Living With Dementia

COURAGE, ANXIETY, DESPAIR
~ ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS ~

Courage, Anxiety and Despair - Watching the Battle (ca 1850)
aka
"Le Courage, l’Anxiété et le Désespoir observent la bataille"
by James Sant (1820 - 1916)

Today's literary connection:

"Remember how trainloads of people have gone to enjoy lynchings? Not happen here? Prohibition—shooting down people just because they might be transporting liquor—no, that couldn’t happen in America! Why, where in all history has there ever been a people so ripe for a dictatorship as ours! . . .

"The Senator was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his "ideas" almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that of a traveling salesman for church furniture, and his yet more celebrated humor the sly cynicism of a country store. Certainly there was nothing exhilarating in the actual words of his speeches, nor anything convincing in his philosophy. His political platforms were only wings of a windmill. . . .

"He was an actor of genius. There was no more overwhelming actor on the stage, in the motion pictures, nor even in the pulpit. He would whirl arms, bang tables, glare from mad eyes, vomit Biblical wrath from a gaping mouth; but he would also coo like a nursing mother, beseech like an aching lover, and in between tricks would coldly and almost contemptuously jab his crowds with figures and facts - figures and facts that were inescapable even when, as often happened, they were entirely incorrect.”

from the 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here
by Sinclair Lewis (1885 - 1951)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

American writers continue to express concern
that our current president is living with dementia:
News anchor Lawrence O'Donnell: “If we grow weary of making the point of how singularly stupid and possibly clinically demented Donald Trump’s statements are, then we will become part of the normalization process of those statements, which most of the American news media has unwittingly participated in and 14 year olds in this country will think it’s perfectly normal for a president to say those things.” (MSNBC ~ 18 June)

Historian Heather Cox Richardson: "It seems to me long past time to question the 79-year-old president’s mental health."

Columnist Rex Huppke: "Is Trump in mental decline? He sounds far worse than Biden ever did. . . . If Biden's 'mental decline' was concerning, Trump's should be alarming."

I share their dismay. We cannot normalize political inanity.
So here is Batch Four of my awareness - raising
"living with dementia" reminders
[Also posted on The Quotidian Kit]

These perception - checking quotation / photo combos may be non - ceremonious, non - likeable, non - literary, devoid of charm -- but never without irony. I have tried to pick examples that emphasize the irony of the pot calling the kettle black -- or the old calling the old old. How ironic that one candidate living with dementia was eliminated, only to be replaced by another candidate living with dementia. We need upward age limits for President, Senate, Congress, and Supreme Court. It is not only embarrassing but also dangerous and wrong to see the world being so badly run by elders way past their prime.

1.

Living with dementia, compounded by sheer cruelty:

Q: Have you called the governor yet or been able to speak to any of them?

A: Um, I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out, I'm not calling him. Why would I call him? I could call him. Say, "Hi, how you doing?" Uh the guy doesn't have a clue so, he's a mess. So you know, I could be nice and call him but, why waste time?

2.

Thinks he's a hero but really a bully, living with dementia:

"The UK is very well protected.
You know why, because I like them, that's why.
That's their ultimate protection."

3.

Living with dementia & The Dunning-Kruger Effect:

"It's a shame, this guy -- I have a guy -- do you ever have a guy that's not a smart person and you're dealing with him and he's not a smart guy."

Yeah, we have that guy.
He is frighteningly unfit to lead the U.S.A.
But there he is, up on Mount Stupid.

4.

A strategy when living with dementia:

"I like to make the final decision
one second before it’s due . . .

5.

Living with dementia and prone to warfare:

" . . . a very bloody war.
They're all bloody,
but this was a really bloody one."

6.

Living with dementia and losing distinction
between the Revolutionary War & the Civil War:

"A lot of wars there was no reason for. You look right up there. I don't know. See the Declaration of Independence. And I say I wonder if you, you know the Civil War always seemed to me maybe that could have been solved without losing 600,000 plus people."

7.

Living with dementia, right down there
at the bottom of the logical reasoning pyramid:

"Stupid AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
one of the ‘dumbest’ people in Congress"

8.

Living with dementia and commenting
inappropriately on people's appearance:

"I actually had breakfast today with a king and a queen
who were beautiful, beautiful people,
central casting I must say, very nice."

9.

Living with dementia and leering:

"I will never say good looking waitress because looks don't matter anymore. You know, in our modern society. She happened to be beautiful, but I won't say that. I won't mention that, but nevertheless a waitress came over. . . . So I want to thank that young, beautiful waitress."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click here for FIRST batch:
"I Didn't Even Know Anything"
QK & FN

SECOND batch:
"A Very Much Different Country"
QK & FN

THIRD batch:
No Kings Day
QK & FN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next Fortnightly Post
Monday, July 14th

Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
my shorter, almost daily blogs
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com

Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogsppot.com

Fighting Fantasy

THE CONSTANT STRUGGLE
~ ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS ~

[June 7 & June 14]

Or, in my case, born to make literary connections
but getting a much higher response for my political asides,
so here are some more
[Also posted on The Quotidian Kit]
but first, a couple of poetic connections:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duty

I slept and dreamed that life was Beauty:
I woke and found that life was Duty:
Was then thy dream a shadowy lie?
Toil on, sad heart, courageously,
And thou shalt find thy dream to be
A noonday light and truth to thee

Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1812 - 1848)

&

The Word

Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,

between "green thread"
and "broccoli," you find
that you have penciled "sunlight."

Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful. It touches you
as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present
he had sent from someplace distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing

that also needs accomplishing.
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds

of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue,

but today you get a telegram
from the heart in exile
proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,
—to any one among them
who can find the time
to sit out in the sun and listen.

Tony Hoagland (1953 – 2018)
[see also]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.

Drone technology,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"I think you're gonna find that it's a very different, uh, warfare out there today. Now, they've introduced a thing called drone. A drone is a little bit different. It makes -- You have to go back and learn a whole new form of warfare, and you're gonna do it better than anybody else." [Photo: Beginner Drone Set]

2.

God's Plan,
as described by someone living with dementia:

"We're gonna have a big, big celebration, as you know, 250 years. In some ways I'm glad I missed that second term where it was because -- I wouldn't be your president for that. Most important of all, in addition, we have the World Cup and we have the Olympics. Can you imagine? I missed that four years and now look what I have, I have everything. Amazing the way things work out. God did that, I believe that too. God did it."

3.

Unbelievable!
-- to someone living with dementia:

"But we've found things that are unbelievably stupid and unbelievably bad with the Department of Government Efficiency. . . . DOGE has installed geniuses with an engineering mindset and unbelievably talented people and computers. I actually asked Elon one time, what's their primary thing, and they have a lot of primary things, all having to do with being smart."

4.

Member of the U.S. Senate Joni Ernst in 2016
standing alongside presidential nominee living with dementia:

Ernest speaks sarcastically of Jesus, right along with the tooth fairy: “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this earth,” she said. “So I apologize, and I’m really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well. For those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my Lord and savior Jesus Christ.”

5.

Living with dementia
and a fourth grade vocabulary,
so that everything is "big and beautiful"
or "mean and nasty" or "REALLY BAD":

“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”

6.

Is America ready for a president living with dementia?
7.

Meeting agenda
for a person living with dementia:

"We're going up to Camp David. We have meetings with various people about very major subjects."

8.

Living with dementia and delusions of grandeur:

"The U.S could survive without almost anybody
. . . . Except me."

Heather Cox Richardson:
“There is also no doubt Trump continues to demonstrate
that he is more committed to fantasy than reality.”
[emphasis added]

9.

"Political correctness" as misunderstood
by someone living with dementia:

"I watched it very closely and it was amazing the job that the National Guard did. And by the way, the police were working very hard also. But the police are given instructions to be politically correct. I said, no, no, you don't have to be politically correct, you have to do the job."

10.

2024 was a Landslide...for 'Did Not Vote'

Just a reminder: one half of the country
did not vote for the current Republican administration
-- only about one third. Not the same thing.

"Mandate," as misconstrued
by a person, living with dementia:

"I won the election by a landslide. I mean, we have a crack -- and we have a big mandate because of that."

11.

Living with dementia and tilting at windmills:

"The windmills are killing our country, by the way. . . . Even if they're white ones, a beigey white, ones a darker white, ones a lighter white. And then they start to rust after four or five years. And then they start to wear out and nobody takes them . . . Windmills, all over the place, tall ones, short ones, dead ones, they're all dead."

12.

Living with dementia and craving to be king:

"I don't feel like a king. I have to go through hell to get stuff approved. A king would say I'm not going to get this. I -- a king would have never had the California mandate to even be talking to him. He wouldn't have to call up Mike Johnson and Thune and say, fellas, you got to pull this off and after years we get it done. No, no, we're not a king. We're not a king at all."

WE???
Has someone been talking to Queen Victoria?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click here for FIRST batch:
"I Didn't Even Know Anything"
QK & FN

And SECOND batch:
"A Very Much Different Country"
QK & FN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next Fortnightly Post
Friday, June 28th

Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
my shorter, almost daily blogs
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com

Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogsppot.com