Donald Trump and his mental disintegration [View all]

[no_hypocrisy]

There are two major issues: Donald Trump and his proposed policies -- and Donald Trump and his mental deterioration in front of us. I wish to examine the latter. It comes from personal experience.

My father was weeks away from turning 92. A widower living on his own terms in his house. He eschewed my offers of assistance, even when I moved in with him.

In his past life, he was a commendable physician, a cardiologist. He kept his patients alive into their 90s. He could do the NY Times crossword puzzle in pen. Articulate. Read books constantly.

By the time he was in his 90's, there were definite changes in mental capacity.

First, he stopped paying his bills. There were a multitude of stacks on the dinette table. I offered to cut the checks and have him sign them. He refused. I asked what his plan was and he responded that his estate attorneys would pay them after his death. And they remained unpaid.

Next, he had to have a dog. Not take care of it, but just wanted a dog. He drove to a puppy mill, chose a puppy, and came home. He didn't walk it. He had a neighbor walk the dog, but the dog held it in and shit all over the house. His dog ruined a $40,000 Persian rug that my mother had treasured. I bent over to pick up dried shit and he actually yelled at me and told me to leave it where it was. Well, you get the idea. And he didn't feed the dog a recommended diet; she got whatever he didn't finish eating. And he left the dog in his car in the summer when the interior temperature was in the high 90's. Bystanders in parking lots called the police and he told them to mind their own business; his dog was fine.

Finally, his driving. He shouldn't have. He got into a multitude of fender-benders. The reason why he flew under the radar with the DMV not taking away his license was he paid off the other drivers in cash to avoid tickets and insurance. And fixed his car. His driving was atrocious. I personally watched him back out of our driveway and position himself the wrong way in the lane and stayed there for minutes. I was holding my breath. His driving was his undoing, literally. He rear-ended a van at a gas station. No seatbelt, no airbags. His chest hit the steering column. He refused medical attention and got three tickets. And kept it a secret for a week when he sustained a heart attack from an undiagnosed partial aortic tear from the accident. And he died. I had to do detective work to discover all this.

My point: my father was in no shape to live alone, have a dog, and/or drive -- and certainly not to run a country as complicated and powerful as ours.

Even if Trump promoted my views and positions, I wouldn't want someone who exhibits all the confusion and mental detachments that he does to run the country, period.

It's not because he's old. He just isn't competent.