THOMPSON: Trump’s ballroom obsession and other signs of declining mental competence

Even a bad student of history knows that being president of the United States is a tough job. Anything he does – and it’s a men-only club so far – affects almost everyone on Earth. That’s a lot of responsibility.

Some handle it well…Franklin Delano Roosevelt…John F. Kennedy…Bill Clinton…Barrack Obama. Some don’t…Richard Nixon…Lyndon Johnson…Jimmy Carter.

Then, there’s Donald Trump. Unlike those who preceded him, Trump – now in his second term – has done little to improve the lives of most Americans…or anyone else. If you are wealthy…read male, old and white…you’ve done pretty well under Trump. Otherwise, you’ve suffered economically…politically, socially and culturally.

If you’re looking for some Trump-led policy that made America better…like FDR’s New Deal, Kennedy’s Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and Peace Corps, Clinton’s Budget Surplus or Obama’s Affordable Care Act…you won’t find it.

Take a look at what he’s “accomplished”…and it’s underwhelming.

Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill gave huge tax breaks to Billionaires and Millionaires…and slashed Medicaid and other social services to seniors, people with disabilities and working families.

Grocery prices are higher than a year ago…and you don’t have to be a Nobel-Prize Winning Economist to predict prices will continue to rise through this year…and perhaps beyond. Remember, he promised lower prices from “day one.” Remember, too, that he lies.

Trump family businesses have made more than $4 Billion during Trump’s 16-months in the White House. Graft and corruption…at home and abroad.

Trump is making streaming platforms more expensive for the public by rigging corporate mergers to favour his interests and those of his Billionaire friends. While profiting from private media, he slashed funding to Public Broadcasting.

Americans fortunate enough to have healthcare insurance are paying more…from 25 percent to 100 percent more.

He has flooded American cities and states led by Democrats with tens of thousands of ICE agents and National Guard troops…killing more than a dozen citizens. His actions have neither made immigration better…nor made America safer.

Trump allowed Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire with no government experience, access to sensitive and private information of millions of taxpayers, while saving absolutely no taxpayer dollars.

He has cancelled billions of dollars of research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency and scores of universities…slowing progress on everything from reducing gun violence to curing children’s cancers.

Trump ended grants to help treat mental illnesses and addictions.

Trump’s tariffs have cost small businesses billions of dollars…and he’s used them as leverage against big corporations to get massive donations that benefit him and his family.

Trump has supported Russia more than Ukraine in a war Russia started illegally.

He started a war with Iran…making petrochemical and oil prices surge worldwide, which closed the Strait of Hormuz. The shipping lane was open before…and world oil supplies and prices were stable. Who has prospered…investors who timed their bets on cease-fires and attacks with oil prices…what amounts to insider-trading.

Trump has withdrawn from treaties that made America and the world safer.

He has changed vaccine guidelines…putting millions of children and seniors at greater risk.

Trump has campaigned against voter rights, changing congressional representation through mid-cycle redistricting, even between census reports and after voters said “No” to gerrymandering.

Trump and Republicans have targeted Black, Latino and female representation in Congress with ridiculous re-drawings of voter districts…especially in the “Old South.”

Trump made it more difficult for young people to re-pay college loans by ending debt-relief programs.

Immigration is based – not on merit or escaping dangerous situations – but on how much money an immigrant can pay.

Trump has made the Department of Justice and the F.B.I. his personal arms for seeking revenge against perceived enemies or simply people he doesn’t like.

Trump has fired government workers and military leaders and stripped them of benefits if they were critical of his actions or supported long-held diversity, equality and diversity policies.

He cut Veterans Benefits and VA Hospital hours and services.

Trump has gutted Occupational Health and Safety regulations…making workplaces less safe and less healthy.

He has made racism and discrimination more likely by ending Diversity, Equality and Inclusion programs in the military, government and private businesses.

Trump is ending birthright citizenship…using his loaded U.S. Supreme Court to enforce the measure.

There are – quite literally – hundreds of other measures that make America less than what the designers of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights intended.

Beyond policies and actions that have hurt America immeasurably, Trump has every appearance of suffering dementia…and a variety of mental illnesses.

You don’t have to be a trained psychologist to observe his vengeful, anti-social behaviour. Trump loves hurting folks…to the point of sadism. He is a malignant narcissist…with no remorse for anything he says or does. He has a special hatred for women who challenge him…like female reporters.

The cognitive tests and MRIs he brags about “passing with flying colors” aren’t normal…they are signs his doctors suspect dementia…a rapid decline in his cognitive skills. Again, you need not be an expert to see it. Trump’s language, memory, psycho-motor actions…all have deteriorated in the past 16 months. 

He now has difficulty putting sentences and words together…often making up words.

On top of all that, he is obsessed with making a ballroom that most do not want. He said it would be built with donations…not so. The estimated cost has tripled and not a brick has been laid. 

Gutless Republicans slipped a $1 Billion carve-out for the ballroom in a Homeland Security Bill. So, one might ask: Who’s crazier…Trump or those who pander to him…his enablers? 

Seems like Trump and almost every Republican have proven themselves unfit for office.

This November, we’ll see whether democracy really works in America. Will Americans care enough to save 250 years of democracy? Meanwhile, Canada remains today’s greatest democracy in North America.