When Power and Reality Diverge
Most of us know a neighbor, a parent, or a close friend who’s entered a stage of life where age begins to affect how they communicate, move and make decisions. So when we saw all of those same signs in Joe Biden, the slower walk, the occasional pause or repetition, it wasn’t unfamiliar.
What’s harder to understand is the media’s relentless coverage of Biden’s aging, contrasted with near silence around Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic and alarming behavior.
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell called out this double standard in a June 2025 segment of The Last Word. He condemned the press for magnifying Biden’s age while ignoring the cognitive decline evident in Trump’s public statements.
After Trump bizarrely suggested he might appoint himself Chair of the Federal Reserve, O’Donnell said: “We must not grow weary of reminding ourselves what the White House press corps would have done if Joe Biden ever said anything like that.”
This post isn’t just about age. It’s about what happens when cognitive decline combines with authoritarianism and no one close enough to stop it is willing to speak up.
The Cracks in the Mind: Evidence of Cognitive Decline
| Symptom | Public Example |
|---|---|
| Inability to answer questions | At the “Alligator Alcatraz” event, Trump was asked how long detainees would be held. He responded, “This is my home state. I love it. I’ll spend a lot of time here”. |
| Fragmented speech | Uses loops like “we’ll see what happens” and “a lot of people are saying,” often ending thoughts mid-sentence. |
| Absence from duty | Trump hasn’t appeared in the Oval Office on Mondays for weeks. Marine guard outside the office doesn’t post until late afternoon. |
| Physical deterioration | Neurologists observed a right leg semicircular gait — consistent with frontotemporal dementia. Slurred speech and poor stair coordination have worsened. |
| Erratic behavior | Proposed rebuilding Alcatraz as a symbol of democracy. Suggested CNN should be prosecuted for false reporting on Iran. Floated deporting native-born Americans he deems “bad people”. |
What the Experts Are Saying in Current Commentary
Mental health professionals and neurologists in 2025 have intensified their warnings about Donald Trump’s cognitive state, citing clear patterns of decline. In a July interview on The Dean Obeidallah Show, Dr. John Gartner, a psychologist and former faculty member at Johns Hopkins, spoke about Trump’s signs of frontotemporal dementia. He pointed to Trump’s impaired motor coordination, including his distinct right leg swing, slurred speech, repetitive phrasing, and difficulty processing new information. “I’m absolutely convinced it’s frontotemporal dementia,” Gartner stated. “The telltale signs are all there.”
| Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, leading to changes in personality, behavior, language, and executive function. Unlike Alzheimer’s, memory loss is not typically the first symptom. Early signs often include impulsivity, emotional detachment, repetitive speech, and difficulty with planning or adapting. This Mayo Clinic’s overview of FTD, provides an explanation of symptoms, causes, and progression. |
Earlier in the year, the editorial team at NeuroLaunch published a comprehensive analysis of Trump’s cognitive patterns. They observed simplified vocabulary, repetitive speech loops, and episodes of disorientation, including misidentifying public figures and wandering off during scheduled events. Their report also warned that Trump’s chronic stress, poor diet, and inconsistent sleep schedule could be accelerating neurological deterioration. While Trump reportedly boasted a perfect MoCA score (personally, I wouldn’t rule out another lie), the team emphasized that such evaluations fail to capture the executive complexity required for presidential decision-making.
Together, these assessments paint a concerning picture: a public figure exhibiting mounting cognitive rigidity and declining reality-testing, while holding unchecked political power.
Authoritarianism
Donald Trump’s authoritarian predispositions have grown increasingly explicit, punctuated by actions that reveal a disregard for democratic norms and legal guardrails. Most glaring are his public threats to revoke the citizenship of native-born critics, including Rosie O’Donnell and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, both of whom were born in the United States and are protected by the 14th Amendment. These threatened actions are unconstitutional, suggesting a governing philosophy rooted in personal vengeance and power consolidation.
Trump has repeatedly floated federal takeovers of major cities, starting with Washington, D.C., where he proposed to “run it flawlessly”, dismissing its long-standing local autonomy. This month, he escalated further, threatening to seize control of New York City if Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor, were elected. “If a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting. “We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to.” Legal experts immediately flagged the statement as unconstitutional, noting that the presidency does not grant authority to override local elections or impose federal control over cities based on political disagreement.
“There is no emergency power that allows a president to take over a city simply because he doesn’t like its elected leadership. The 10th Amendment reserves those powers to the states.”
Elizabeth Goitein, Brennan Center for Justice (source)
In Los Angeles, Trump deployed active-duty Marines and federalized National Guard troops to enforce ICE raids, even after public unrest had subsided, marking a troubling normalization of military force in civilian spaces.
Trump’s legal aggression has deepened. The Department of Justice, under his direction, has investigated critics and journalists, including threats to prosecute CNN for what he labeled “false reports” about military action in Iran. Meanwhile, Trump issued mass pardons for more than 1,500 individuals convicted in connection with the January 6 insurrection, signaling a sweeping tolerance for political violence.
Perhaps most alarming is Trump’s endorsement of Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for consolidating executive control over federal agencies. While he later denied knowledge of the plan, Trump’s administration has already moved to implement key components, including expanding the power of the Office of Management and Budget to override agency independence and civil service protections.
This is a pattern that becomes even more dangerous when paired with cognitive decline and institutional silence.
Instability Meets Impulse
Donald Trump’s cognitive decline and authoritarian drive don’t exist in isolation. They feed off one another in ways that make his leadership dangerously unpredictable. Neurological deterioration leads to impulsivity, emotional rigidity and confusion; authoritarianism channels those traits into sweeping actions that bypass law and target perceived enemies. The result is a presidency ruled less by deliberation than by spectacle and retaliation. Trump’s erratic behavior isn’t checked by conscience and it’s no longer restrained by institutions either. A Republican-controlled Congress has shown little interest for oversight, prioritizing loyalty over legality. Meanwhile, a sympathetic Supreme Court majority has already weakened tools that lower courts once used to block executive overreach. The civil service is being reshaped around personal allegiance, hollowing out its function as a stabilizing force. Taken together, this isn’t mere dysfunction. It’s volatility at the highest level of power.
When reality slips and no one around Trump says “no,” the resulting damage can become catastrophic for both the political and constitutional processes.
What Democracy Requires Right Now
Silence is complicity. Spectacle is not governance.
What you can do:
📞 Contact your representatives – demand mental fitness standards and executive oversight
🗞 Support independent media – truth-tellers need reinforcements.
🎓 Educate your networks – confusion thrives in shadows.
♥ Protect vulnerable communities – they are early warning signs and first-line victims.
🗳 Vote with your eyes wide open – democracy’s survival isn’t automatic.