A blogger has written a post claiming to show evidence that President Trump has a cognitive decline, possibly early stage dementia or Alzheimer’s. It may sound like the unhinged rants of a conspiracy theorist, but the blog post is actually quite sane.
The post explains what a cognitive decline is, as well as exploring the four dimensions of speech that are found in people with this condition.
The factors that were considered were the number of unique words, non-specific nouns, filler words, and low-imageability words. The president has been known for his poor speaking skills, particularly with choosing simpler words over more literate ones.
We’ve all heard President Trump’s overuse of filler words such as, “like,” “very,” and “um,” which the post suggests is evidence of a growing dissonance. There is also the comparison between Trump in his 40s and today at 70 years old, showing that he used to speak much better than now.
As the blog post suggests, there is quite a difference between his use of words in the past and present. Trump in his 40s wasn’t as cartoonish in his gestures or as simplistic in his everyday speech, which could imply that his mental state has notably changed over time.