Can we prove Trump has dementia?

[Cicada]

Morning Joe said many close to Trump say he has suffered a mental decline. Fred Trump died of Alzheimers. I have read that a decline in mental performance over a couple years is a good predictor of dementia. I looked at some videos of Trump from several years ago. He seemed much more intelligent to me. If we got transcripts of off the cuff speeches from Trump five years ago and transcripts from off the cuff speeches recently, is there some software that can score them on a mental performance scale? I know there is software scoring Trump’s speeches as English at a fourth grade level. Did it used to be sixth grade? Is there an objective valid measure available?

[elleng]

1. 'Prove?' Doubtful it's a 'provable' matter for ANYONE.

Decline surely is demonstrable, if one has concrete times, dates, and circumstances.

[gordianot]

2. There are so many issues with Trump take you pick.

Personality disorders, cognitive, general health including self admitted issues with sexually transmitted disease and sexual predation.

[RockRaven]

3. Even if you could do so, would Repukes in Congress or their voters care? Everything so far says "no"

The first rule of trying to measure something is "is the result of this measurement EVER going to affect anything?" and if the answer is "never, NOT AT ALL" then save your time and don't do the measurement.

Whether Trump has dementia or not is rather irrelevant. If you are responsible you recognize his behavior is unacceptable. If you are not you do not. That is it.

The reason for his behavior is not information which is potentially going to be used by anybody in the near future for decision-making purposes. Everyone has already staked out which hill they are going to die on... there is no going back now for anyone who has supported Trump this far.

[Funtatlaguy]

4. Well stated. Always know your goals first.

[lunatica]

6. You are talking about the present

History will alter everything about Trump and this time. Many things unknown now will come to light and change things. Even decades from now. If Trump has Dementia now we may know for sure that he suffered from it when tests for Dementia are developed.

I always think about posterity and how seeing these times through the perspective of the future might clarify and change or crystallize what puzzles us today.

I guess it’s why I’m a science fiction fan.

[RockRaven]

8. No, I'm also talking about the future. The Repukes in DC enabling this sh*t-show are doing so

despite his unacceptable actions. His actions are as unacceptable now as they will be in the future (unless future people are ignorant about how much we already knew about Trump in this and past moments) whether he has dementia or not. His reputation will be that of a moral monster, because he is the same infidelious, lying, cheating, sociopath he was when he scammed a bogus draft deferment, refused to rent apartments to black people, called for the execution of the innocent Central Park Five, scammed multiple government entities on taxes, cheated on multiple wives with future wives and porn performers, purposely took public and then bankrupted businesses to make money off the backs of those investors, laundered foreign stolen money, and attempted to conspire with hostile foreign governments to defraud the US at the cost of national and global security. He is who he has always been, regardless of his diminished vocabulary. The dementia is entirely irrelevant. It is an undeserved fig leaf, which attempts to excuse an abomination.

[lunatica]

18. You make a damn compelling case.

and I couldn’t agree with you more. Although my argument was specifically about testing for Dementia. It has an off chance of being meaningful in the future just like DNA evidence is now considered irrefutable proof. Before it was developed thousands of crimes went unsolved and no one could have foreseen the revolutionary impact it would make just in being able to solve crimes, much less ancestry and paternity.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Technically you can't *prove* Alzheimer's without an autopsy.

[demtenjeep]

7. well lets speed it up

#fatdonnie how many big macs can you eat in 30 minutes. Nancy Pelosi says you can only eat one.

[sprinkleeninow]

13. And a box of one dozen deep fried ho hos. eom

[lunatica]

19. That'll do it!

The perfect crime!

[Maru Kitteh]

12. A PET scan can be done to assess amyloid plaques in the brain, BUT

as it turns out - amyloid plaques are not the "proof" we once thought they were either.

Read the case of Sister Mary (In this article and/or others). It's downright fascinating.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-neurologists-who-fought-alzheimers-by-studying-nuns-brains

[Skittles]

9. hard to prove when he has been speaking gibberish for decades

[DFW]

10. You mean, does anyone have MORE convincing evidence than Trump himself has provided?

Probably not.

We could always ask Joe Bidan what he thinks..........

[RainCaster]

11. I don't care if he has dementia, TB, or advanced gonorrhea

I just want him out!

[lame54]

14. Not as well as Trump can

[Hortensis]

15. Only if he has it. How many do NOT know Trump

almost certainly has a significant personality disorder? Imo, that has been demonstrated publicly and documented for a good 40 years, unlike dementia, and would explain most or all of his behavior. Certainly traits must be considered in any evaluation since dementia is not a cure and they don't just go away, and stress tends to make them worse, sometimes drastically.

Also, behavioral evolution between early and later life could explain some of it. These days the orange fascist doesn't have to speak in complete sentences to have crowds cheering. "Build that wall" and "lock her up" actually work better. And, of course, both Twitter and fascistic political techniques encourage stripping messages down to basics. And, once again, of course, he's under a great deal of stress these days.

Dementia could be setting in as a secondary factor on top of all of it, of course. His father's late-onset Alzheimer's apparently didn't for something like another decade, but heritability is high at 79%.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. We *can* prove he's an asshole.

[Hortensis]

20. Yes, and he re-proves it daily all by himself.

https://media.newyorker.com/cartoons/5af068492423c834d5cad184/master/w_727,c_limit/DC050718.jpg

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. Statistical analysis of word usage and increase in use of fillers like "er, ah, um"...

is a good predictor. See for instance this study using speeches in the House of Commons by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (who diied of Alzheimer's): https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081110091553.htm