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Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Trump: Then and Now

Yesterday the Daily Show did a send up of Trump's "Fascist Week" antics. Trevor Noah ridiculed him for unknowingly retweeting a Mussolini quote, even though it was originated by "ilduce2016." ("Il duce" is the Italian equivalent of Hitler's "Der Führer.").

The episode also looked at the interview in which Trump refused to disavow an endorsement from white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. Afterwards Trump claimed he couldn't understand the question because of a faulty earpiece. Seriously? He repeated the name "David Duke" and variations on the phrase "white supremacist" several times, so he clearly heard the words, but he just didn't seem to get it.

I have no doubt Trump had problems understanding the question. He hasn't aged well, so he's probably suffering from significant hearing loss. He may have been repeating the words to make sure that he had heard them properly.

The problem I have with Trump isn't so much the lack of disavowal (because we know Trump is intentionally courting -- nay, inciting -- the racist vote), but the physical and mental deficits Trump is clearly displaying in the clip from Sunday, which starts at about 8:30 in the video.

Notice how confused and pinched Trump's expression is. Notice how frequently he blinks. High blink rates are associated with several things: dry eyes, schizophrenia, stress, and lying. I'm guessing Trump is suffering from three out of four of these -- your guess as to which. (As a bonus, notice how bloated and orange his face is, and how white his skin is around the small, beady eyes, and how silly his hair looks. I wouldn't normally point this out, but since Trump is constantly deriding other people for their appearance -- making light of Rosie O'Donnell's weight, or insisting that Heidi Klum is no longer a 10 -- it's only fair to point out that Trump himself is a pasty, dumpy three and was never more than a five.)

Now look at time index 9:50 in the video, which is an interview Trump gave in 2000. He mentions Duke by name as the reason he's getting out of the presidential race. Trump sounds relatively coherent and reasoned.

Comparing the two Trumps side by side, it is clear that Trump's mental and physical state have greatly deteriorated in the last 16 years. Comparing him to other politicians of a similar age -- Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton -- and even older politicians like Bernie Sanders and Jimmy Carter, Trump has not aged well at all.

In recent days Republicans like Marco Rubio have stooped to Trump's level, hurling all kinds of inane insults at the billionaire. Yet they have not yet touched on what is a completely legitimate concern: Trump's rapidly advancing senile dementia.

This is a serious concern. What will the Republicans do if  Trump strokes out from a Viagra overdose having sex with his mistress a month before the election?

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