There’s no proof that Donald Trump had a grand plan to act so belligerent and off-kilter that his visible decline in mental acuity would generate minimal press coverage, but here we are. It's not all bad news because every time Trump bullies a reporter, a mime smiles in Paris and media folks get shook to press issues with the former president based on his history of fire and venom. But that's not the big story.
The big story resides in the valuation of Trump's mental capacity. If his mental health was a stock trading on the market, it would not get a hold recommendation. Yet, figuring out Trump's mental fitness is of prime importance for America right now and that won't happen if he keeps getting white-glove treatment from the press.
Most people don't punch the bully or attack the elderly, which is the Venn diagram of how Trump dodges the mental health issue. His dubious roux of obvious lies, half-truths and debunked claims that come out rapid fire, has built an aura that Trump is “crazy like a fox” and the ultimate marketer. Yet what’s on full display now is not sly, political scheming. What the world sees now is his descent into a mentally unfit state.
Trump is unlike any other president or major political party nominee. He reminds me how much I took it for granted that presidents would not be weird. The immediate danger isn’t in Trump serving as the 48th president, it’s the damage he’ll do to the country as he mixes toxicity with a tangible decline in mental faculties.
Disparaging the name of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is not a shocking move from the Trump playbook. It's disgusting, but expected. But what’s scary about Trump in this election cycle is that he's no longer rooted in reality. His Gatlin gun is filled with slander and crudity, but also with unhinged dementia and word salads. Pressing President Joe Biden about his declining mental faculties was the "Streisand Effect" in the presidential race, which is amazing and not amazing. It was also a missed opportunity to broach the topic of Trump's mental fitness.
It was like Snoop Dogg calling out Drake for using misogynist lyrics, forgetting that he once said "deez nuts" on the regular. Trump must have forgotten because Trump is wildly forgetful and forgetful is not presidential.
It requires a steely resolve to engage in discourse with decorum and tact, knowing Trump will respond with savagery. Challenging Trump on his disparage-everything energy or his handling of policy, both foreign and domestic, will unquestionably get met with vile retorts. The threatening energy of a former president calling a reporter everything but a child of god can cause someone to rethink their line of questioning.
Then, once the clip of Trump spitting venom goes viral, the blowback is experienced on the Internet, where the MAGA cult will share names, home addresses and other personal information belonging to people deemed as anti-Trump. That practice is known as doxxing, and is highly dangerous to the people targeted and to their families. This sets the precedent to tread carefully with the former president and creates hesitancy to talk about his mental state.
Trump hasn’t sat down with mental health professionals for a thorough examination, so there’s no diagnosis to support what many think they’re seeing. However, that same conjecture was enough to force President Joe Biden out of the race.
Biden’s decreased mental capacity was a sign of general aging, where physical and mental abilities become reduced. Biden was moving and talking like an elderly American, but Trump appeared to be in good physical health. He nimbly escaped the stage after the assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Butler, Penn., with the physical capacity to rise from the protective huddle of the Secret Service agents and give a fist pump to his audience.
We'll stay away from the specter of a staged shooting, and most media outlets will do the same. It's all guesswork amid the deep web in a browser near you. What doesn’t require guessing is whether Trump is obsessed with a second term. It’s a megalomaniacal obsession, which when combined with dementia, will create a dangerous energy in America.
Not questioning Trump's mental capacity is a dereliction of duty by the Fourth Estate. This should be the presidential election where all the old guys slide over, hang up the nice suits and let a different generation cook. Trump and Biden can go on to star in a string of odd-ball buddy flicks and watch the elections on TV like the rest of us.
Losing would bring out the ultimate vileness in Trump, perhaps making his actions on Jan. 6, 2021 look like a minor indiscretion. Winning would be worse, as his dementia and confusion grow by the day. America loses either way so Trump should simply be removed from the contest post-haste.
Richard Burroughs is a Brooklyn resident, DJ, art curator and a freelance writer for BK Reader.
