(08-02-2016, 11:32 AM)The Wonkette Wrote:(07-29-2016, 02:20 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: One sign of the advance of senile dementia is belligerence. I see this in Donald Trump. It proves little, and such is far from enough to diagnose any disease.Yes, but hasn't he had this characteristic all of his life? I have many issues with the Donald, but I don't believe senile dementia is one of them.
I dunno. People might have the tendency all their lives and suppress their belligerency when belligerence looks counterproductive. Losing the inhibitions against bad behavior could be a consequence of alcoholism (supposedly Donald Trump is a non-drinker) or a deterioration of the mind from organic cause.
I'm not trained in psychiatry or clinical psychology, so I cannot talk about Donald Trump in specifics. I could never diagnose senile dementia, and even as a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist I would never make a diagnosis from a distance with a living person, which even I understand is a violation of professional ethics. . I have seen it and its consequences, but someone had to tell me.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.