(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Trump Must Be Replaced [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-29 It finally hit me. All the hullabaloo about Joe Biden’s debate performance cleared something up. Plenty of people here have made the point that Biden is being held to a very different standard than Trump. But what I finally realized is how truly different that standard actually is. Joe Biden is being asked to “step aside” because he looks and sounds old and because he stutters. No one with any credibility is saying he can’t do the job of president. On the other hand, the Republican candidate is evidencing something far more serious. And that is something we’ve all somehow managed not to frame properly or fully recognize, even though it’s been staring us in the face. I’m not talking about Trump’s mendacity, or his misogyny, or his racism, or his rapist history, or his disreputable business dealings, or even the fact that he’s a convicted felon, although that is relevant to my point. No, there’s something else. We all know Trump is a liar. He has lied from the first day he announced his run in 2015, and he’s been lying ever since. Even the mainstream media calls it out, although they rarely use the word “lie,” instead saying his statements are “fabrications” and “falsehoods,” etc. But he didn’t start lying in 2015 or 2016. He has ALWAYS lied. He consistently lied about his net worth. He lied about his business acumen, his intelligence, his ... you name it, he’s lied about it. This is one aspect of Trump’s character that has never changed, never wavered. It continues unabated to this day, and it was on full display Thursday night, when he produced a continuous stream of lies, a fact that has been mostly swept under the rug in the reaction to Biden’s performance. Of course, I’m not a medical professional, but here’s what WebMD says about pathological liars: Pathological liars lie more than others. They make up stories that sound real enough that people believe them. They then add more lies to back up the original lies. The lies they tell can be outlandish and easily disproved. To me, all that description lacks is a picture of Donald J. Trump next to it. It couldn’t be more on point. Trump always lies. Trump can’t stop lying because, with him, the behavior is pathological. In short, Trump is not just a liar, he is a pathological liar. This is something that no one talks about, yet the funny thing is I think EVERYONE actually knows this, on some level. Despite which fact, it hasn’t been discussed, or even publicly recognized, by anyone, not even Mary Trump (as far as I know). No one is calling it out. No one is making it an issue. But it IS an issue. Because when someone is a “pathological” anything, the dictionary says they are “extreme in a way that shows an illness or mental problem.” That means Trump isn’t just mendacious or impulsive or childish or—pick your own descriptor. The man is mentally ill, and he’s mentally ill in a way that is visible for all to see. If anyone tries to disagree with that characterization, all they have to do is run the tape from Thursday night. Again, I don’t have a medical degree, but this seems to me to be irrefutable reality. If anyone reading this does have the required background, please chime in—or, even better, please shout it from the rooftops. No one has made this into an issue. Certainly not the media, but not any notable pundits, not even the Biden campaign. That needs to change, starting now. It seems to me that this is something that even the slow learners at the New York Times would have to admit is true. The fact that no one (as far as I’m aware) has yet made it prominently visible doesn’t change my sense that it is virtually undeniable, once correctly framed. Apparently a large portion of the chattering class is now comfortable disqualifying a presidential candidate for looking and sounding old. In that case, they’ve opened the door to also disqualifying a candidate for much more legitimate concerns. Clear evidence of mental illness should certainly be one of those concerns. Based on that framing, I believe any reasonable person should be demanding that Trump be replaced. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/29/2249665/-Trump-Must-Be-Replaced?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/