When a Psychology Expert Claimed Trump’s Mental Decline Could Be ‘Gross Signs of Dementia’

Former President Donald Trump looks to be developing dementia based on his slurred speech and his inability to construct whole phrases, mental health experts say. Psychologist Dr. John Gartner, formerly of Johns Hopkins University Medical School spoke to Salon and revealed the mental deterioration signs Trump has exhibited that Dr. Gartner believes are strongly linked to dementia. 

Since adding to the 2017 book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President, Dr. Gartner has been vocal about his concerns about Trump's declining mental capacity. He bluntly declared that the former president is "showing gross signs of dementia" and that other experts are not highlighting these warning signs nearly enough, per Raw Story. According to the psychologist, the former president is getting closer to taking back the Oval Office, which makes him more dangerous every day.

Speaking to Salon's DeVega, he explained, "There is also this focus on [President Joe] Biden's gaffes or other things that are well within the normal limits of aging. By comparison, Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia. This is a tale of two brains. Biden's brain is aging. Trump's brain is dementing."

He pointed out that Trump seemed to be degenerating mentally, exhibiting "phonemic paraphasias" in his rally comments. According to Dr. Gartner, this is "the substitution of non-words for words that sound similar—are not normally seen until a patient enters the moderate to severe stages of Alzheimer’s."

Dr. Gartner gave some examples of this condition. "Some examples of Trump’s non-words: Beneficiaries becomes 'benefishes.' Renovations become 'renoversh.' Pivotal became 'pivobal.' Obama became 'Obama.' Missiles became 'mishiz.' Christmas became 'Crissus.' Bipartisan became 'bipars.' This is a fundamental breakdown in the ability to use language. If you were talking to your father on the phone and he did this you would think he is having a stroke. There is no healthy older person who speaks that way."

He also mentioned Trump's habit of getting off-topic while addressing crowds. "Trump also engages in what we call 'tangential speech.' He becomes incomprehensible when he engages in free association word salad speech that is all over the place. Again, that's a sign of real brain damage, not being old, not being slow, not losing a step not being, but of severe cognitive deterioration," he explained. Although Biden has received criticism for forgetting names, which is a common aging process, the expert claimed that Trump is "forgetting and combining people" rather than just mispronouncing names.

"I don’t understand why those clips aren’t replayed over and over in the mainstream media," he scrutinized, adding, "Isn’t Trump babbling incoherently the most newsworthy part of his rally? You can be sure it would be if it were Biden." The expert analyzed other behavioral aspects of Trump, such as his narcissism. He explained, "Donald Trump has absolutely no loyalty to the country. There's a perverse way in which I think he takes pleasure in destroying America."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 27, 2024. It has since been updated.