Donald Trump showed his age at the debate. If elected, he will be 78 years and 220 days old on inauguration, and the oldest person to become president in U.S. history. Joe Biden was 78 years and 61 days old at his inauguration. The country had seen the decline in Joe Biden that forced him out of the presidential race.

As experts have commented, such declines are typical, if not expected, for men and women in their 70s. That fact should worry every voter in America even more when listening to Donald Trump. The odds are higher that Trump will show more signs of cognitive decline during the 4 years of his presidency.

Donald Trump and Signs of Decline 

Trump asserts that he is fit and mentally sharp. His hardcore base cannot be influenced. The loyalists support him and tell stories to make him look good. But Trump says and does things that don’t make sense, rambles, mixes up names, confuses facts, and stumbles over his points. 

We should expect him to get worse as he ages in office. Even The Wall Street Journal, friendly to Trump, writes about the incoherent and wrong statements he makes.  The truth and facts don’t matter in the Trump universe. His theatrics, bombastic rhetoric, and unorthodox comments may be good for his campaigning, but not for his presidency as his former staff have been saying.

Trump gets away with compulsive and blatant lying, refusing to talk about the facts. With aging, the capacity to talk about facts and track details worsens. Neurologists and other experts on aging observe confabulation in their patients, making up explanations and giving excuses because the memory of what really happened has faded. To cover up their failings in thinking, aging men and women blurt out generalizations and default to polite conversation. They make up stories like what he said about immigrants eating dogs in Springfield. They try hard to seem normal and hide that their mental state has really slipped. No one that has worked for Trump would ever say that publicly, but what they do say tells you how worried they were about his thinking and judgment.

Why We Should Be Worried 

Trump’s ramblings have never relied on facts or details. He just keeps repeating the same stuff. His first Secretary of State called him a “f…g moron” after an important meeting in the bowels of the Pentagon. His national security advisers had to cut down the morning briefing to one page to even get him to look at it. His former national security adviser warned that Trump has a single-minded instinct for looking at issues of national interest almost entirely through the prism of what is good for him and not what is good for the nation. That gives Trump an advantage over opponents and challengers in a campaign but is not good for the country.  He knows how to campaign and play off the fears and suspicions of his audience, but he can’t solve big problems. He criticizes Obamacare but admits that he has no plan to improve healthcare.

Trump failed to handle the most serious problem that had faced the nation in the past 20 years. He ignored the facts and talked irresponsibly about drugs and ways to manage the COVID pandemic. During his presidency, more than 450,000 Americans died from COVID-19, and life expectancy fell by 1.13 years, the biggest decrease since World War II. Trump blurted out generalizations and made unfounded assertions during the crisis, clearly making things worse.

In the same way, Trump doesn’t give any details of how he will make the world safer and more secure. He merely asserts that he can make the phone calls that will end the war in Ukraine and conflict in Israel-Gaza. But his isolationist policies and comments about pulling out of NATO and other international agreements were reckless and weakened America’s global standing and security.

Donald Trump did not show the capacity to understand or track complex issues while president the first time, and his capacity, like that of any other 78-year-old man, is expected to decline even more during a second term.  

About the Author: 

Stephen Xenakis, MD, is a retired Brigadier General in the U.S. Army. Dr. Xenakis is a retired brigadier general and Army medical corps officer with 28 years of active service. He is an adjunct clinical professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. He is the Founder of the Center for Translational Medicine, a nonprofit that conducts clinical research and development. He has been a senior adviser to the Department of Defense on neurobehavioral conditions and medical management. Dr. Xenakis serves as an anti-torture advisor to Physicians for Human Rights and belongs to the group of retired generals and admirals convened by Human Rights First. His clinical practice has been broad and varied over the past 40 years, including expert consultation to military attorneys and providing inpatient care, substance abuse and alcohol treatment, and community health services.

Image Credit: Creative Commons. 

This piece should be considered opinion and/or analysis.