Earlier this month, a good deal of speculation arose about an unexpected Presidential trip to Walter Reed Hospital and suggestions of possible mini-strokes afflicting Donald John Trump. With the time altering deluge of hurricane force new cycles that characterize the present election, I hadn’t given those stories from way back in early September much more thought. Until the 1st Presidential Debate.
We invited our Millennial younger daughter to watch with us, and she probably wouldn’t have watched otherwise, but she’s in no position to pass up a free meal, times being what they are. She noticed it first. Something was making Trump’s podium shake, which was evident from a shimmy of the microphone. As we continued to observe the President, the microphone on his podium continued to oscillate at times and fall still at others.
After the fact, I reviewed a chunk of the front end of the debate to record what we had observed when viewing live, using the PBS coverage found on Youtube. My initial impression as I had first watched the live broadcast, was that Trump was unsteady on his feet and that his podium shook because he was gripping too hard to support himself. But, as I reviewed the video, a different pattern emerged —
5:35 Biden and Trump enter from off stage, equidistant starting points at stage right and left, with Biden reaching his podium well before a kinda shambling Trump who firmly grasps his podium with both hands when he finally shuffles up to it.
6:05 Trump’s tiny hands continue to firmly grip both sides of the podium.
6:16 Joe Biden is organizing his notes and standing without support.
6:36 The moment Trump starts talking in response to Chris Wallace’s first question, he is gripping the podium with both hands as the microphone begins to shimmy back and forth.
6;46 Trump releases the podium for just a few seconds to make a gesture with each hand, but then grasps the podium against which then starts shaking again.
7:00 As Trump eases into his prepared defenses of his Amy Coney Barrett SCOTUS nomination, the shaking subsides.
10:07 As Joe Biden responds on Trump’s rush to confirm Trumps SCOTUS nominee, Trump launches his first interruption of Biden, to lie about how many Americans have preexisting conditions, and the moment the camera cuts over to Trump. His podium is already shaking as he grips it with both hands.
10:12 Trump releases his podium to gesture, but the podium starts shaking again, as seen in the shimmy of the microphone, as soon as Trump grabs it again with both of his tiny Hands.
10:52 Trump gestures with his left hand, as he grasps the podium with his right, causing it to gently shake again.
12:14 As Trump gestures with his right hand, while grasping the podium only with his left hand, the podium does not shake, but, simultaneously, Trump lists to his right side after having previously remained steadily upright.
12:35 The instant Trump grasps the podium with his right hand again, the microphone resumes shimmying from the shaking podium. As he releases his right hand to gesture again, the shaking of the podium stops.
Watch as much as you care to watch. It’s all more of the same.
Essential tremor, which Trump might now suffer after previous ischemic episodes, is directly relevant to the current President’s fitness for office. To this observer, already utterly opposed to the incumbent’s reelection, the health frailties of Donald John Trump add just one more layer to the enormously tall cake of the current President’s disqualifications.