[Monarch Butterfly]

Dr. John Gardner, a psychologist, author and former professor at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, has made it very clear that he believes Donald Trump is mentally deteriorating and has been for sometime. He believes Trump’s poor memory, deteriorating speech, incoherent sentences, lost train of thought, impulsive behavior and deteriorating physical condition all point to dementia. We can all see it. It was a running gag leading up to the election, every podcast he went on the hosts were literally asking if he was going to go off on a random tangent at any point and in every interview he did! He can’t string thoughts together, he immediately says whatever wanders into his mind, he has no barrier, he’s unable to stop himself and think. This is scary for a few reasons, first is obviously that we have a seriously mentally unstable person running our government, but secondly, this has to make it much easier for the people behind Project 2025, Stephen Miller and others with just as dangerous an agenda to control him. Our country is in trouble.

Truth & Accountability Project

Dr. John Gardner, a psychologist, author and former professor at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, has made it very clear that he believes Donald Trump is mentally deteriorating and has been...

www.facebook.com

BTW. Trump administration revokes visas from 37 Johns Hopkins students for pro-Hamas activism

 

[PinkLucy]

Possibly related to the ongoing (worsening?) incoherence, the White House has removed transcripts of Trump's public remarks, although there are still videos. Somehow it always seems worse in transcripts.

White House purges transcripts of Trump's remarks from its website

The White House told NBC News it has decided to post only videos. There still is one transcript remaining online, however: Trump's inaugural address.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[PL1]

Possibly related to the ongoing (worsening?) incoherence, the White House has removed transcripts of Trump's public remarks, although there are still videos. Somehow it always seems worse in transcripts.

White House purges transcripts of Trump's remarks from its website

The White House told NBC News it has decided to post only videos. There still is one transcript remaining online, however: Trump's inaugural address.

www.nbcnews.com

It will be "interesting" should I live another 25-30 years to see what is written about this period in US history

 

[Northern Light]

In Mr. Trump's Washington..........I would spend less time on the theatrics and more watching this:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/junk-rated-us-treasury-markets-care-about-that-mike-dolan-2025-05-20/

To be clear, U.S. Treasuries are a long way from 'junk status'.......but there certainly are indications of another credit rating downgrade on the horizon.

If that results in U.S interest rates bumping up even 0.5%........that would be hugely damaging to the U.S.fiscal position.

 

[afransen]

In Mr. Trump's Washington..........I would spend less time on the theatrics and more watching this:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/junk-rated-us-treasury-markets-care-about-that-mike-dolan-2025-05-20/

To be clear, U.S. Treasuries are a long way from 'junk status'.......but there certainly are indications of another credit rating downgrade on the horizon.

If that results in U.S interest rates bumping up even 0.5%........that would be hugely damaging to the U.S.fiscal position.

Yes, 'flooding the zone with sh!t' is a strategy meant to distract the media and the public from the consequential things that are being done. The fact that this strategy is so effective makes one worry about whether/when someone who try to do the same here. I have seen some inklings of Doug Ford doing this from time to time, but not a pervasive continuous strategy, more around distracting folks from taking their eye off the ball with baubles like the bike lane ban.

‘Flooding the zone’ and the politics of attention

Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photography by Gage Skidmore. This is a guest post by Zsolt Kapel…

justice-everywhere.org

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

In Mr. Trump's Washington..........I would spend less time on the theatrics and more watching this:

Although there maybe a correlation between increasing unintelligible streams of consciousness and increasing destabilization of their economy...all of which seems to stem from the same well. Just saying. .

 

[lenaitch]

Possibly related to the ongoing (worsening?) incoherence, the White House has removed transcripts of Trump's public remarks, although there are still videos. Somehow it always seems worse in transcripts.

White House purges transcripts of Trump's remarks from its website

The White House told NBC News it has decided to post only videos. There still is one transcript remaining online, however: Trump's inaugural address.

www.nbcnews.com

At least they are/were using human transcribers and not technology.

A few thoughts:
- it was taking too long to transcribe because so much of of what he says is either unintelligible or made-up words.
- it was taking too long to transcribe because he does so many WH 'audiences' they couldn't keep up
- Musk fired them
- audio/video doesn't display the MAGA hat
- audio/video fits better in Truth Social sound bites
- if it is a planned public lynching like he did with Zelenskyy or Ramaphosa, you just don't get the same impact

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

Yes, 'flooding the zone with sh!t' is a strategy meant to distract the media and the public from the consequential things that are being done. The fact that this strategy is so effective makes one worry about whether/when someone who try to do the same here. I have seen some inklings of Doug Ford doing this from time to time, but not a pervasive continuous strategy, more around distracting folks from taking their eye off the ball with baubles like the bike lane ban.

‘Flooding the zone’ and the politics of attention

Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photography by Gage Skidmore. This is a guest post by Zsolt Kapel…

justice-everywhere.org

Then there are those omnibus bills...

One Big Beautiful Bill Act - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

...that not only enhances trickle down economics in a very big way, but also gut services, rolls back civil liberties and accountability, but makes Trump's discussed erratic behaviors completely legal. Already passed The House and now on it's way for approval before The Senate. /bleh

 

[Admiral Beez]

It's not only at Ports of Entry. The Amtrak train was completely domestic. Explaining yourself to the State is being normalized.

https://www.havredailynews.com/story/2025/04/17/local/border-patrol-agents-question-amtrak-passengers-in-havre-about-citizenship/547792.html

Whatever Trump is doing, it's having results in reducing undocumented migration and asylum seekers to the USA to levels that might have kept Biden in the White House. Just look at the drop in illegal migrant encounters at the Southern Border. If only Biden had taken the border seriously - and Trump-level fascism wasn't necessary.

Quiet on the southern front: A border agent's slow day shows Trump effect

Illegal crossings at the southern border have declined by over 90% from a year ago.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Mihairokov]

Tourism numbers are down, too. If you make your country unattractive via every means possible less people will want to enter.

It's like watching a tumbleweed blow through a now-dead town and saying "well at least the illegal migrants stopped coming".

 

[guavadelic]

Whatever Trump is doing, it's having results in reducing undocumented migration and asylum seekers to the USA to levels that might have kept Biden in the White House. Just look at the drop in illegal migrant encounters at the Southern Border. If only Biden had taken the border seriously - and Trump-level fascism wasn't necessary.

Not that simple. Biden pushed a bipartisan immigration bill that would have largely addressed the issues at the border but Trump pressured republicans to kill it cause he wanted to use the crisis to keep attacking Biden. Republicans enabled the continuation of the crisis in order to get Trump back in and the gamble worked out for them.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Not that simple. Biden pushed a bipartisan immigration bill that would have largely addressed the issues at the border....

Trump hasn't pass any legislation on the border, and yet the crossings are way down. Instead he's using his Executive powers, including directing federal agencies to resume construction of physical border barriers, reinstating or modifying immigration enforcement policies, including expedited removals and deploying more resources to border enforcement, including army units. That's where Biden failed on the border, always trying to build a consensus in Congress and to correct the border through legislation, when the people wanted to see POTUS wield his own powers to get it done.

Ask PolitiFact: What can Biden do to ‘shut down the border’?

President Joe Biden says he has done everything under his authority to try to reduce illegal immigration at the U.S. sou

www.politifact.com

vs.

Trump issues a slew of immigration-related executive orders on first day of new term

The orders include declaring a national emergency to deploy military personnel to the border, suspending refugee resettlement and ending birthright citizenship.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Admiral Beez]

Tourism numbers are down, too. If you make your country unattractive via every means possible less people will want to enter.

International tourism is down, but well over 90% of US tourism spending is domestic. Ever wonder why most Americans don't have passports? They don't need them: want to experience rainforests, canyons, hiking, beaches, skiing, sporting events, etc.? They have it all. The US appears to be weathering the economic storm, so I expect US domestic tourism will be okay in 2025-26.

 

[Mihairokov]

If you say so...

Those dollars may already be slipping away: The World Travel & Tourism Council projects that spending by international visitors to the U.S. will drop to $169 billion, or 7%, this year, from $181 billion in 2024. That's a 22.5% decrease from peak tourist spending of $217 billion in 2019, before the pandemic.

Fewer international travelers could also take a toll on the workforce that props up America's tourism industry: Nearly 10% of American jobs are tied to the travel industry, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.

An ongoing decline in international travel to the U.S. could result in a loss of over 230,000 jobs — with the dining and lodging industries expected to be the most hard hit, according to a recent analysis from the economic research firm IMPLAN.

What a slowdown in international travel could mean for America's tourist hubs

The World Travel & Tourism Council projects international visitors will spend $169 billion in 2025, a nearly 7% decrease from last year.

www.cbsnews.com

According to the study, the U.S, the largest Travel & Tourism sector in the world, is the only country among 184 economies analysed by WTTC and Oxford Economics, forecast to see international visitor spending decline in 2025.

U.S Economy Set To Lose $12.5BN In International Traveler Spend this year

Read WTTC's press release to learn more.

wttc.org

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

International tourism is down, but well over 90% of US tourism spending is domestic. Ever wonder why most Americans don't have passports? They don't need them: want to experience rainforests, canyons, hiking, beaches, skiing, sporting events, etc.? They have it all. The US appears to be weathering the economic storm, so I expect US domestic tourism will be okay in 2025-26.

With the current state of the Union, there is no glass half full here...it's all bad. Very bad. Even for the people who think this is all swell.