We can’t have a President in Name Only
Dean Obeidallah
During the 2024 campaign, Dr. John Gartner—a psychologist and co-founder of Duty To Warn—raised red flags in our interview about Donald Trump’s cognitive decline, “I honestly believe that if Trump were to get re-elected that he would become completely incapacitated in office.” That led me at the time to write an article warning that if Trump won, we could have a PINO: A President in Name Only.
Well, that appears to be where we are. True, there are times that Trump is lucid. However, anyone who has seen a loved one with dementia can back up that there are good and bad days—but over time the “bad days” far eclipse the good.
That is why we can’t ignore the just about daily signs of Trump’s cognitive decline—as well his physical decline that is interrelated. Just last week, Trump gave us another glaring example when he had no idea what habeas corpus was—confusing it for a person. He then asked Kristi Noem to answer the question about habeas corpus given Trump had no memory of a bedrock principal of our legal system.
Another very concerning incident was Trump’s inability to walk in a straight line on the red carpet when he recently met Vladimir Putin. Dr. Gartner explained, Trump’s lumbering gait is a “very diagnostic of a specific type of dementia known as frontotemporal dementia.”
This not the same Trump from a mental and physical point of view that we saw just a few years ago—a point made by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Cay Johnston who has known Trump for decades. As Johnston told me last week, “Donald’s not in good health at all–both from a physical and psychological perspective.”
And just two weeks ago, Rep. Jasmine Crockett sent a letter (that demanded more press attention) to the White House doctor posing questions about Trump’s cognitive issues given his “erratic behavior…and troubling lapses in memory and focus.” For example, she cited Trump’s recent “difficulty remembering basic facts about his own prior administration, such as forgetting that he appointed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.”
We all know the Trump regime will never give us honest answers about Trump. This is especially true when it comes to subjective cognitive tests where Trump’s doctor will interpret the results to make him look good.
That is why we need Trump to submit to a brain scan so we can have objective data about his mental state. This can be a CT scan and/or an MRI—both painless, relatively quick tests.
These were the very tests prescribed by Dr. Gartner for Trump in our recent interview. Gartner explained “parts of the brain actually die when a person has dementia and the scan will show us that.”
Other experts back this up, noting that, “Brain scanning and imaging has led to more accurate ways to diagnose dementia.” For example, the National Institute on Aging (which is part of the federal government) explains, “Several types of brain scans enable doctors and scientists to see different factors that may help diagnose Alzheimer’s or a related dementia.” As to a CT scan, it “can show shrinkage of brain regions that may occur in dementia.” An MRI “can show whether areas of the brain have atrophied (shrunk).” Overall, “Evidence of shrinkage may support a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or another neurodegenerative dementia.”
And it’s never been easier to detect dementia with these scans. That was a point recently made by the Mayo Clinic when they announced development of new AI tool “that help clinicians identify brain activity patterns linked to nine types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.” The results are incredible with the new AI tool (“StateViewer”) assisting researchers “to identify the dementia type in 88% of cases.”
All of this is why Dr. Gartner explained that “if anyone cared about Trump’s well-being and was actually doing proper medical treatment, they would definitely give him a brain scan.” But as of now either a brain scan of Trump was never conducted or the results have not been provided to us.
Most of the people reading this no doubt ferociously oppose Trump—as I do. But this transcends politics. As Rep. Crockett rightly noted in her recent letter to Trump’s physician, the American people have a right to know “whether the sitting President of the United States of America is medically and cognitively capable of fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities.” She added, “If the President is unwell, we need transparency—not a cover-up.”
We can’t have a PINO in the White House who will be fully controlled by extreme forces like Stephen Miller and Project 2025 architect/OMB Director Russ Vought. And very importantly, if Trump is not mentally competent, every decision he makes is legally suspect—if not invalid.
This is why Trump must submit for a brain scan administrated by non-partisan physicians–and where the results are provided directly to the American people. A refusal by Trump and his regime to do this means the cover up of Trump’s dementia is in full swing.
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https://deanobeidallah.substack.com/p/we-need-a-brain-scan-of-trump-to