About 5 months ago, I wrote this piece for DailyKos as a response to the drama caused by special prosecutor Robert Hur: www.dailykos.com/…
I think everyone here needs to reread what I said there, because some of you seem to have a shorter memory than I do — the man whose memory capacity has been viciously attacked by Long Covid.
TLDR: I got Covid-19 while working as a brand new Assistant State’s Attorney (in February of 2023) and subsequently developed Long Covid. Before long, I lost the capacity to recall short term memories, short term memories would fail to be stored in my long term memory, and I lost the capacity to tolerate outside stimuli. Through neurological testing, the doctors explained that I technically had “mild cognitive dysfunction,” not dissimilar to Dementia or Alzheimer's. The doctors caveat, however, was that in effect my condition was worse than “mild.” This was because the cognitive exams were based on comparing my current condition to that of a high school graduate with a 95-100 IQ. Since I’d been a law school graduate and an Assistant State’s Attorney all before turning 26, the doctors explained my decline was significantly worse than “mild” because I was falling from a far higher starting point than a 95-100 IQ high school graduate.
The effect?
I would forget what I was talking about mid sentence. I would forget what I had done throughout a day. When I forgot what I was talking about mid sentence, I would begin a new track of thought that was completely unrelated to what was being discussed, and then I would forget that new track of thought too before going on a third tangent. Even whilst trying read things out loud, I would forget what I was doing, forget what I had just read, and then I would have to start over again, again, and again. If I became overwhelmed from stress, my body and mind would shut down completely — practically putting me into a mini coma. Think of what happened to Mitch McConnell as an example of what was happening to me on a regular basis:
Even when I was writing my diary 5 months ago (February 2024) for DailyKos, writing that diary took several full days to create a rough draft. I would write the same sentence multiple times. I would fail midway to finish sentences, forgetting what it was I wanted to say. And this was after I was already making significant improvements in my condition after a year’s worth of medical treatment. Hell, 5 months later I barely remember having written the diary. Rereading what I wrote just today gave me the most uncanny feeling of Imposter Syndrome as I thought, “I wrote this??”
THAT is cognitive dysfunction. What I have explained here, and in my old diary (www.dailykos.com/...), is cognitive dysfunction. Could cognitive dysfunction come from just being too old? I have no idea. BUT one thing is abundantly clear: You cannot hide or disguise true cognitive dysfunction.
There is no such thing as “a good day” with cognitive dysfunction, only better days. It is only under ideal conditions (low stress environment, low stress activities) that the VISIBLE symptoms of cognitive dysfunction are reduced, but they are not eliminated.
I cannot highlight the contrast enough. Mitch McConnell, as you could see in The Guardian’s video, has cognitive dysfunction. Something happened in McConnell’s brain that caused him to be overloaded and shut down. Donald Trump, with his inability to say one coherent sentence, has cognitive dysfunction. Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to what real neurological experts have to say:
www.salon.com/…
www.motherjones.com/…
Remember when I described how I would struggle just to be able to read things out loud? Yeah, there is a reason Donald Trump does not read a teleprompter. It is because he is too cognitively dysfunctional to do so. I know so because I have been there. You try reading the words, you forget what you were just saying, you forget what you were doing, and it is all downhill from there. The difference between Trump and I, is that I have recovered through therapy and treatment for Long Covid. That and Trump is also a sociopathic maniac. Trump has only gotten more incoherent and worse. In Mary Trump’s words:
“This is a person [Trump] who has untreated psychiatric disorders, and any untreated disorder of any kind worsens over time as long as it remains untreated. So, it makes perfect sense that somebody who is as unhealthy as he is who is under the extraordinary amount of stress he's under would have a harder time holding it together cognitively.”
www.newsweek.com/...
Now what about the elephant in the room?
Joe Biden does not have cognitive dysfunction.
The fact that Joe Biden can be dealing with: running the country as the President, be dealing with kangaroo courts attacking his son on a regular basis because the RNC cannot directly attack him with a scandal, be dealing with Netanyahu on one flank and Gaza Protestors on the other, ignore media pundits that attack him on a daily basis for profit, work to defend Ukraine without triggering WWIII, work to check China’s power by creating the Pacific version of NATO (The Quad) without also triggering WWIII, still be able to do campaigning for the 2024 election, and still be known as one of the most successful Presidents after ONE term (ny1.com/...) vividly demonstrates that Biden does not have cognitive dysfunction.
You do not get ranked above Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Wilson by presidential experts and also have cognitive dysfunction.
Where is Trump on this list, the President who does have cognitive dysfunction? Dead last. It is not only because his policies are garbage — it is because his mind is too.
When I was healthy before Covid, if I had to deal with all the stuff Biden has to deal with on a daily basis, I would be pretty tired too. Tired of dealing with bullshit. Sorry, I mean “malarkey.”
Even the people who have been calling for Biden to “step down” have had to admit, “Biden has been one of the best Presidents... but he has to step aside.” No no no no. No ifs, ands, or buts. You do not get to have it both ways. You cannot on the one hand acknowledge all of Biden’s accomplishments on one hand, and then accuse him of having debilitating cognitive dysfunction with the other hand.
“That old dog just ain’t gonna hunt.”
Just observe the Trump administration and the lackluster list of achievements they accomplished with their cognitively dysfunction leader. You cannot hide or disguise dysfunction — that is why it is called “dysfunction.” It prohibits you from doing anything. It taints your very existence for the whole world to see.
So where the hell does all of this crap about Biden being cognitively dysfunctional come from? I have some ideas, many of which have also been theorized by experts, theorists, and people in DailyKos. Forgive me if some of what I say is not news to you, but, again, some seem to have a worse memory than I do.
Biden and the DNC have been winning since 2018, when the first Blue Wave happened. Biden is the only one who went head to head with Donald Trump and won. All the other RNC potential nominees lost in 2016 (RIP to Jeb Bush who didn’t even get support from his mother), Clinton lost to Trump, and all the other RNC potential nominees lost to Trump again in 2020. Only Biden has overcome where others have stumbled, despite all of Trump and the RNC’s best efforts at foul play.
Then there is also the fact that the DNC (we) defeated the Red Wave of 2022, which Biden predicted would happen.
“President Joe Biden, despite having higher disapproval ratings than approval ratings, is poised to score the most successful midterm results since George W. Bush defied history and picked up seats in Congress in 2002,” (www.usnews.com/...).
When are people on the Left going to stop being surprised and see a trend? We have been winning election after election since 2018. The RNC and Trump certainly see a trend. They can see that we are winning.
Biden himself put it simply when calling in to the Morning Joe Show: “They were wrong in 2020. They were wrong in 2022 about the red wave. They're wrong in 2024… I am not letting up.”
I wrote in more detail (here www.dailykos.com/...) about the fact that we stand a fantastic chance of winning in 2024, despite what many might lead you to believe. To summarize, I have 22 reasons why we are winning and will go on to win in 2024. They are:
1) Covid-19
2) Youth Voters
3) The RNC’s voter base is extremely old
4) Trump and the RNC’s base is running out of steam
5-18) Allan Lichtman’s 13 Keys to the White House
19) Rachel Bitecofer’s “Hit’em Where It Hurts” DNC strategy.
20) Biden himself — with his command of independents and centrists (who just couldn’t bring themselves to support a female candidate in 2016, if you recall)
21) You and me
22) The Abortion Issue (Sidenote, if I have not already, I intend to edit my old diary to talk about how the abortion issue will help us in 2024 too — it was a lapse in memory to forget to bring abortion up)
Again, go here www.dailykos.com/… for more detail on those points I raise. I am sure others can add more reasons. Markos himself had his own article that also explained Biden will win this November: www.dailykos.com/…
I think everyone forgot what people like Markos said, and not 4 days later either. Moving on...
How do you attack someone who has a good record? Attack their credibility. How does someone (say the RNC) defeat an enemy that is too powerful to beat in a fair fight (the DNC)? Sow division and discord within your enemy’s ranks. This is all part of Trump and the RNC’s Project 2025 plan. They want to weaken us from the inside, so that they can divide and conquer us.
Dalbert made an excellent diary on trolling occurring in DailyKos: www.dailykos.com/…
I added my own thoughts on how those trolls are being weaponized by the Trump and the RNC here: www.dailykos.com/…
In short, people take advantage of the already present anxiety and try to cause arguments based on that anxiety. People are already anxious about Biden’s age. Trump and the RNC cannot lay a finger on Biden’s accomplishments, so they are trying to fabricate another Monica Lewinski scandal (or Clinton Emails if you prefer). Biden is: honest, faithful to his wife, successful, Christian, white, a native English speaker, was obviously born in the United States (recall the Obama’s birth certificate “scandal”), and a male. What is left to attack Biden with personally?
His age.
Even individuals who are within the Democrats’ own camp that dislike Biden are attempting to capitalize on the opportunity to attack Biden’s age because they cannot attack anything else successfully.
This only just came out as I was writing today, but I believe I could place George Clooney in this category or criticizers.
This one following segment is only conjecture, but I think it is why Clooney just came out TODAY to say Biden needs to step aside.
On May 23rd, 2024, Biden made this regard about the International Criminal Court on Israel:
To anyone who has been following Modern American History, stating that the US “does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction” is nothing new. The US has made it a policy for decades now that it will not submit to the jurisdiction of a legal apparatus that it does not control. This goes beyond Biden. Obama, Trump, and Bush have all repeated the same policy stance. This is in large part because a US President does not want there to be a chance of being labeled a “war criminal” and be subjected to arrest while traveling the world. It contradicts the US’s vested interest in being the global leader.
I am not saying I agree with this stance, only that it goes beyond Biden, and it will probably be US policy for the foreseeable future.
Do you know who works for the ICC and has been outspoken about trying to declare Israeli leaders as “war criminals?” George Clooney’s wife.
Now let me be perfectly clear — I am not making an argument about who is right or wrong. What I am trying to argue is that, Clooney’s statement probably is not because of Biden’s age. Rather, Biden’s age is a convenient excuse.
Prior to the debate, Clooney probably had reservations about Biden because of the remarks Biden made about Israel and the ICC. I would bet the issue hits Clooney personally. But what is Clooney to do? He has been an outspoken Democratic supporter and doner, and he is not going to just attack Biden on the issue as all it would lead to is debate over “well who is right or wrong on the Israel issue anyway?” It is an understandably tough subject to discuss that leaves everyone’s hand dirty. Further, if Clooney attacked Biden based on Israeli war crimes, the DNC and the media’s reaction to what has been going on has been lackluster anyway. Clooney probably would not get the traction and attention he would want this way.
But then the Presidential Debate occurs and the shit-show regarding Biden’s cognitive capacity resurfaces for the 10,000th time. Opportunity! An opportunity to ameliorate Clooney’s personal beef has appeared. Attack Biden on his conveniently popular age issue and get what you want.
This is the only way I can balance that Clooney has: 1) been a long time Democratic supporter, 2) co-hosted at a massive fundraiser for Biden, and 3) now has done a 180 turn on Biden out of thin air.
But for Clooney specifically that is conjecture. I think it is a well-founded opinion, but we will never know what is going on in Clooney’s mind. Maybe he just did not have the courage to back up his support of Biden at the fundraiser — who knows?
I would also find it more than coincidence that several of the Democratic Senators and Representatives who said Biden should back down reversed their statements immediately after the Black and Hispanic Caucuses voiced their support for Biden. I think it was about selfish interest, not Biden’s age.
Beau of the Fifth Column also raises an excellent points on how the DNC’s issue is not Biden’s age, but rather a messaging problem.
Beau also points out how, if those people calling Biden to step down really are trying to help, it is curious how none of them can suggest a better choice for replacement (that’s why Kamala Harris is VP — she IS already on the ticket with Biden).
It is all an attack that is propagated by the other side that has nothing else to attack Biden with, permitted by some members of the DNC are only looking out for themselves, and spread by opportunists and a bankrupt media that is desperate for a profit.
“Biden has been one of the best Presidents and his accomplishments are undeniable but...” No. That does not make logical sense. A person with cognitive dysfunction cannot have undeniable accomplishments and be one of the best. You cannot have it both ways.
To broaden this picture more, which is more profitable sounding to a conservatively owned corporate media company? Attacking Trump, whom most everyone already dislikes to some degree, or attacking the successful old man on the other side of the fence? Just look at how “America’s Funniest Home Videos” pushes videos of random people falling and getting hurt. Who cares if someone gets hurt? People watch it, and it makes money. Same logic tracks here with Biden.
I go into more detail about how/why corporate media is the way it is here: www.dailykos.com/...
Corporate entities exist to make money for their shareholders — this is what they are bound at creation to do. Media corporate entities are in debt, and they are making less and less money. Media corporate entities are also owned by conservative shareholders. This creates a Catch 22. Media companies need money, so they try to push inflammatory stories to get people’s attention, but at the same time their personal ideologies and interests inhibit them from creating fair and unbiased reporting of facts (see NY Times bias: www.dailykos.com/… and here www.dailykos.com/...).
I mean, just look at this dumpster fire:
It is more profitable in many of their minds to go after Biden, than to go after Trump. Consider too the real threat of physical violence Trump and his goons have threatened against any media outlet that speaks out against him.
These are the primary reasons why I believe the “but he’s old” statements refuse to go away.
So, I shall repeat it again, again, and again. I know what cognitive dysfunction is. I experienced it personally. My family and friends are still traumatized from the decline they witnessed in me.
Biden does not have cognitive dysfunction.
I shall return to repeat this sentiment again the next time the media, a Democratic Pundit, or someone else would like to capitalize on an opportunity to create mass panic that distracts from the real danger:
Trump, the RNC, and Project 2025.
*** Edit to add a footnote ***
If you agree with what I have said here and you feel that it rings of some common sense, then I would encourage you to send this article to your friends, family — anyone you would think would care to listen regarding Biden. I am only one person here in DailyKos. I lack the outreach others pay posses.
Also, I am adding the usual poll I put at the end of my diaries which I forgot to put.
