I have addressed this before, but we now have an expert weighing in on the matter. A psychologist interviewed by a Salon exclusive says that he believes Trump is showing signs of dementia at his Manhattan criminal trial.

When I addressed the matter, I confined the sleep to being elderly and that Trump is always most animated when holding court with others, not “in court” by himself (as Defendant) – and that may still be 90% of it. A psychologist’s opinion is more valuable than mine, but without examining Trump, including Trump’s medication regimen, it isn’t definitive.

Still, Salon reported the interview with Dr. John Gartner a respected and prominent contributor to the bestselling book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.”

But it is still only fair to keep in mind that opinions like this sell books. We should be cautious because we spent four years hearing that Trump was showing signs of dementia, and he only became more dangerous and more conniving – it didn’t seem like he was slipping.

Gartner wrote, “The trial is really a form of psychological torture for a malignant narcissist who needs to appear powerful. Instead, he appears small, confused, and helpless.” WOW, harsh.

Regardless, after addressing the fact that Trump had fallen asleep during his trial, Dr. Gartner wrote:

However, dementia patients frequently pass out during the day. And come to think of it, this may be the first criminal trial I’ve been aware of where the defendant appears, in my opinion, to have dementia. Is it a coincidence that it’s also the only one I’ve ever known where the defendant can’t remain awake most days?

It is not my job to defend Trump (Hardly) – but we can point out that Trump has already gotten in trouble twice for interacting with a potential juror and witness. He is also very angry. There would be many reasons to keep him fairly medicated during the trial to protect him from instinctive behavior.

The rest of the paragraph (Below, cut to make it more readable) seems to be a bit gratuitous and outside the range of a psychologist’s specialty:

Trump appears to be losing control of his basic biological functions. One is sleep-wake. The other may be excretion. Twitter blew up when both Ben Meiselas and George Conway reported they had heard from multiple credible sources in the courtroom that Trump was loudly passing gas, and the smell was overpowering. This was judged by Snopes to be unconfirmed. But, personally, I happen to trust the people who reported it. I don’t believe they would make that up. There have been unconfirmed reports of Trump using adult diapers.

I know Ben Meisalas, and I am sure he heard something from someone. I doubt he has firsthand knowledge.

This site has a 100% policy of not commenting on the adult diaper situation. First, it has never been confirmed. Second, it doesn’t impact the way anyone thinks. Third, none of us are getting younger and may well find ourselves in the same situation.

As for smell? That’s simply to ridicule him, nothing more. It does work, though.

The sleep thing is a problem and could be medicated, though – again, that – too, is a gamble for the reasons explained above.

Dr. Gartner believes that the American public has the right to know if the president is incontinent. No, the American public has the right to know the complete health picture of a possible president, which would include incontinence, which should probably amount to nothing because it cannot impact mental stability and ability.

Again, we surely have readers who are incontinent, and their cognitive function may well be sharper than mine. The sleep thing is the bigger problem. As we age, we lose energy. The right has pointed out occasions when President Biden has drifted a bit – it should be reported and analyzed.

Fair is fair, both men are older, and voters are concerned.

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Jason Miciak is Executive Editor for Political Flare and an Editor at Large for Occupy Democrats, he can be reached at [email protected]