By Ad astra
Code: Dx = diagnosis. ‘The clincher’ = a fact, argument, or event that settles a matter conclusively.
How many times have we questioned the mental status of POTUS Trump?
It was as far back as November 2016 that we began to do so with Let’s welcome President Trump. Even then, Michael Moore expressed his doubts about Trump’s surprise election and predicted, albeit incorrectly:
This is why we’re not going to have to suffer through four years of Donald J. Trump, because he has no ideology except the ideology of Donald J. Trump. And when you have a narcissist like that, who’s so narcissistic where it’s all about him, he will – maybe unintentionally – break laws. He will break laws because he’s only thinking about what’s best for him.
In May 2017 we began to ask questions about Trump’s competence and performance in 100 days of President Trump.
In June 2017 we were already asserting Trump becomes irrelevant.
In July 2017, just a few months after his election, we first asked: Is Donald Trump Mad?
In October 2017, even more alarmed, we posted: Who thought Trump couldn’t get worse?
In March 2018 there was an anguished: What can be done about President Trump?
In April 2018, already convinced of his unsuitability as POTUS, we wrote: Morally unfit.
Seeing the end possibly approaching in November 2018, we posted: Is Donald Trump Crumbling?
Last October we asked the question again with: Is Donald Trump Mad – Revisited?
It concluded with:
What a dilemma Trump is for international statesmen and ordinary folk the world over, all of whom fear what this erratic, unpredictable, unbalanced, loud-mouthed, egocentric man will do next. Just listening to his daily harangues from the White House forecourt, and reading his endless Tweets, is enough to alarm any sensible observer. Time and again his pronouncements on trade and economic issues have confused the stock market and sent it into disarray.
Which is why we ask once more: Is Donald Trump mad? Let us have your opinion.
Finally, that piece extended an invitation: If you still have lingering doubts about Donald Trump’s mental state, take a look at this YouTube videotape from MSNBC: The Dangerous case of Donald Trump; 27 Psychiatrists Assess. You may care to review it.
All of the above may evoke readers to ask: “Why then do you seek to provide still more evidence about Trump’s mental state? Haven’t we seen enough already? In medicine, when we believe we’ve nailed the final diagnosis, we declare we’ve got ‘the clincher’, a fact, argument, or event that settles the matter conclusively.
I use ‘clincher’ here since Trump’s performance in recent weeks sounds like one to me. He has sought to give advice about the treatment of people suffering from COVID-19, which has been not only uninformed and stupid; it’s been downright dangerous. You’ve heard his suggestions, reported by SBS News
Medical authorities should look into whether injecting disinfectant into people’s lungs and exposing them to a “very powerful light” could cure coronavirus. These comments that came after Department of Homeland Security spokesman William Bryan, told the daily coronavirus briefing at the White House that early research was indicating the coronavirus dies faster in warm and humid weather than in cold and drier conditions. “Increasing the temperature and humidity … is generally less favourable to the virus,” he said. He also said common disinfectants and bleaches were also extremely effective in killing the virus. This evoked Trump to ask: “Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light … and supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you’re gonna test that,” Mr Trump said, gesturing towards Mr Bryan.
“And then I see disinfectant, where it knocks coronavirus out in a minute; is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. It gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs.
“So, it’d be interesting to check that. So, that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds interesting to me.”
Since mid-March Mr Trump has advocated the use of chloroquine to treat COVID-19 infections, with scant evidence of its safety or effectiveness. Now medical experts are warning the dangers of this drug, which they fear might make matters worse. Earlier this week the head of the US agency in charge of developing a vaccine against coronavirus said he was removed from his job for questioning chloroquine.
Yet all this rhetoric has been offered by Trump in the face of 13.8 million more Americans losing their jobs, and an unprecedented 30 million seeking unemployment benefits during the last six weeks.
That’s not all: he has to contend with the fact that the US economy is shrinking at the fastest rate since 2008, as reported by the BBC.
The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending – which accounts for about two thirds of the US economy – dropped 7.6% in the first three months of the year. Spending on food services and accommodation plummeted more than 70%, while clothing and footwear purchases were down more than 40%. Health spending also plunged – despite the virus – as concerns about infection prompted doctors to postpone routine treatments and other medical care.
The economic pain in the US is expected to be even more severe in the April-June period, but economists say even the estimate for the first quarter is likely to be revised lower, as the government receives more data. “It’s very difficult to gauge the depth of the decline,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics: “The economy has just been flattened. We won’t really know the extent of the economic damage for years.”
To add to this lamentable picture, Trump is witnessing the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the US, with over 1.2 million confirmed cases and already almost 70,000 deaths, the highest rate in the world.
Against all of this background, are you now convinced about the dangerous mental state of the POTUS? What is the Trump Dx? Have recent events been a ‘clincher’ for you too?
If you still harbour doubts, read this article in Salon. Are you alarmed? Is the whole world in peril with this man at the helm?
What can be done?
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This article was originally published on The Political Sword
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