It’s morphed from self-reliance to self-interest.
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The USA is the outlier on how “socialism” is viewed. The following quote from The Guardian article you shared says it well.
**But some have hit back, highlighting the quirk of geography that underpins some of this view. “He promised things that Europeans take for granted, but Americans are told are impossible,” said the Dutch environmentalist and former government adviser Alexander Verbeek in the wake of Tuesday’s election.
“Verbeek backed this with a comment he had overheard in an Oslo cafe, in which Mamdani was described as an American politician who “finally” sounded normal.
**“Normal. That’s the word,” Verbeek wrote in his newsletter, The Planet. “Here, taking care of one another through public programs isn’t radical socialism. It’s Tuesday.”
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I wonder if an “extreme” political view can work in a city (albeit a very large one), in state, in a country with varying degrees - as much as 180 degrees - difference in perspective
It doesn’t help that Joe Average American doesn’t really think about the difference between socialism and communism, or that there can be variations within each label.
In some environments, we’re programmed to think socialism = communism and communism = bad.
“Socialism is evil commie 
, but the gummit better not try to touch my Social Security or Medicare.”
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Is it irresponsible for a sitting member of Congress to imply the President is being treated for Alzheimer’s?
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In ordinary times, perhaps. While our Glorious Leader isn’t the first president to have been less-than-upfront about medical conditions, the avoidance of giving clear answers begs this sort of speculation.
There’s no real evidence. Infusions are rarely given through the hand - most IVs are done through the arm, not the hand. He had one MRI - and doesn’t the president get a full workup annually anyway? If Trump had monthly MRIs done, then I’d say there’s a case. As for tiredness, being president is an exhausting job - I don’t think anybody would deny that. He’s also 79 years old.
Do I think Trump’s mental state is not at 100%? Absolutely. But I wouldn’t put out public speculation like this without any real evidence.
She’s especially wrong for doing it, being that in 2024, she claimed that she spoke to Biden and he was “incredibly lucid”, when everybody knew that wasn’t the case.
The Trump supporter doth protest too much methinks
The MRI is a nothing burger, or at least would be if they had released info on it at the time. If they were worried about Alzheimer’s, it would have been of the brain, not chest. Given his cankles, a chest MRI to check the heart is apparently prudent.
He has it done at his second “annual” check up of the year.
ETA: the US president often struggles to make a coherent statement, and doesn’t remember who he pardoned in the past week or so and has no comprehension of why he needed a medical test.
lol I’ve said many times that I’m not a Trump supporter. Didn’t vote for him in the primary or the general election. I think he’s an idiot. But I also hate people who oppose everything he says/does just because of who he is. TDS is a real thing.
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I am in agreement when it comes to saying things without possessing adequate supporting information to develop an opinion of truthfulness, but that cow left the barn a while ago. You can’t expect it from any politician or podcaster.
However, “incredibly lucid” can actually be true. Biden wasn’t entirely lucid all the time, but that perhaps that wasn’t what was being claimed. He could easily have been clear-minded for a short conversation with her. The conclusion that “no issue exists” because he was lucid when he talked to me is the problem. Whether she directly drew that conclusion or left it for the reader, I don’t know (and don’t care enough to find your source).
This kind of speculation has become entirely standard - and especially by Trump. I think the bigger problem is that all sorts of speculation are now taken as fact by the factions of the horde.
And, yes, it could be a sign of dementia. But it is a far smaller sign than all the other more obvious signs of dementia. That alone makes it a nothingburger.
Nobody does this. People oppose the things he does and says because they are one or more of harmful, counterproductive, corrupt, self-serving, cruel, unnecessary, etc…
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Trump’s behavior in public is enough evidence to speculate, just like Biden’s. I see no reason to attempt to differentiate late 2023 Biden from late 2025 Trump.
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Trump is president because (Democrat)DS is a real thing.
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This. Let’s stop with the “you have TDS” if you question his mental faculties when he spouts nonsense and falls asleep in meetings, generally when the same folks mentioned Biden’s mental failings continuously.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Biden was too old to run the first time and the second, and Trump was too. Hillary was too. We don’t need presidents that might need assistance wiping their own ass by the end of their term.
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While I don’t oppose everything our Glorious Leader says/does, I am guilty of having initial knee-jerk negative reactions to most of his pronouncements because the sheer number of harmful / counterproductive / corrupt / self-serving / cruel / unnecessary pronouncements he has made.
There are have been occasions that I have grudgingly admitted that he has a point, etc., after some reflection. However, I do tend not to openly admit to such when reading the room suggests that such an observation might not be well received…and those occasions are easy to overlook/forget just because of how vehemently I am repulsed by so many of the other things he says/does.
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Same here, its not all terrible, but because of the volume and magnitude of what is terrible, it’s hard to say nice things.
Blaming some of Trump’s nonsense on his age is one of the more generous interpretations of his actions tbh.
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Over 20 years ago, back when he was in his prime, he was self-aware enough to acknowledge that his exaggerations about his accomplishments, etc. were exaggerations, playing into his brand. If you called him on the BS in a good-natured way, he’d acknowledge it with a wink and a nod. It was not something to my taste…but I could acknowledge it as a schtick that worked for him and wasn’t necessarily “bad”.
In the past decade-and-change, however…I’ve come to suspect that he actually believes his BS. Whether that’s because of the changes in mental processing and personality that come with age, or with having spent too much time in his own echo chamber with his sycophants, I cannot say.
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