My Blog Week: April 7 to April 13

A Word on the Week

We’ve had lots of speculation about the American president’s rambling, choppy habits of speech. Commentators often counter that armchair diagnoses aren’t fair. True. We’ll expect, nonetheless, a heckload of speculation on the fitness of candidates, what they might be “hiding” in their personal lives, etc., as the 2020 election approaches.

It seems to me, and this is observable, that Mr. Trump has gone for decades surrounded by people who smile and nod, who bear (maybe just tune out) his repetitions and his unfinished sentences. His rally audiences cheer them. When he spoke this week on the Masters golf tournament, someone might have intervened, hearing the same phrases over and over: “You know Tiger Woods, don’t you?” “How many years, now, have you been watching the Masters?” The president seems to access things he has just said, things most ready-to-hand; he is not challenged to dig deeper. His emotional state seems not to vary. Memories are linked to feelings other than the present ones; feelings in turn link to memories.

Cognitive decline is possible. But Mr. Trump’s bad habits have been reinforced by his coterie for years. The fact is, they don’t engage with him. Even his sympathetic Fox interviewers just offer him jumping-off points.