{"id":27458,"date":"2025-07-17T14:53:41","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T18:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=27458"},"modified":"2025-07-17T14:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T18:53:41","slug":"trump-tragedy-alzheimers-aging-cognitive-decline-diminishing-mental-faculties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=27458","title":{"rendered":"

TRUMP TRAGEDY: Alzheimer’s & Aging, Cognitive Decline & Diminishing Mental Faculties<\/b><\/h2>"},"content":{"rendered":"

THREE RATIONAL CALCULATIONS BY TRUMP\u2019S MEN THAT THEY CAN WIN THEIR WAR AGAINST RUSSIA, OR ESCAPE VOTER BLAME IF THEY LOSE IT<\/h2>\n
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By John Helmer, Moscow
\n@bears_with<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

About President Donald Trump, certifiable maniac isn\u2019t an expletive \u2013 it\u2019s a clinical diagnosis.<\/p>\n

In the neurological and psychiatric evidence that has been accumulating about Trump over\u00a0many years<\/u><\/a>, \u00a0there is the medical history of Alzheimer\u2019s Disease which runs in his family: his father was first\u00a0diagnosed<\/u><\/a>\u00a0at age 86 and died at 93; \u00a0his older sister died of it,\u00a0aged 86<\/u><\/a>; \u00a0and at least one cousin died of the same, \u00a0aged 84<\/u><\/a>. \u00a0Since the President has just turned 79, there is reason to anticipate similar onset of symptoms and cause of death for him.<\/p>\n

Trump thinks this himself, according to Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist and the President\u2019s niece. She has published a case history of the President in 2020 which Trump\u2019s lawyers failed to suppress in\u00a0court<\/u><\/a>. \u00a0Last week, she\u00a0published<\/u><\/a>\u00a0a new symptom of what she calls the acceleration in Trump\u2019s cognitive decline: he cannot tie his own shoe laces. \u00a0This claim has already been pursued by online investigators who have been reporting Trump\u2019s lace-ups which appear from the photographs to be tied permanently and a mysterious right shoe several sizes\u00a0too large<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The evidence of Trump\u2019s incapacity to understand the Russian end-of-war terms, as he expressed himself in the July 14 press session with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, was reported\u00a0here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Listen to the new\u00a0evidence<\/u><\/a>\u00a0that Trump has failed to register the \u201cnew idea, new concept\u201d, presented last week by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, \u00a0in the new podcast with Nima Alkhorshid;\u00a0click<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Trump and Rutte accuse President Vladimir Putin of failing to negotiate seriously, the record reveals the opposite. Negotiating on the Ukraine war with Trump is proving to be impossible because Trump isn\u2019t serious. That\u2019s not his political decision; it\u2019s his neuro-psychiatric handicap.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really gave him [Putin] a chance to be serious to get to the table to start negotiations,\u201d Rutte\u00a0said<\/u><\/a>\u00a0to Trump on Monday. \u201cSteve Witkoff, Marco Rubio, we all try to help you. But you\u2019ve now come to a point where you say, well, hey, you know, you have to \u2014 you have to get serious.\u201d \u00a0Trump agreed, replying: \u201cWe actually thought we had probably four times [agreed] the deal.\u201d Five times over, Rutte repeated that the Russians aren\u2019t serious. Trump repeated himself: \u201cWe\u2019re going to go for a period of time. Maybe he\u2019ll start negotiating. I think we felt, I felt, I don\u2019t know about you Mark, but I felt that we had a deal about four times and here we are still talking about making a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s recall was that the terms of his deal had been accepted by Putin; he didn\u2019t recall what Putin\u2019s terms were. He is revealing he cannot comprehend the difference between the US and Russian \u00a0negotiating positions; he hasn\u2019t so much rejected the \u201cnew idea, new concept\u201d from the Kremlin as not to have understood it. This isn\u2019t Trump\u2019s negotiating tactic \u2013 it\u2019s cognitive incapacity camouflaged by the threat of force to compel Putin\u2019s capitulation.<\/p>\n

The first test of Trump\u2019s rationality is the Mary Trump test \u2013 an Oval Office press conference in which Trump demonstrates how he ties his shoe laces.<\/p>\n

The second test requires Russian counter force. This is the\u00a0Oreshnik\u00a0<\/u><\/a>\u00a0decision-making point for Putin, when there is no longer any point to negotiating because the US side aims at escalating its arms supplies to the Ukraine battlefield and encouraging the Germans to join in long-range missile attacks on the Russian hinterland, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

In the Russian decision-making now under way, there is an attempt to find the rational calculations in what Trump is meaning; that is to say, what Trump\u2019s advisors, constituents, and officials are calculating when he himself is incapacitated. The first of these, Russian sources believe, is that the Trump escalation is a pitch to prevent Trump\u2019s domestic voter base, the MAGA enthusiasts in the battleground states which won the presidency for Trump last November, from deserting him.<\/p>\n

The second calculation is that Russia is militarily and economically vulnerable to a combination of escalation of attacks inside Russia and sanctions on the oil trade outside. This is the strategy of the \u201cbigger bear\u201d, announced on CNN this week by former Trump and Biden Administration warfighter,\u00a0Brett McGurk<\/u><\/a>: \u201cthe Russians approach diplomacy as a bear approaches a dance. The bear knows it will determine when and how the dance ends, unless the other dance partner proves itself to be a bigger bear. Sometimes, it helps to be the bigger bear. In the context of Ukraine, like Syria, while the United States is a far more powerful country than Russia, Putin believes that he has the upper hand in such localized conflicts due to Moscow\u2019s determination and consistency contrasted with Washington\u2019s perceived lack of focus, stamina and shifting politics through election cycles. Correcting that perception is a first principle for effective diplomacy with Moscow, and the approach outlined by Trump yesterday offers the chance to do exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third rational calculation, Russian sources believe \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0as do some US analysts \u2014 \u00a0is that by supplying the Ukraine battlefield through Germany, the UK and Norway with a combination of \u00a0Patriot anti-aircraft defence batteries and long-range offence missile systems \u00a0like the\u00a0Typhon<\/u><\/a>, \u00a0\u00a0the Trump Administration will escape having to face a US taxpayer revolt in Congress over the multi-billion dollar cost of direct US arms supplies to Kiev regime.<\/p>\n

According to this scheme too, Trump would have an alibi if the Oreshnik decision is taken by Putin, and if the US weapons are defeated in the collapse of the Zelensky regime. Trump would blame the Germans, repeating his\u00a0line<\/u><\/a>: \u201cdon\u2019t forget, I\u2019ve just really been involved in this for not very long and it wasn\u2019t initial focus. Again, this is a Biden war. This is a Democrat war, not a Republican or Trump war. This is a war that would have never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow the new\u00a0podcast<\/u><\/a>\u00a0with Nima, broadcast on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

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Source:\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=X1CLU29YbUA<\/u><\/a>\u00a0<\/code><\/p>\n

On the voter test, the new US polls, both nationwide and in the election-tipping battleground states, are showing that voter disapproval of Trump\u2019s performance hit a peak of 52.4% (national poll average) on May 1; approval was 45.3%; the negative gap was 7.1 percentage points. Since then approval has improved modestly and the gap has narrowed to\u00a05 percentage points<\/u><\/a>\u00a0(pp).<\/p>\n

It would not be irrational for Trump to be told, and for him to think, that he\u2019s gaining in the polls. In Trump\u2019s mind, this turns into aggression. He believes his attack on illegal immigrants is a major vote winner; the polls are showing higher nationwide approval and shorter negative gap of just 2.8 pp. On Trump\u2019s foreign policy, however, the negative gap is 11.1 pp and on Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, this is 7.4 pp; both measures indicate higher disapproval for Trump\u2019s foreign war and peacemaking line than his overall performance rating.<\/p>\n

On the key domestic issues, the gap is much more hostile towards Trump. On his economic performance, the negative gap is 11.6 pp; on inflation, the gap is 20.2 pp.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s\u00a0response<\/u><\/a>\u00a0is to declare (and repeat) war on the Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell. \u201cI think he\u2019s terrible. I think he\u2019s a total stiff\u2026You talk to the guy, it\u2019s like talking to a nothing. It\u2019s like talking to a chair. No personality, no high intelligence, no nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Source:\u00a0https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/approval\/donald-trump\/approval-rating<\/u><\/a>\u00a0Compared to Presidents Bush (2005) and Obama (2013) at the same stage of their terms, Trump\u2019s current approval rating is no better -- fractionally lower than Bush\u2019s and almost identical to\u00a0Obama\u2019s<\/u><\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0<\/code><\/p>\n

These are national poll indicators. In the battleground states, there is fresh evidence that the MAGA voters are losing trust in Trump. According to\u00a0Newsweek\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>poll summary\u00a0reported<\/u><\/a>\u00a0on July 10, the President\u2019s \u201capproval rating has taken a hit in key battleground states he narrowly won in 2024\u2026In Michigan, where Trump edged out a victory by 2 points in November, his approval rating is now slightly underwater: 48 percent of voters approve of his performance while 49 percent disapprove, putting him at a net -1. The drop is even sharper in Wisconsin, where Trump won by just 1 point in 2024 but now faces a 5-point deficit in approval. Just 46 percent of Wisconsin voters say they approve of the job he\u2019s doing, while 51 percent disapprove. The polling raises doubts about Trump\u2019s standing with the voters who helped deliver him a second term. If the trend continues, Democrats could regain ground they lost last cycle, reshaping the 2026 midterms and the broader balance of power heading into 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an election technology, vote-counting analysis of these data, Trump is being told to double-down, and under no circumstances be seen to retreat. Accordingly, inside the Kremlin, where this technology is second nature, Trump\u2019s profanities, insults towards Putin, and escalation of the war are played down. Putin\u2019s spokesman Dmitry Peskov\u00a0expresses<\/u><\/a>\u00a0this line in public. \u00a0Replying to the\u00a0reports<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of Trump\u2019s recent threat to attack Moscow, \u00a0\u00a0Peskov\u00a0said<\/u><\/a>: \u201cSuch rhetoric has been circulating for quite a while. All this most often turns out to be fabricated, though sometimes serious [information] leaks appear, including in media outlets we used to consider highly reputable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump then retreated publicly himself. \u201cHe shouldn\u2019t target Moscow,\u201d he said hours after Kiev had\u00a0leaked<\/u><\/a>\u00a0his telephone conversation with Vladimir Zelensky. \u201cNo, we\u2019re not looking to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q&A WITH TRUMP, AIRPORT PRESS GAGGLE, JULY 15, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

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For full text, click on source:\u00a0https:\/\/rollcall.com\/factbase\/trump\/transcript\/donald-trump-press-gaggle-before-marine-one-departure-july-15-2025\/<\/u><\/a>\u00a0<\/code><\/p>\n

In a second press gaggle two hours\u00a0later<\/u><\/a>, Trump also fell back to the line that if his new escalation moves fail, the Germans will be to blame, and the US will still profit financially from selling the weapons. \u201cQuestion: Why do you think his [Putin] opinion will change in 50 days when it hasn\u2019t over the last six months?<\/em>\u00a0Donald Trump: A lot of opinions change very rapidly. Might not be 50 days, might be much sooner than 50 days.\u00a0Question: Well, to that end, when do you think the first Patriot missiles, some of these weapons that our allies supply \u2014<\/em>\u00a0Donald Trump: They\u2019re gonna, uh, they\u2019re already being shipped.\u00a0Question: From what countries?<\/em>\u00a0Donald Trump: They\u2019re coming in from Germany, and then replaced by Germany. And in all cases, the United States gets paid back in full.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Kremlin, Peskov\u00a0announced<\/u><\/a>\u00a0that the only irrationality he can detect is not displayed by \u00a0Trump but by the Europeans. \u201cWhat we are observing so far is that the Europeans are displaying a completely aggressive militarist stance, declaring their intention to spend enormous funds to purchase weapons, to further provoke the continuation of war. Of course, it is very hard to predict anything amid such an emotional state, bordering on irrationality, which reigns on the European continent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peskov added that President Putin is still hoping to postpone the Oreshnik decision. Responding to the weekend\u00a0announcement<\/a>\u00a0by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius that the German-made Taurus missile will not be supplied to the Ukraine, \u00a0Peskov\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0the Europeans \u201cstill have some sense of reason left. This is just business. The deliveries have continued all along, and no one ever stopped them. It\u2019s simply a matter of who pays\u201d.<\/p>\n

On the possibility that Trump has decided to send US-made missile systems like the long-range Typhon through Germany or the UK to the Ukraine, for launching against Russia, Peskov said: \u201cThis topic remains high on the agenda. Of course, we are following all relevant reports closely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kremlin spokesman\u00a0added<\/u><\/a>\u00a0the Oreshnik warning: \u201cThe nuclear doctrine \u00a0remains in force, as do all its\u00a0provisions<\/u><\/a>.\u201d \u00a0This is Russian for \u2014 Don\u2019t strike Russia\u2019s nuclear missile bases, land, sea or air, or else.<\/p>\n

Or else in Russian is \u041e\u0440\u0435\u0448\u043d\u0438\u043a (Oreshnik).<\/p>\n

NOTE: The lead illustration is by Ed Wexler\u00a0and was first\u00a0published<\/u><\/a>\u00a0in 2019 by Cagle Cartoons.<\/code><\/p>\n

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\nhttps:\/\/johnhelmer.net\/three-rational-calculations-by-trumps-men-that-they-can-win-their-war-against-russia-or-escape-voter-blame-if-they-lose-it\/#more-92085<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THREE RATIONAL CALCULATIONS BY TRUMP\u2019S MEN THAT THEY CAN WIN THEIR WAR AGAINST RUSSIA, OR ESCAPE VOTER BLAME IF THEY LOSE IT By John Helmer, Moscow @bears_with About President Donald Trump, certifiable maniac isn\u2019t an expletive \u2013 it\u2019s a clinical … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27458\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}