Does Trump have Alzheimer’s disease?
Wikipedia defines “phonemic paraphasia” as “the substitution of a word with a nonword that preserves at least half of the segments and/or number of syllables of the intended word.” Are some of Donald Trump’s verbal gaffes instances of phonemic paraphasia?
Psychologist Dr John Gartner thinks so. Some examples he gives of Trump’s past phonemic paraphasia include beneficiaries becoming “benefishes,” renovations becoming “renovers,” pivotal becoming “pivobal,” Obama becoming “Obamna,” missiles becoming “mishiz,” and Christmas becoming “Crissus.”
Most recently Donald Trump warned an audience against illegal “adlingthins” (aliens). I wonder if phonemic paraphasia can be written. Could Trump’s now famous 2017 tweet that began, “Despite the constant negative press covfefe,” (coverage?) be a rare instance of written phonemic paraphasia? Or did he simply think he’d written “coverage” and pressed SEND without bothering to check?
Whatever the case, Trump’s instances of phonemic paraphasia are usually characterised by an almost immediate attempt to cover them by switching to a verbal aside. Using his most recent instance, Trump began a sentence, “Just this week it was reported that an illegal adlingthins,” then he instantly modified the sentence by saying, “and you just look at what’s happening.” So Trump is clearly aware that he’s committing these paraphasias the split second after he makes them, but is powerless to prevent saying them as they happen.
Dr Gartner says these verbal missteps can be portents of a patient entering the moderate to severe stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Since Alzheimer’s tends to develop slowly, gradually worsening over several years, its progress is not always dramatic. That Trump’s verbal gaffes are not recent but are slowly becoming more and more common is consistent with the pace with which Alzheimer’s develops.
Five years after Ronald Reagan completed his second term as president he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore it’s possible, perhaps even likely, that early stage Alzheimer’s presented while Reagan was president. If Trump has Alzheimer’s the same could be said of his one term of office.
This possible diagnosis of Alzheimer’s does not excuse his criminal conduct. Trump’s penchant for breaking the law is well-established, and has long been part of his modus vivendi for decades.
On the cusp of his first of four criminal trials, it will be interesting to see what part Trump’s disability — if that’s what it is — plays in the course of the trial. However things develop, I can’t see that it will benefit him, and could in fact prove disastrous to his case. Trump’s behaviour, whatever the cause, is not the kind that plays well with a jury. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.