I think there’s an answer. But it’s not age — or, at least, it’s not just age.

You’ve probably seen the clip by now. Donald Trump is holding a town hall. It’s Monday, Oct. 14, in Pennsylvania. He was being asked softball questions by Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, and there is a medical emergency in the crowd. The rally stops for a while. They play “Ave Maria” while the medics respond. Then Trump and Noem begin again. Then someone else in the crowd needs medical help. The rally stops again, begins again. Noem is settling back in when Trump announces he’s had enough.

Donald Trump: Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make it into a music. [Cheers.] Who the hell wants to hear questions, right? [Laughter.]

What comes next is something I’ve never seen before. Trump, swaying dreamily to his playlist, in front of a rally full of people, for nearly 40 minutes. It was like he was D.J.’ing his own bar mitzvah.

. . .

We’ve never had good language for talking about Donald Trump. We’ve never had good language for talking about the way he thinks and the way in which it is different from how other people think and talk and act. And so we circle it. We imply it. I don’t think this is bias so much as it’s confusion. In order to talk about something, you need the words for it. But for me, something clicked watching him up there, swaying to that music.

MBFC
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  • blockheadjt
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    2 months ago

    There’s an age range, maybe 10-13, where girls have developed the decision-making portion of the brain but boys are still working on it. At these ages, boys are more likely to make decisions based on instant gratification, then fiercely deny any wrongdoing and reject any blame.

    It’s like Trump never developed that part of his brain.

    His frontal lobe is like that of a young teen boy.

    • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      trump isn’t the first…

      His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.

      https://phdn.org/archives/www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/documents/osssection3pt1.htm

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Trump definitely stopped developing around the age of 10. I noticed this when he was still president and went to a baseball game. He walked in with a smile and I could see for a brief moment that he was once a real child before his father destroyed him. Then the crowd started to boo and I never saw him exhibit that again.

      In the end I really feel sorry for Trump but can never pardon the person he became.