on their part by not supporting the people in the field who are actually doing the work. Heartbreaking,” Read wrote.
“What the Birmingham NWS office sent out Sunday morning was correct and served the public well,” Read continued. “It clearly let the public know that they were not at risk from the impacts of Hurricane Dorian.”
Dan Sobien, president of the union representing weather service employees, tweeted Friday, "Let me assure you the hard working employees of the NWS had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by NOAA management tonight."
The headline from Chicago’s quite conservative Chicago Tribune: Federal weather agency — in unnamed Friday statement — reverses course and backs Trump’s Alabama hurricane claim; union blasts it as ‘utterly disgusting and disingenuous’
There are Twitter reports that the author of the NOAA letter making excuses for Trump is their Director of Communications–which does seem plausible. The interesting part is that she, apparently, worked for the Trump Inauguration—you can see it in the LinkedIn page, not quite half-way down:
The danger of accepting thinly sourced reports and later finding out they were not as reliable or as close to the events as it seemed, then looking like a boob.
Listen, I hate Trump. He’s an idiot, a racist, and a threat to the world. He may also have dementia. But I always take anonymous reports from inside the White House with a bit of caution, no matter who the President is.
Ok, I get your point. I think. In this case we can be skeptical that WH staffers are saying he’s crazy, even though we know he IS crazy, 'cause we’ve seen it for ourselves. I dunno. Maybe.
There are books by respected psychiatrists who diagnose Trump, so I don’t presume to add to these. These opinions are well known, and at a minimum reflect certain personality disorders.
But it isn’t obvious to me that Trump has dementia. The man speaks so much, for hours at a time, that it isn’t hard to find incongruities. He is a troll with some talent for seeing opportunities and weak spots others might not see or be too principled to take. I don’t find Trump well informed, lacking in hypocrisy or singularly capable. His views and basic personality have been fairly consistent for decades. Passing a mini-mental exam is a very low bar, but I don’t see Trump getting lost on a golf course or forgetting where he put the bucket of chicken.
That might depend on the puzzle picture. It is easier to put together a hamburger than a space force.
But to pass the mini-mental dementia test, you need advanced skills: knowing the date, season, your location and what a watch looks like. You also need to be able to remember three items for five minutes, follow simple commands, make a drawing of a weather probability cone and count and spell backwards, which is easier for some people than others.
I’m not the biggest fan of Internet memes, but there is an article on boredpanda.com about 30 memes inspired by Trump’s sharpie drawing which is extremely amusing.