[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
I’m still furious after listening to and reading yesterday’s interview on NPR’s Fresh Air. I’ve already vented about it in the debate post so I’ll spare you a repeat.
But I’ll be candid and disclose that one of the reasons I was so goddamned upset was personal.
You see, yesterday morning when I couldn’t immediately post the SCOTUS decisions, I was caring for a family member who has dementia and Parkinson’s-like symptoms.
We spent the entire day together. I’m sure the people they ran into briefly while we went about errands thought she was fine. They made small purchases, ordered lunch, managed not to lose any personal belongings.
But they didn’t spend enough time with this person to know how damaged they are.
They have a stooped posture and shuffling gait which is common among Parkinson’s patients; they have difficulty with walking distances and have no grip strength. Forget about doing anything like riding a bike because they don’t have the strength or balance for it in spite of going to the gym to work out three days a week. They frequently need to hang onto to doorframes when there is a change in elevation entering a room.
They repeat themselves; I must have heard a variation of the same story four times inside a half hour, and on several occasions yesterday.
They can’t remember new material longer than fifteen minutes.
They have difficulty explaining concepts in which they were once expert.
They lie or confabulate to make up for gaps in their ability to retain new information or express concepts they once knew well.
They sundown, becoming anxious as the afternoon and evening progresses, losing orientation in time and location, becoming agitated when their unease exceeds their ability to hold themselves together. Rather like a toddler in need of a nap they act out.
After getting through dinner and handing this family member off to their regular caregivers, once out of my sight, they melted down.
This person can’t be left alone any longer; they have been struggling with their activities of daily living like remembering to take medications regularly and at the same time each day. Timers on medication bottles no longer work to this end.
There is no way this person could hold a full-time job let alone a part-time one. They can’t focus for long on any task.
This is stable behavior now after they’ve been put on medications for night-time seizures which affected their sleep and an Alzheimer’s medication which hasn’t improved their condition but leveled it off.
Reality Check
So while some folks panic about Joe Biden’s performance during the debate, I want to tell you to get a fucking clue and check in with reality. Biden was likely unwell and fatigued; imagine how well you’d perform under the same conditions, regardless of your age.
The former guy, however, no matter his performance last night…
This guy has had muscle coordination problems for years now, obvious during his term in office.
This guy has had problems walking over changes in elevation.
This guy has had difficulty walking distances, including the 700 yards G7 leaders walked in 2017.
This guy has experienced phonemic aphasia with increasing frequency.
Over the weekend, Donald delivered two speeches that left viewers shocked about his health. It wasn’t just the content of his speeches — the plethora of lies and the fascistic rhetoric — that made headlines: it was his apparent aphasia (or, to be technically accurate, phonemic paraphasias). That is the type of mental confusion that might leave one saying “Venzwhere” instead of “Venezuela” or “wall mongers” instead of “war mongers.”
“Putin has so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word,” Donald said on Saturday night to a silent audience.
The silence likely stemmed from the fact that Obama hasn’t been president for over seven years.
(source: Mary L. Trump, Losing It)
This guy acts out violently when anxious and agitated.
~ ~ ~
I know which of the two candidates at last night’s debate is and has been suffering from cognitive and other neurological impairment, and whom I wouldn’t and couldn’t trust to tackle the nation’s most sensitive matters.
I also know I would not trust the candidate who during his first week in office ordered a ban on Muslims entering the U.S.
I would not trust the candidate who so carelessly and indifferently failed to respond appropriately in advance of and following a hurricane which eventually took thousands of American lives.
I would not trust the candidate who let his son-in-law deny federal COVID aid to blue states.
I would not trust the candidate who refuses to be pinned down on reproductive rights though his appointments to the Supreme Court have now resulted in the mounting loss of maternal and infant lives.
I would not trust the candidate who appointed so many persons who demonstrated bad faith, lousy judgment, and poor ethics during his term in office, and who removed or forced out so many good federal employees.
I cannot trust the candidate who refused to return presidential records and classified documents including national defense information, storing them improperly and even showing them off to unauthorized persons while in his possession.
Nor can I trust the future of this country, its democracy, and its very sovereignty to the candidate who has said he wants to be a dictator on Day One of his term in office, and who has been compromised by hostile foreign governments.
How you who are panicking after the debate have forgotten all this is beyond me. Has COVID sapped our nation’s collective ability to recall what happened during Trump’s term in office? Did you actually fall for the seasoned con man’s ability to gain your confidence once again because he managed to hold it together for a single carefully-managed appearance on stage?
Save your fucking panic and get to work because for some of us this is personal — our lives depend on it.