A respected psychiatrist recently educated me about a neurological condition known as “sundowning syndrome” in aging people. This mental weakness may indicate oncoming, or existing, dementia. It is a disturbance of the day-to-day balance of the internal clock, altering a person’s circadian rhythm. This is interconnected with the change from day to night and is found regularly in Alzheimer’s patients.
Artificial intelligence lists just some of the indicators of the syndrome: paranoia, anxiety, agitation, confusion, angry outbursts and yelling. It can even have such an impact that it flips individuals’ schedules so they are awake all night.
Given some of his public statements, I can fit President Trump within this framework. He has angrily threatened to wipe out one of our oldest civilizations, Iran. He has, in writing, cast an intense F-bomb into the public sphere, an act never done by previous presidents. He has yelled at reporters for asking questions he is not willing to answer.
He has raged at others who, before the Iran calamity, supported almost all his agendas. His mind displays disorientation and confusion. This is often done in his “dark hours.”
The man who, beyond the ability of others, has aced so many cognitive tests should be willing to cooperate with an independent panel of experts evaluating the existence of dementia in his life. After all, the holder of the nuclear Armageddon trigger should be 100% competent.
It isn’t always “just Donald being Donald.”
Art Eggers
Hesperus
