An ex-MAGA activist warns "no civic savior is coming" as Donald Trump's cognitive decline becomes undeniable
An ex-MAGA activist warns "no civic savior is coming" as Donald Trump's cognitive decline becomes undeniable
What if Donald Trump defeats President Biden and takes control of the White House in 2025? He has already announced his plans to become the country’s first dictator, and to launch a reign of terror and revenge against his so-called enemies. As detailed in documents such as Project 2025, Agenda 47, and elsewhere, the infrastructure is being created right now to put Trump's neofascist plans to end multiracial pluralistic democracy in effect on “day one." The so-called resistance will not have the courtesy of ramping up or mobilizing to stop Dictator Trump’s onslaught. It will be a “shock and awe” campaign visited upon the American people.
Dictator Trump’s reign of terror will be made even worse by the fact that as shown during recent speeches, interviews, and at other events he appears to be encountering severe difficulties in cognition, language, and memory.
In a series of recent conversations with me here at Salon, Dr. John Gartner, a prominent psychologist and contributor to the bestselling book "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President," has issued this warning: “Not enough people are sounding the alarm, that based on his behavior, and in my opinion, Donald Trump is dangerously demented. In fact, we are seeing the opposite among too many in the news media, the political leaders and among the public. There is also this focus on Biden's gaffes or other things that are well within the normal limits of aging. By comparison, Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia. This is a tale of two brains. Biden's brain is aging. Trump's brain is dementing.”
If this were a healthy democracy, we would have a press corps that would put a spotlight on what is real and not “both sides” everything while focusing on the horse race instead of the consequences of the election.
Oh, I don't know about that one. The job of the press corp is to report, not to speculate. This is one of the problems we have now, there's far too much opinion and speculation in the "news" media. I have to use quotes for news because what most Americans choose to observe as the news today is a shell of what it once was. The call should be for less speculation and more unbiased reporting and interviews for both sides.
Incidentally, since I was a kid, I've always thought the news and government leaders have failed to educate the people about policy and intents. This seems to be where speculative and opinion based journalism have taken seat.
That the media are focused on Biden‘s age, while ignoring Trump’s infirmities is absolutely maddening.
Agreed. Because (again) "the news" doesn't so much care about their responsibility as the fourth pillar of democracy but about their responsibility to advertisers and share holders. Trump and fear have always been the Big Stories that generate ad revenue.
As James Fallows pointed out, in the New York Times there were headlines on Super Tuesday’s outcomes that Trump romped and Biden has trouble while Biden got a significantly higher percentage of votes than did Trump, which tells us all too much about media bias.
I mean, he is the incumbent president. Does anyone even know who's running against him in a primary? No. because the media isn't reporting that (enough).
I'm honestly a little more distraught about what the press has become than four more years of Trump. It's in large part because of the press and media outlets pretending to be news that we have Trump in the first place.
Although, I do blame The Public's lack of interest and attention more so. People just don't care to watch actual news. They only care about headlines and short video clips and thriving in their echo chambers. So, as much as I'd love more federal funding for non-profit journalism, that's not going to overcome our disinterest in real unbiased reporting and interviewing.
I think the future of this country is very, very dismal. The polarization of politics can only get worse as we hand over all our Power of The People to social media and content makers and (eventually) AI – unless we adopt Ranked Choice Voting. RCV could very well reduce the polarization and extremism on both sides of the aisle while (eventually) cultivating a congress that works together to enact legislation making this country more representative of The People. As would public funding of all elections and regulating the power of special interest groups in DC.
I’m honestly a little more distraught about what the press has become than four more years of Trump. It’s in large part because of the press and media outlets pretending to be news that we have Trump in the first place.
We have intentional propaganda for political power (Fox/Newsmax) and we have propaganda for monetary gain (literally every single major media corporation) then there are a handful of outliers like NPR/PBS that not too many people pay attention to.
Actually, I felt hit over the head watching PBS Newshour after Katie Britt's objectively bizarre SOTU response. Here's a link to the recorded live stream timestamped immediately after Britt's address (~2:11:00)(you're welcome) https://www.youtube.com/live/nFMuU4uCFh0?si=70umbfLmLbqojLRj&t=7851
They responded like grown ass adults and (for the most part) on the content and relevance of her address. I don't know how they were able to hold it together with such professionalism. I think part of it is that they have a spectrum of political leanings there who still have respect for one another. They're there to report on the event and offer broad context to the story without getting in the weeds and bickering for ratings.