Trump’s nephew insists ex-president is showing ‘dementia’ signs like his grandpa
www.independent.co.uk
Fred Trump has endorsed Kamala Harris for president
    • 5C5C5C@programming.dev
      603·
      3 months ago

      People keep saying he’s getting worse, but to me he just seems like the same old narcissistic racist asshole that he’s always been 🤷‍♂️

      Maybe his “charisma”, if you can call it that, is faltering a bit, but he may just be off balance from the sudden storm of twists over the past month.

      • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.worldEnglish
        27·
        3 months ago

        Odd timing to say this as his last 4-5 appearances at a microphone have mostly been a disaster. He was definitely prone to rambling in 2016 and 2020 but now he rambles all the time and in ways that don’t make a lick of sense. I really think that this is less cognitive issues and more just age of the brain slowing him down and confusing him.

        We still have a long ways to go until November. So many more court appearances, rallies, engagements. I’m wondering if he even has the stamina because I think he’s weighing that and new poll data and having a meltdown about it currently.

    • Fondots@lemmy.world
      36·
      3 months ago

      My grandfather had dementia, for a long time it was pretty hard to tell what was dementia and what was just him not giving a fuck. He was always someone who just did whatever he wanted and wasn’t afraid to go against the grain and didn’t really care what anyone thought of him, and he was kind of always that way. It would be really hard to pick apart which of his quirks were dementia related and what was just him. Standing naked in the doorway of his room at the nursing home waggling his dick at the lady across the hall sure sounds a lot like a dementia patient, but it also sounds like something an immature, womanizing troublemaker would do if they knew they were pretty much immune from getting in any actual trouble.

      He didn’t have the most severe case of dementia, it didn’t progress super fast, I’m sure if I went months or years without seeing him I could have picked out some changes, but since we saw him regularly it was really difficult to see the changes over time.

      And if he had an army of lackeys getting paid to cover up his mistakes and trying to keep him in line, he probably could have passed as relatively mentally competent almost up until the very end.

      I won’t pretend that my grandfather’s moral compass always pointed north, but he definitely had one. He could also be pretty charming and personable when he wanted to. If he threw his morals out the window and had any political ambitions, he probably could have become an even more dangerous trump if someone had given him a small loan of a million dollars. Luckily all he ever really wanted to do was drive a bus.

      Funnily enough, most of his siblings ended up fairly rich thanks to a successful business venture my grandfather wasn’t interested in. Those branches of the family turned out a lot of real conservative assholes, and once the money started drying up, also a lot of criminals a generation or two down the line.

      • michaelmrose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        3 months ago

        Trump received closer to 400M. His father was steady moving money to him to avoid it being taxed for literally his entire life.

    • StereoTrespasser@lemmy.world
      1110·
      3 months ago

      Except he’s not dumb. He will go down in history as one of the world’s most infamous conmen. He knows how to manipulate, cheat, steal, and fire up rioting crowds. He is a piece of shit, but he’s not dumb.

      • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
        17·
        3 months ago

        If he was smart he wouldn’t be flailing so badly now. All he’s ever done is act according to his basic impulses, but he happened to find himself in a position (inheriting a lot of money and living in a culture that prizes loud ignorance) where those impulses worked to his advantage. If he was actually smart he’d be able to adapt to changing circumstances, and he’s repeatedly shown himself to be incapable of that.

      • bostonbananarama@lemmy.world
        15·
        3 months ago

        I don’t think I’ve read an interview from anyone who has worked with Trump that doesn’t say he’s one of the dumbest people they’ve ever interacted with. He’s absolutely a con man but he’s also stupid.

      • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
        11·
        3 months ago

        Yeah, all true, but… He’s also really dumb. It’s impressive to see how far he got but remember that he got an enormous head start, financially, from his father

      • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
        10·
        3 months ago

        Being a good salesmen doesn’t automatically mean someone is smart.

        He is dumb, he is just good at convincing other dumb people.

      • DancingBear
        5·
        3 months ago

        Meh, I dunno… he started off with the total life wages of a thousand regular folks, and by all accounts he has managed to lose some net worth in our crazy capitalist system

      • MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world
        5·
        3 months ago

        Except he’s not dumb.

        This is the same guy that was staring directly at an eclipse without protective eyewear, correct?

      • michaelmrose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        3 months ago

        To be smart is to have universal reasoning skills. Having particular skills doesn’t make you smart. Plenty of people have worked to acquire narrow skills without having much general intelligence.

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        39·
        3 months ago

        I’ve been arguing this for years, and it’s insane the pushback I get when I suggest this. He’s very intelligent, he’s a narcissist. He’s an actor. He’s playing a dumbass and doing it well. It plays to the crowd he wants to play to amazingly.

        You don’t get to where he is in life by being dumb. You get there by being manipulative.

        • michaelmrose@lemmy.worldEnglish
          9·
          3 months ago

          You get where he is by starting with a massive pile of money. His father funneled hundreds of millions to him. He would be doing as good or better if he had just stuck it in an index fund and drawn his salary from it. Meanwhile the real estate market in his lifetime has exploded in value. If he was smart or any good at it he would be richer than he plays on TV.

          His move from unsuccessful but still rich “developer” to celebrity then president is down to three things. The apprentice where he pretended to be richer and more successful than he actually is, a massive backlash against the first black president, and the fact that he faced off against Obama in the public eye and put himself forward.

          He is basically the fucking avatar of ignorant, stupid, white privilege. A man who “succeeded” in terms of not losing the hundreds of millions of dollars given to him convincing himself and others that he hit a triple when he was born on third base and gabbed and postured his way into the head of a crowd with no higher aspiration than making America white again.

            • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
              2·
              3 months ago

              His casinos lost 90% of their worth before they went bankrupt. Before you come in with the excuse that the economy drastically affected his ability to run a money-making machine, the other casinos in the area only doubled their worth in the same time. It was a difficult time, but you have to be pretty dumb to lose money in a business with the unofficial slogan of “the house always wins.”

  • Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    62·
    3 months ago

    Just do the same as with his dad. Put him in a room with a fake phone giving him random stuff to sign so he thinks he still has a say in anything

  • MehBlah@lemmy.world
    52·
    3 months ago

    I was disowned for pointing out my mother was losing her faculties. They both died without once acknowledging it. Preferring instead to pretend no one noticed until it couldn’t be ignored. That nephew is probably right but that doesn’t mean those shitbags wont try to punish him for it.

    • Tyfud@lemmy.world
      50·
      3 months ago

      If you read his newly released book, all in the family, they already totally fucked him and his sister or of the inheritance because Donald needed money to pay off the failing casinos, and he manipulated his dementia riddled dad into disowning his brother’s kids because his brother died trying to become a pilot instead of taking on the family business.

      I wish I was making that up.

    • Sho@lemmy.world
      2·
      3 months ago

      I don’t trust it, it may be an act to give him an out similar to what happened to Ron Jeremy.

  • qarbone@lemmy.worldEnglish
    218·
    3 months ago

    Why do I care what Trump’s nephew has to say about any of this whem my eyes amd ears are perceiving Trump just fine? Didn’t say he was a doctor, so all we got is some rando’s anecdoctal evidence.

    • normanwall@lemmy.world
      14·
      3 months ago

      I have read that often a baseline is needed to do a good comparison and analysis for changes in mental condition.

      While it’s anecdotal, biased and not a professional opinion, this family member may have a better starting point to compare the decline than most people.