Henry Abraham via Henry David Abraham’s Stuff for Public Consumption:

‘Last week I wrote in my Substack piece “Why the Emperor Has No Clothes” what may be behind Trump’s increasing profanity and lying. I appreciate McWhorter’s description of the three stages of profanity, but Trump’s profanity is more than just “how language works.” He misses how dementia works. One aspect of the disorder is disinhibition, an increasing inability to hold back thoughts, words, and actions which people can do under normal circumstances. Other signs include diminished speech, poor emotional control, reduced judgment (the Iran war, for example), confusion, memory impairment, and disorientation. Speaking during an event at the UN the President asked, “Where’s Marco? Where’s Marco?” Secretary of State Marco Rubio was sitting next to him.

A single mental lapse is not dementia. Multiple lapses, on the other hand, all point in the same worrisome direction. We can apply O’Donnell’s “sir” test to catch the President in a manufactured memory. We can even use McWhorter’s three stages of profanity as a test for increasing disinhibition. Look for Donald Trump to break the taboo against racist and homophobic language. That will be the best, and worst, tell of all. But perhaps no tests or tells will be needed. There were empty seats recently at Trump rallies in deep red Alabama, Ohio, and Tennessee. America may be awakening from its nightmare…’