The Accelerated Unraveling of Donald Trump
By Leonard L. Glass, Edwin B. Fisher, and Bandy X. Lee
June 13, 2020
The last few weeks have seen a marked and unmistakable deterioration in Donald Trump’s mental functioning. While his unfounded embrace of conspiracy theories have been a hallmark of his shaky capacity to assess external reality, in the past he only had to promote his views with enough gusto and repetition, buttressed by references to “people are saying” and Fox talking heads to seem to carry the day on social media. Many viewed him as, if not entirely plausible, at least consistent, confident, and entertaining. But a succession of bizarre and outrageous assertions have been so obviously disturbed that even normally quiescent Republican leaders and military officers have felt compelled to break their silence. His judgment is badly damaged and his desperate flailing to regain his supremacy is impossible to miss.
He seized on an absurd claim from an extremist newsfeed to assert that the 75-year-old man pushed to the ground and badly injured was, in fact, an Antifa plant and provocateur. The week before, he had peaceful protesters gassed so he could walk across the park and stand in front of a church he doesn’t attend holding a bible like a seized trophy. His imperative need to posture, to make a display of his authority and religious adherence, blinded him to the obvious…
