I still remember from high school history a discussion of Woodrow Wilson's 1919 stroke as he futilely fought for US participation in the post-WWI League of Nations. Wilson refused to resign, the White House physician refused to document his disability and the VP refused to succeed him; In reference to . the U.S. Constitution’s Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 on presidential succession
Vice President Thomas Marshall refused to assume the presidency unless the Congress passed a resolution that the office was, in fact, vacant, and only after Mrs. Wilson and Dr. Grayson certified in writing, using the language spelled out by the Constitution, of the president’s “inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office.” Such resolutions never came.
Edith Wilson essentially controlled access to her husband for the remainder of his tenure, de facto essentially serving as POTUS. It was the obvious motivation for the 25th amendment. which was adopted and ratified during the LBJ administration.
This is basically a reference to Trump's repeated personal attacks on Biden, particularly ageist shots, notable especially since hypocrite Trump is only a few years younger and will also pass 80 during his term. Trump routinely would question Biden's cognitive abilities and try to make it political issue, He has continued to obsess about the issue, trying to argue that others were using autopen to exercise the Presidency around a functionally disabled Biden. House Oversight Committee Chairman partisan Trumpkin James Comer is investigating whether Biden staffers worked to cover up Biden's alleged mental decline. Most of this is justified based on a handful of widely circulated moments of puzzling Biden behavior where he seemed confused, e.g., coming off stage, his incoherent moments during last year's debate performance with Trump, etc.
I am not a trained psychologist but I've reviewed literally hundreds of applied psychology studies in my own MIS research. I argued in an unpublished paper that a binomial test used in a famous paper on computer user satisfaction was inappropriate because memory recall is not a set of independent events. That is not directly relevant to the point at hand but as a trained empiricist I have concerns about how representative cherry-picked said events were/are of Biden's behavior as a whole. I thought Biden's debate performance was bad, but I have also criticized Obama's and Trump's meandering, disorganized speeches. Most of Biden's responses were coherent and consistent with his politics. Not to mention there are other factors like the stress of being in an important televised debate
I can't speak for the early childhood memories of others. After my being born in Texas, my Dad was stationed at Otis AFB on Cape Cod, maybe a half hour drive near the folks' home base of Fall River/Somerset, MA. But a couple of early moments stand out: my folks joined another family on a beach where my Dad's buddy was engaged in clamming (digging out clams). Second, I remember "catching" my first fish (Dad's buddy reeled it in for me). When I mentioned these things years later to Mom, she swore they never happened. I also remember the 1972 election; I was too young to vote but I encouraged my pro-life Catholic parents to support a pro-life third party POTUS candidate. My mom wrote back they looked for him on their ballots but he wasn't listed so they voted for the incumbent. I mentioned her vote years later in passing and she was pissed off in denial, arguing she never discussed her secret ballots with anyone. I was convinced I still had her original mail in my records somewhere What do you say to someone who argues the earth is flat to your face? I did not doubt my experiences but one pauses when someone you trust contradicts your experience.
In fact, the folks rarely discussed politics with us around the dinner table. I knew my maternal grandfather was a GOP Massachusetts small businessman, and Mom was a social conservative in terms of things like public displays of the Ten Commandments. My late dad was probably a Reagan Democrat; his best friend Oscar was a diehard Texas conservative Democrat with a pathological hatred of the Bushes and known for submitting letters to the San Antonio Express-News. I remember being pissed Mom forwarded me a copy of a Paul Krugman column a few years ago, like Mom. do you know me? Where did she get it? Oscar. But I recall I was the only one interested in the Nixon impeachment hearings. My Dad cut off the circuit to the family TV to force me to bed. I think Mom simply forgot she wrote to me about her 1972 vote
I have known and loved 2 older women who have been diagnosed with dementia and/or Alzheimer's. They desperately cherish their independence, not only their home but even the loss of driving privileges. I remember one was driving with me in the car and pulled out into an incoming lane. Thank God no traffic but she was bristling over and in a state of denial my criticizing her driving (probably longer than I was alive). When DMV took away her license some time later (I think she hit a parked car at a supermarket) , I was secretly relieved. There are innumerable other things: locking herself out of the house trying to let in a cat we gave away in the mid-60s. walking away from supper cooking on a stovetop, forgetting she sold her dad's house in the early 80's, having to remind sometimes multiple times in the same conversation almost all of her generational relatives have passed. She had a security system on her home and it unintentionally triggered police visits 5 times over a month. At times she doesn't remember her correct age or the state where she resides.
I am not a trained neurologist. I did parse last year's Trump/Biden debate and I felt Biden gave reasonably coherent responses on most questions. There were one or two answers which I didn't follow at all. I've seen at least the view of one psychiatrist who analyzed his DNC speech 2 months later:
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday night, President Biden took the stage at 10:26 p.m. Central Time to a four-minute-long standing ovation. Throughout his historic 50-minute address, his voice was strong, albeit emotional at times. He was focused and able to connect the dots as he moved from topic to topic. Though he read from a teleprompter, he was able to improv, too.
He suggests an alternative tentative possibility to dementia to explain Biden's confusing debate performance
But as a geriatric psychiatrist, I think something different was happening. During the debate, Biden may have been suffering from delirium.
Delirium is often temporary and treatable. But notice how the psychiatrist is pointing on how Biden improvised during his nearly one hour address? He wasn't simply repeating a speech someone told him to read.
Let's be clear: no competent mental health would ever agree to diagnose dementia without due diligence and unfettered access to Joe Biden. For an ignorant hack like Trump who holds no credentials in mental health and tried to destroy him as a political rival to sow FUD about Biden's mental state is predictable and dishonorable.
Is it possible Biden could be diagnosed in the future? We know it happened to Ronald Reagan.
I've made it clear I thought Biden should have kept his word not to run for reelection. He reportedly reneged on that thinking it made him a less credible lame duck, and he was convinced he was the only Dem who could beat Trump. He was the oldest POTUS in American history. Age was an issue, and the position is taxing even for a younger person. But let's treat older people with dignity and respect..
