Today’s Trump idiocy:
LINK: www.huffpost.com/...
From yesterday… LINK: www.dailykos.com/...
I wasn’t going to write anything today. My story from yesterday, “DEEPER THAN A DIAGNOSIS” isn’t on the recommended list today but it is still getting comments so I thought that unless something Trump did inspired me I’d take a day off.
Then I read about his attack on the New York Times in the HUFFPOST article
I thought, sure, he may read the headlines but does he have the comprehension to understand the articles. (I assume he doesn’t have the inclination to read them.)
I knew that the NYT was written at a fairly high comprehension level but in order to confirm this I did a web search and discovered not only that it was written to be understood by a (presumably at least average) 10th grade student, but there were scales to measure this.
I also learned that Microsoft Word has a feature which enables writers to measure the reading level of their work.
This is from “How Do You Measure Readability?” from Full Media.
Flesch-Kincaid scores are readability tests designed to show how easy or difficult a text is to read. This score is given in two different ways. First is the “Flesch Reading Ease” and the other is “Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level”.
The Reading Ease number is from 0 to 100. With a score of 90 to 100 your writing could be understood by an average 11-year old and a score of 60 to 70 could be understood by average 13 to 15-year olds. A score of zero to 30 means your writing could be understood by a university graduate. The higher the score the easier the writing is to read and comprehend.
To give you an idea of where some major publications fall in this range Reader’s Digest has a Flesch Reading Ease around 65, Time magazine has a score of 52 and the Harvard Law Review falls somewhere in the low 30s.
The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level applies a reading grade level to your writing. New York Times articles have a tenth-grade reading level and romance novels have about a fifth-grade reading level. A sixth-grade student could understand content with a Flesch Reading Ease of 60 to 70.
We all know about Trump’s reading habits, we’ve seen videos of him from 20 years ago when he spoke in full grammatical sentences.
Bandy Lee, MD, the editor of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” was interviewed by Chauncey DeVega who wrote article I referenced yesterday. In “Yale psychiatrist Bandy Lee: Trump's mental health is now a ‘national and global emergency’ " she noted the following most basic criteria for mental capacity (highlights mine).
- The first specific criterion is the ability to take in important information and advice. To be capable of taking in new information to make decisions, given how that is one of the primary and most important roles of a president.
- The second criterion is the ability to process that information unimpeded by emotional needs or false beliefs or the need to lie to yourself or others. The ability to simply use the information you have and process it in ways that are normal, unimpeded by all those other emotional factors and needs.
- The third criterion is to be able to make sound, rational, reality-based decisions without undue influence by impulsivity, other false beliefs, delusions and conspiracy theories. It's the ability to stay with a decision in a stable way and not to go back and forth depending on the other influences you receive. In essence, to be sane, to be connected to reality.
- The fourth is to not put yourself and others in danger. This includes not inciting people to commit dangerous acts. Not to engage in aggressive acts yourself. Not to threaten nations by inciting war.
Number one combines intellectual ability and psychological factors. I am merely addressing intellectual ability. Dr. John Gartner, founder of Duty t Warn, made a case for Trump having early dementia.
Of course Trump fails dismally and alarmingly on all four of these.
The lower the number on the Flesch 0-100 scale the higher the comprehension. The Harvard Law Review has a score in the low 30’s. Does “The Harvard Law Review” ring a bell?
The Harvard Law Review, generally considered the most prestigious in the country, elected the first black president in its 104-year history today. The job is considered the highest student position at Harvard Law School. (February 6, 1990 NY TIMES)
I’m tempted to buy Microsoft Word to check the comprehension levels of Trump’s extemporaneous remarks and compare them with those of all the Democratic presidential candidates.
There are only two ways to remove a president besides voting him out of office, the 25th Amendment and impeachment.
- Trump is clearly psychologically unfit and dangerous to be president = 25th Amendement
- Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors including breaking his presidential oath = impeachment
Unless one really stretches the criteria for involving the 25th Amendment there’s no way to remove a president because he is simply too dumb. However if he does have early dementia this is testable. This would fit under the 25th Amendment.
There are two compelling reasons to remove Trump from office.
The Republicans do nothing. I don’t know whether to say they have their heads buried in the sand or somewhere else…..
Addendum:
Just noting early poll results, I am sure many readers are as interested as I am in the justifications of those who voted that Trump’s reading comprehension was 0-30.
