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PoindexterOglethorpe

(28,493 posts)
5. I think it's entirely too glib to blame his lying on dementia.
Fri Dec 30, 2016, 02:45 PM
Dec 2016

While I am certainly no expert, although I've been around the occasional elderly relative with dementia, he's had this pattern of lying for as long as anyone can tell. It's not at all anything new.

I've also on occasion known someone who can be characterized as a pathological liar (not sure if there's such a diagnosis, but there's the definition out there) who lies compulsively about nearly everything and doesn't seem completely aware he's doing it. I've also known people who lie about things (like being able to obtain tickets to a Superbowl game) that are really stupid to lie about, but they do it anyway.

I'm sure most people here have likewise known people like this.

People with dementia, so far as I can tell, don't lie about stuff. They can't remember things, and may go through a time when they will make up stuff, but they don't do it in anything resembling the way Trump does. For him, reality is created by what he says. I suspect he's the sort of narcissist for whom others are not completely real. A bit like someone who is very autistic, except he's obviously not at all autistic.

There also seems to be reason to think he's functionally illiterate, or, even if he has good reading skills, he never reads anything. Possibly not even the contracts he signs, let alone books, newspapers, or magazines. What information he absorbs comes to him through Twitter and perhaps some other social media and what those around him tell him. The concept of fact-checking is totally alien to him.

If he had dementia he'd probably be easier to deal with. It seems fairly obvious that Reagan was well on his way into Alzheimer's the last years of his administration, and everyone around him simply protected him and spoke for him. Trump has no problems speaking for himself, and he has nearly zero acquaintance with truth or reality.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Trump "ain't right" as they say. He can't tell fact from fantasy on a good day. Vinca Dec 2016 #1
dementia for sure. so many here recognize the signs. mopinko Dec 2016 #4
I think it's entirely too glib to blame his lying on dementia. PoindexterOglethorpe Dec 2016 #5
"he's the sort of narcissist for whom others are not completely real"" milestogo Dec 2016 #9
I'm a nurse who has worked with dementia tavernier Dec 2016 #6
The difference between a sociopath and a psychopath are important. dixiegrrrrl Dec 2016 #11
A very distinct difference. Thank you tavernier Dec 2016 #12
I was never, not once, bored...lol. dixiegrrrrl Dec 2016 #17
The only saving grace seems to be tavernier Dec 2016 #19
Will the GOP see him as demented and proceed to remove him? RiverStone Dec 2016 #18
He has been the same flaming idiot... awoke_in_2003 Dec 2016 #13
it would be VERY interesting to hear Laura PourMeADrink Dec 2016 #21
yes it is troubling that we have such a sick person barbtries Dec 2016 #2
Liar-in-Chief Trump, the FOX listeners are trained to have lies told to them, they are pros at Thinkingabout Dec 2016 #3
Wow! Jacob Boehme Dec 2016 #7
His own lawyers won't meet with him one-on-one gratuitous Dec 2016 #8
I've known people like that PatSeg Dec 2016 #10
Can we just get rid of him already? smirkymonkey Dec 2016 #14
I'm with you. triron Dec 2016 #15
At this point I'd take G-Dub back, anyone but this idiot rbrnmw Dec 2016 #16
The republicans can't win without lying, cheating, and stealing. Initech Dec 2016 #20
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