Crazy Caturday Reads: Trump Is Not Well.

Cat Bath, c. 1955

Good Afternoon!!

NOTE: The paintings of cats in this post are by Walter Inglis Anderson.

Trump held another super-spreader event yesterday in New Hampshire. His speech was just as hate-filled and incoherent as usual. Here’s what it looked like–no masks, no social distancing.

On the way up the three steps to the podium, he lost his balance and came close to falling down.

Why don’t we know why he was rushed to Walter Reed last year? Did he have a stroke?

“Trump is not well” is trending on Twitter this morning. A highlight from the speech was Trump talking about his “ass.”

There was more weirdness this morning.

It’s still difficult to believe that this clown is POTUS.

From Politicus USA: Not Well Trump Nearly Falls Down Trying To Walk Up Steps.

These events are happening more and more frequently. Trump has struggled to drink a glass of water in public. He infamously could not walk down a ramp after delivering a commencement address, and he delivered a Republican convention acceptance speech, where he illegally didn’t leave the White House, with apathy and a lack of energy.

Trump has made secret unscheduled visits to Walter Reed, and the White House has never given a complete explanation for why he was there. Trump has never released his medical records, so the American people have no verifiable medical history on the current president.

One does not need to be a doctor to look at each of these incidents and see that something is not right. None of these episodes individually are proof, but taken together they build a perception that Trump is not well, and a White House that regularly hides information from the American people could be keeping a secret about Donald Trump’s health and wellness.

Be Kind to our Cat(s), 1955

There’s a new documentary coming out about Trump’s lack of fitness for the job he holds. Here’s a review at The Wrap: ‘#Unfit’ Film Review: Documentary Offers a Scary Diagnosis of Donald Trump, But Will Voters Listen?

“#Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump” is a frightening documentary that can leave you scared to death about the prospect of Donald Trump remaining in the Oval Office a day longer than is absolutely necessary. It’s a cautionary tale that can offer some degree of insight into the mind of our commander in chief. But it’s also a political documentary that can make you wonder whether film is even the right medium with which to take on Trump, and whether a movie like this can connect with anybody who doesn’t already believe everything it has to say.

The film by director Dan Partland is timely, of course, hitting select theaters and virtual cinemas on August 28, at the end of the week of the Republican Convention, and heading to streaming and VOD on Sept. 1. And it is tied into current news: Its focus on psychoanalyzing the president fits with the approach in Mary Trump’s recent book about her uncle, “Too Much and Never Enough,” while its use of George Conway as a prominent talking head coincides with Conway’s weekend announcement that he is stepping away from his work with the anti-Trump Lincoln Project while his wife, Kellyanne Conway, departs from her White House job so the couple can devote more time to family matters….

But that timeliness could in some ways be problematic for “#Unfit” — because today’s politics, particularly in the era of a Twitter-driven presidency and an around-the-clock barrage of revelation, accusation and condemnation, simply move too fast for any film to not seem a step or two behind the times.

(In a clear sign of how difficult it is to keep up with the news in a feature film, the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t even mentioned until 1 hour and 15 minutes into the movie, which also happens to be less than 10 minutes before it ends.)

“#Unfit” tries to make up for this by being deep and comprehensive, though it mostly does a stylish job of trotting out experts we’ve seen over the last three years on MSNBC and CNN and occasionally Fox News. And as the title suggests, it hitches its wagon to the idea of explaining Trump by using psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose what they see as a clear case of malignant narcissism.

Black Eyed Susans, c. 1955

Here’s another take on what is wrong with Trump. The Daily Edge: Diagnosis: Psychopath. A clinical psychologist explains the one disorder that trumps all others.

He’s a liar. He’s a conman. He’s a cheat. He’s a narcissist. Or a “malignant narcissist.” He’s broken. He has no shame. He has Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Everyone has an opinion about what’s wrong with Donald J. Trump.

But as Vince Greenwood, Ph.D., argues in a recent Medium article, too many opinions have become the problem….

Dr. Greenwood believes that clinically diagnosing Trump as a Psychopath, based on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist — Revised (PCL-R), renders all other diagnoses obsolete—and allows us to focus on the real problem.

Seriously. We saw what four years of a cancer on conservatism did to the GOP. The cancer has metastasized. Stochastic terrorism is the new norm—we’ve seen the party shrug at the MAGA bomber, the El Paso shooter and now the Kenosha killer. We’ve seen the President exchange love letters with dictators, defend wife beaters, endorse pedophiles, and hail the success of QAnon candidates. Imagine what four more years led by a psychopath who no longer has to worry about getting himself re-elected would do to the country and the world.

With less than 10 weeks to the election, America is facing a choice: Divorce Trump. Or renew its vows. If America was your friend, and you knew it had married a psychopath, wouldn’t you urge it to get the divorce?

Read the interview with Greenwood at the link.

More reporting on Trump’s unhinged speech last night in New Hampshire:

The Washington Post: Trump escalates rhetoric on unrest in cities, looking for a campaign advantage.

LONDONDERRY, N.H. — President Trump threatened Friday to invoke the Insurrection Act in American cities and told supporters in New Hampshire they must vote for him to “save democracy from the mob,” an escalation of his campaign rhetoric against demonstrators in the streets.

Trump opened his speech in a suburban airport hangar here with a harsh, fiery depiction of major American cities and a detailed monologue about agitators chasing and taunting his supporters and allies outside the White House following his convention speech Thursday night, describing scenes he had viewed on television in vivid detail. Even after he moved on to other topics, he circled back to the cities, sounding apocalyptic at times.

“Look at what happened in New York, look what happened in Chicago. All Democrats. All radical left Democrats,” Trump said. He added: “You know what I say about protesters? Protesters, your ass. I don’t talk about my ass. They’re not protesters, those are anarchists, they’re agitators, they’re rioters, they’re looters.”

Campaign aides said the lengthy remarks about unrest in cities are part of a broader strategy, driven by Trump, in an attempt to win suburban voters and convince Americans that violence in cities is the fault of his Democratic rival, former vice president Joe Biden — and not his. The goal: to convince voters that Trump would like to fix it, and is tougher on criminals but is being blocked by Democratic mayors, and that demonstrators are Biden supporters dangerous to their neighborhoods.

Biden recently condemned violence at protests and has urged calm while expressing support for those taking to the streets in response to the recent police shootings of Black men.

Read the rest at the WaPo.

Yahoo News: Trump resumes campaign rallies and utters the unthinkable: ‘If Biden wins…’

LONDONDERRY, N.H. — One night after accepting the Republican nomination, Donald Trump resumed campaigning for reelection as though the coronavirus pandemic was a thing of the past, rallying hundreds of supporters at an airport hangar. But with the virus looming over the race, the president for the first time acknowledged even the theoretical possibility of defeat.

White Cat in Azaleas, c. 1955

“If Biden wins, which I honestly can’t believe would happen, I will have lost to a low IQ individual,” Trump told a boisterous crowd in the low hundreds gathered at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

His standing position has been that “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if this election is rigged.”

The president’s supporters stood shoulder to shoulder, most not wearing face masks that health experts say can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, which has killed more than 181,000 Americans. On Friday, more than 45,000 new cases were reported in the U.S.

Yet Trump seemed eager to pack more people into his rally, boasting that on his approach to the airport he had seen “thousands and thousands” more supporters lined up who were denied entry out of health concerns, a twist on his usual rally mantra, that “fire marshals” had limited the size of his audience.

“Sir, we couldn’t let them in,” Trump said, recounting what he said an aide had told him, to which he said he responded, “Why not? Let ’em in.”

Brenda Guvin, a retiree from Londonderry, was one of those who did make it inside. She wore a red Trump face mask that had been distributed by the campaign — wrapped around her wrist — and said she wasn’t worried about standing in the packed crowd without a mask.

“I’m not. I’m really not. I’m 74, I’ve had all the tests. I’m fine,” Guvin told Yahoo News. “I don’t know anybody that’s had it. So, we’ll see, but I don’t think there’s going to be any problems.”

Famous last words.

Four Kittens

More stories to check out:

The New York Times: Rival Themes Emerge as Race Enters Final Weeks: Covid vs. Law and Order.

Slate Magazine: What Is Ivanka Smiling About? America is crumbling. But the president’s daughter is just thrilled to be here.

The Washington Post: Amid fears that Trump might not leave office, two lawmakers press for Pentagon assurances on the election.

The Washington Post: Secret Service copes with coronavirus cases in aftermath of Trump appearances.

The Daily Beast: Trump Advisers: He Was ‘Triggered’ by Talk of White Supremacy.

Michael Gerson at The Washington Post: Trump’s speech was nasty, brutish and interminable.

Vanity Fair: “Melania Did. Not. Care”: In A Blistering New Book By Stephie Winston Wolkoff, Melania Trump Sounds A Lot Like Her Husband.

HuffPost UK: Melania Trump Wore A ‘Green Screen Dress’ And It Played Out Just As You’d Expect.