The elephant in the room - Donald Trump's physical and mental deterioration

[GP270watch]

Has Mr. Trump gone off the deep end, and everyone just goes along with it?

 This is the way Trump has always operated. Why is this so difficult for people to understand?

 Why would it be shocking that he asked a foreign country to dig into his opponent? He did the exact same thing as candidate Trump and got away with it.

[MasterJedi]

In the middle of his speech today, Mr. Trump has what looks like some sort of whole body spasm where he fails to say "choice".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNXwFR4QGPw&feature=youtu.be&t=3151

We can only hope he fully strokes out like that during the campaign trail, would be a lot better for the country if he goes.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1180324480759013378

[Former Crackhead Mike Lindell]

Was he investigated tho

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/jheil/status/1180201807655690241

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1180354427967832064

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1178821592421404678

If Mr. Trump is incapable of even keeping himself together long enough to film ad ad, we will be seeing more campaign ads like the above, using slick graphics, animation and/or recycled footage to depict a version of him that no longer exists. "Official" deepfakes seem likely, too.

I expect we'll see Trumpless Trump ads scaring us with bomb-throwing antifa protestors, hoards of MS-13 gangs hopping across the border with steralite bins full of meth, distorted images of the Dem candidate in front of a backdrop of food lines in Venezuela, Ilhan Omar saying her noon prayers...

One more Trumpless Trump ad:

The latest appears to be more along the lines of "remember how awesome I am? because I'm awesome, right?":
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1181326889480282112

They can get him to lean on a podium and repeat strings of related one- or two-sylable words for fifteen minutes in public, so I'm not certain why we're not seeing him at all in his ads. Maybe he can't perform even to that minimal level without an audience? Or perhaps they're worried that him saying "Big, so big. Very big." for twenty seconds isn't exactly the image they want to convey?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Trump wishes Abe 'a very happy birthday' — on day of Putin's birth

U.S. President Donald Trump wished Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his golf buddy and close ally, a “very happy birthday” on Monday, at the start of a formal signing ceremony for his country’s recently reached trade deal with Japan.

But there was just one problem — Abe’s birthday is on Sept. 21.

Rather, Monday was the birthday of another leader often associated with Trump: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I want to start by wishing my very good friend, Prime Minister Abe of Japan, a very happy birthday. He’s 39 years old today,” Trump said to laughter, mispronouncing, as he often does, the Japanese leader’s name as “abby.”

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

From Mr. Trump speech at the "Values Voters Summit":

https://www.c-span.org/video/?465157-1/president-trump-addresses-values-voter-summit&start=530

They resent and disdain faithful Americans who hold fast to our nation's historic values and if given the chance, they would use every instrument of government power, including the IRS, to try to shut you down. They are using the IRS against me. Generations of Americans before us did not work. They fight, they sacrificed, they do so much, but we will never ever, no matter what happens, surrender our lib- The word liberty is so important to the radical left, together we will stand up to the socialists and we will win massive victories for family, for faith and for freedom, just like the victory we had in 2016.

Here, Mr. Trump goes into a rant about the economy, and repeatedly says, of 2016 and Obama, "If he had gotten elected",  apparently forgetting against whom he was running.

The whole speech is... something else, a tissue of lies, crimes, threat and insane facial expressions. And that's when Mr. Trump stays on script. When he wanders off, it becomes pure word salad, disconnected not just from reality, but from any meaning at all. It all receives thunderous applause.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

In the last 24 hours, Mr. Trump has:

-advocated for his own impeachment.
-claimed he doesn't know people he appointed and who work in the White House
-indicated that he he thinks there is no evidence for his Ukraine call other than the initial whistleblower

Mr. Trump was also a no-show at yesterday's statement on Turkey and northern Syria, which was delivered by VP Pence.




 

[T'Chenka]

In the last 24 hours, Mr. Trump has:

-advocated for his own impeachment.
-claimed he doesn't know people he appointed and who work in the White House
-indicated that he he thinks there is no evidence for his Ukraine call other than the initial whistleblower

Mr. Trump was also a no-show at yesterday's statement on Turkey and northern Syria, which was delivered by VP Pence.




 

NOT SAFE FOR WORK
Unhinged Trump (with Pence) confronts Pelosi, Schumer and Schiff on impeachment

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1180354427967832064

That 1000-yard stare on the one guy, though.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Mr. Trump seems to forget all world leaders aren't Eastern European, welcomes Italian President Sergio Mattarella as "Sergey Mattarallavilli".

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1184518920365133827
I'm not watching, but suspect that the rest of this press conference will be even worse.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

It's time to question the Goldwater Rule.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2019/10/11/donald-trump-mentally-unfit-american-psychiatric-association-column/3917647002/

[Middle-aged Europe]

Given Trump's recent letter to Erdogan I wouldn't be surprised when we end with statements like "Me strong, you weak. Make good deal!" in about a year from now.

[Pheurton Skeurto]

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1180324480759013378

[Ban my account ffs!]

Imagine being Donald Trump and having to keep a scab bag of horror like smellybane conway around just to keep her stench from spreading even more.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

The Unraveling of Donald Trump

The country is entering a new and precarious phase, in which the central question about President Donald Trump is not whether he is coming unstrung, but rather just how unstrung he is going to get.

The boiling mind of Trump has spawned a cottage industry for cognitive experts who have questioned whether he is, well, all there. But as the impeachment inquiry barrels ahead on Capitol Hill, several associates of the president, including former White House aides, worry that his behavior is likely to get worse. Angered by the proceedings, unencumbered by aides willing to question his judgment, and more and more isolated in the West Wing, Trump is apt to lash out more at enemies imagined and real, these people told me. Conduct that has long been unsettling figures to deteriorate as Trump comes under mounting stress. What unfolded Wednesday inside the West Wing’s walls might be only a foretaste of what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described that day, after a meeting with Trump, as a presidential “meltdown.”

“He’s grown more comfortable in the job and less willing to assimilate new information and trust new advisers,” a former White House official told me. “He’s decided to throw caution to the wind and go it alone, especially when he’s stressed and feels under attack and threatened in various ways. Then his worst impulses and vices shine through.”

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1185601702977855489

[junior chįmp]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1185601702977855489

Just like Hitler.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

People need to stop with this nonsense.

Politicians and Presidents are under almost 24/7 media cameras and scrutiny. Imagine having a camera follow you around daily for years - it would document some pretty stupid moments. Why? Because it’s human to ‘have a moment’. It just so happens that those moments are exposed for the world to see with Trump et al.

That should make it very easy to produce a video, taken within the last 3 months, of him having a normal conversation, One where he demonstrates both basic understanding of the subject of discussion and the ability to follow the thread of the conversation.

Since none of Donald Trump's supporters seem up to the challenge, I'll play devil's advocate.

Here's a Fox News "interview" from Donald's visit to his border fence last month (where he appears to have painted his face the same color as his fence in honor of the occasion):
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/09/19/trump_interview_with_fncs_ed_henry_interest_rates_iran_border_wall_guns.html

Note how Ed Henry carefully feeds Donald context while asking questions, including telling Donald what Donald's own position is.

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1185601702977855489

It was never on the rails. This is what a Trump presidency was always going to be like, and anyone who thought otherwise was willfully ignorant.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Earlier today, hospitality professional Donald Trump (similar to gentleman Kim Jong Un, whom he likes) trotted out a collection of his followers for a song and dance number (which his staff called a "Cabinet Meeting") in front of the press. But before letting the performers do their bit, he first raved madly for a while, then "answered" a few questions with more raving.

All quotes taken from, "Remarks by President Trump in Cabinet Meeting". Leaving aside the endless parade of straight-up lies and delusions there were also a number of episodes of pure madness, a small selection of which I've repbosted here.

First, utterly unprompted, from Donald Trump's initial stream of... something:

Tulsi — I don’t know Tulsi, but she’s not a Russian agent.  I don’t know Jill Stein.  I know she likes environment.  I don’t think she likes Russians.  If she does like them, I know she’s not a asset.  She called her an “asset” of Russia.  These people are sick.  There’s something wrong with them.

Now, as far as ISIS is concerned, when I took over — November, 2016 — ISIS was all over the place.  I’m the one — meaning it was me and this administration, working with others, including the Kurds — that captured all of these people that we’re talking about right now.

Because President Obama — it was a mess.  And I was told and you were told, and everybody told it would be years before you ever did what I did in about a month and a half after I started.  I went over to Iraq, I met with our generals, and we figured out a plan, and it was done within a month and a half.  I’m the one that did the capturing.  I’m the one that knows more about it than you people or the — or the fake pundits.

As you know, most of the ISIS fighters that we captured — “we.”  We.  Not Obama.  We.  We captured them.  Me.  Our country captured them, working with others, including the Kurds.  And we helped them, don’t forget.  We helped the Kurds.  Everyone said the Kurds helped us; that’s true.  But we helped the Kurds.  They’re no angels, but we helped the Kurds.

The conversation I had was perfect.  And what happened is I released the conversation, and that threw Shifty Schiff off.  Crooked — he was a corrupt politician.  Schiff is a corrupt politician.  That threw him off because he made up a lie.  He made up what I said in my conversation.  And he went before the United States Congress, and he said a made-up story; it was fabricated.  He totally fabricated it.  They said he’s — he’s a screenwriter.  Well, this was screenwritten.  It was a fabricated story.

Remember this: If Turkey misbehaves — I don’t think they will — but we have a power that nobody thought we had, to the extent.  It’s called sanctions.  It’s called tariffs.  We’ll tariff the hell out of their product coming here.  They send tremendous amounts of steel to the United States and other things.  We will tariff them and we will sanction them.  But I don’t want to use that as a threat because Mike Pence and our Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, they went out and they negotiated a very good five-day ceasefire.  I’m sure if we needed a little extension, that would be happening.  But our power is — our power of economics, it’s very powerful.

Then, in response to questions from the press (at the same aforementioned "Cabinet Meeting, still before any Cabinet Members had a chance to put on their acts) hospitality professional Donald Trump raved some more. A few excerpts follow. (I haven't bothered to include questions, since Donald wasn't really answering them.)

Remember this: When Iraq was fighting the Kurds, everybody thought we were going to fight with the Kurds.  I said, “Well, it’s a little strange that we’re fighting with the Kurds when we just spent $4 trillion on Iraq and now we’re going to be fighting Iraq.”  So what I did is I said, “We’re not going to take a position.  Let them fight themselves.”  I thought the Kurds would do very well.  Everyone said, “Oh, the Kurds will do very well.”  Well, Iraq moved in and the Kurds left.  They didn’t fight because they didn’t have us to fight with.

Now you have to say, “Well, do we have to protect somebody that gave a false account?”  You know, these whistleblowers, they have them like they’re angels.  Okay?  So do we have to protect somebody that gave a totally false account of my conversation?  I don’t know.  You tell me.  Do we have to protect the informant?  Now, I happen to think there probably wasn’t an informant.  You know, the informant went to the whistleblower, the whistleblower had second- and third-hand information.  You remember that.  It was a big problem.

But the information was wrong.  So was there actually an informant?  Maybe the informant was Schiff.  It could be Shifty Schiff.  In my opinion, it’s possibly Schiff.  Why didn’t Schiff say that he and his staff, or his staff, or a whole group — why didn’t he say that he met with the whistleblower?  He knew all about the whistleblower.  Why didn’t he say?

But other Presidents, if you look — other Presidents were wealthy.  Not huge wealth.  George Washington was actually considered a very, very rich man at the time.  But they ran their businesses.  George Washington, they say, had two desks: He had a presidential desk and a business desk.  I don’t think you people, with this phony emoluments clause —

I go to these massive basketball arenas, like in Dallas, where the Mavericks play, and fill it up and set a record.  I’ve set a record in almost every place I’ve been because we just need a little small stage.  We don’t need basketball courts, ice hockey courts.  And I take less than musicians, because they have bands.  I don’t have band.  I set the world record for somebody without a guitar.  Okay?  I don’t have bands.  All right?

They’re interviewing — they’re interviewing ambassadors who I’d never heard of.  I don’t know who these people are.  I never heard of them.  And I have great respect for some of them.  One of them said, just recently — a very, very highly respected man — I’m not going to get into their names, but a highly — said, “No, no.  We were very, very bothered by Joe Biden and his son back during the Obama administration.”  He said, “We were very…”  He’s supposed to be their witness.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1187110831915450370

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1188888158991052809

World salad.