Trump has been incognito since the G20. Why?

[MineralMan]

No press conference at the end of the Summit, and no public appearances or visible work schedule since his return. Why? Well, after watching him and his interactions at the G20, I think he may not be able to handle those things at this point without making his deficits obvious. If that is the case, it is unlikely that the situation will improve, based on my experience with several elderly relatives.

I cannot say for sure that this is the case, but it would be one explanation for his otherwise inexplicable failure to hold the traditional press conference in Hamburg. Even his tweeting frequency is down, and the current tweets could easily have been posted by a staff member or his daughter.

Will he suddenly reappear in a public forum where he has to take questions and speak extemporaneously? I don't know. If he does not, that will add weight to my hypothesis. If Trump cannot handle the role of President fully, then he needs to step down. If he can handle it, then he needs to demonstrate that publicly for me to change my conclusions.

[MFM008]

1. GUILTY

As charged.

[MineralMan]

3. It's not a matter of guilt. It's a matter of his capacity to serve

as President. If he has suffered some sort of cerebral accident or if some progressive disorder has become worse, then that has to be looked at. He did not behave as a US President behaves at the G20 Summit. He avoided discussions with other world leaders and was sometimes absent at meetings, leaving his daughter to sit in his assigned seat.

Most striking, though, was his complete failure to hold the customary press conference at the conclusion of the Summit. Every other participant did that. Every President has done that in similar situations. It is a traditional press conference where the President summarizes what happened at the Summit. It did not happen. No explanation was offered at the time, nor has any explanation been offered since.

This week, his schedule has been empty. He is apparently not at work this week. He plans, I believe to head for his NJ golf course this weekend, where there is a major golf tournament. Will he appear in public to make remarks? Will he take questions? Or, will he sit in his enclosed pavilion on the course and hide in the shadows?

There is much for him to discuss just now. His son's stupidity. The Russians. His meeting with Putin. The press has a multitude of questions that need to be asked and answered. If he continues not to do so, then my theory will be reinforced.

[Orsino]

10. He has never displayed any stamina...

...and presidenting, even if it's done half-assed, requires being on for much of the time.

It's not a good first job for a dumb dilettante of no accomplishements.

[MFM008]

16. Bastille Day is

Friday.
Maybe he will find a French golf course...
Oh wait..French don't do golf......
they do artsy crafts stuff.....

[MineralMan]

18. Is that still scheduled? That will give us another

opportunity to observe him, if he does go. If it is suddenly canceled, though...

[underpants]

2. Luckily Jr. was ready to take up some of the slack

[MineralMan]

4. Well, and Ivanka was there for him in Hamburg, too.

We mustn't forget that.

[Hekate]

60. That inspired no end of confidence, for sure. I won't forget Ivanka. nt

[MiddleClass]

65. Just imagine Chelsea Clinton, or one of the the Obama kids

Qualifications, she was spawned by Don the con.

Breathtakingly embarrassing, in front of other world leaders.

Maybe she will fill in at the psychiatrist when he has a nervous breakdown

[LakeArenal]

6. Yes, the Slack Jawed slacker took up the slack..nt

[Johonny]

5. Aren't they supposed to be hammering GOP senators to get this health care vote through

he needs the legislation of death passed now more than ever so everyone focuses on how they're all about to die and not on his Russian problems.

[MineralMan]

8. I don't think PINO Trump gives a shit about health care.

But he promised to repeal ACA. That's all that matters to him, assuming he can even remember that.

[NCjack]

57. Let's thank him for repealing ACA, and tell him it's time to take summer recess. nt

[Orsino]

7. Poor fucker is exhausted...

...from all that fucking the poor.

[MineralMan]

12. Yah, maybe more than exhaustion, I'm thinking.

Again, I can't be certain, because I haven't seen him since the G20. But, remember that wandering incident after he deplaned from AF1, shortly before the G20. Came down the stairs and flat ignored the open limo door. He just wandered off until a Secret Service guy caught up with him and got him turned around to go back to the limo.

That is simply not normal behavior. The President comes down the stairs from AF1 and sits down in the Presidential limo that is waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Every last freaking time. That's why it's there. Trump either couldn't see it or couldn't remember what he was supposed to do. There's no other possible explanation.

I think he couldn't remember. I think that is symptomatic of his current mental state. I think his staff is covering for him and keeping him out of sight and out of public places.

[Orsino]

17. I have wondered...

...but even when Trump has been on his game, he's never come across as having awareness, compassion, patience or stamina.

Dementia on Trump would look like Trump does, but also a lot like Trump has for decades.

[underpants]

26. I think he was freaked out by the stairs

We've heard about that and he looked really shakey. His mind was going a thousand miles an hour. He needed to stop and breath but no he just starting wondering around like he was off his mess.

Not meant as a excuse - that was just my read on the situation

[NewJeffCT]

29. I heard he hurt his knees

while kneeling before Putin.

[bdamomma]

52. Yea I bet.

rug burn???

[Alice11111]

63. Good one.

[ksoze]

9. He was getting prayed on at Oval office Monday

[MineralMan]

13. Well, maybe they're praying for him to get better.

They believe in that sort of thing, I understand. Laying on of hands to heal the sick. Nobody has commented on that meeting, as far as I know.

[salin]

19. I hadn't seen this

and it creeps me out.

[Sugar Smack]

64. It reminds me of the dream sequence in Rosemary's Baby.

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/rosemarys-baby/240626/13-movies-that-scared-us-rosemarys-baby


I ain't right.

[salin]

67. ew. and agreed.

[The Genealogist]

76. Jeez, you're right

[alterfurz]

25. Donnie's being pushed out the White House door...

...while Mikey et al. close their eyes and pretend they don't see what's happening.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

32. About Browne, this jumped out:"This gave rise to the term "holy laughter", & "holy ghost bartender"

According to Christianity Today, Browne's ministry is known for its passion for evangelism and ministries of restoration, accompanied by "signs and wonders" characterized by baptism of the Holy Spirit and Fire, physical healings and miracles, with frequent manifestations of laughing and "falling under the power" during his evangelistic services.[3] This gave rise to the term "holy laughter", and "holy ghost bartender", which refer to audience members spontaneously laughing loudly during his services.


You really can't make this stuff up a. k. a. charlatan, I guess they are hoping for a miracle now!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Howard-Browne

[3catwoman3]

34. Seriously?

Aauuugggghhhhh! That is really creepy.

[HipChick]

37. They were trying to get the devil out and free that thing

on top his head..

[Hekate]

59. Under the circs, that's a scary picture...

What is wrong with him that got someone (Pence or Sarah Huck, for instance) to call in this grim bunch?

[Dave Starsky]

61. Under any circumstances, that's a scary picture.

But it fires up support in the last segment of society that supports him.

[Flaleftist]

68. WTF?

[magicarpet]

82. That was his cheer me up......

Handjob.

[dembotoz]

11. putins hickeys harder to cover up than first thought

[MineralMan]

14. Haha...not.

I think this is a serious thing, really.

[Sugar Smack]

15. Maybe he's soul-searching. Maybe he's being quiet & contemplative

as he retreats into introspection. Maybe he realizes he's done some very nasty, spiteful, evil & ugly things, and wants to repent. Maybe he's making himself a turnaround for the better.

[MineralMan]

21. Oh, sure...that's possible, certainly.

[monmouth4]

62. A few days ago I read where he was thinking of resigning. I wonder if he and his attorney

and whomever else he trusts are putting that together for him to resign by the end of the summer if not sooner. If he's ill, that will scare him I'm sure, and he has to know there is little to no love for him among the citizenry. I'm only speculating of course, but this has crossed my mind more than once.

[underpants]

23. I'm thinking he's taken up interpretive dance

[Sugar Smack]

30. Or spinning!

[CatMor]

27. He doesn't have a soul to search.

[Sugar Smack]

33. That was my Very-Last-case-scenario.

And I agree. There's no humanity, or sense of humor, or ethics in him.

[CatMor]

44. Exactly

if I could add one more he doesn't have and that's humility.

[MiddleClass]

20. I would venture to guess, Mueller investigation interviews, Russian ties going public

Strategy meeting on Air Force One on the way home about Don Junior meeting.

Why is Don the Con supposedly listening to his lawyers?

A bit too busy in strategy meetings, keeping him, Jared, and Junior out of jail.

One statement: all hands on deck

[MineralMan]

22. Could be. I don't know.

The optics are bad for Trump, though, at the very least.

[HipChick]

38. Optics are very bad...even some of his regular degular supports are abandoning him..

France is a bad move right now, and Macron has his own issues right now too...linking himself to Trump is not going to help

[salin]

24. Embarrassed?

Sure seemed like most of the world leaders were avoiding him.

Or perhaps he is enraged at that too, since they all seemed so solicitous and interested in Obama.

Who am I kidding. That would suggest some level of reflection. Trump's only form of self reflection is looking in a mirror or at photos of himself.

[MineralMan]

28. I don't think he's capable of being embarrassed.

Really.

[PearliePoo2]

31. I think there is a scheduled short press appearance when he is in France with Macron.

Something like two questions will be allowed. You just know the press is licking their chops to query him about Don Jr. and the Russian e-mails. There's also planned demonstrations to greet him when he arrives in France. That should add some fuel to the fire if he is indeed having a mental breakdown.
I've been thinking about how he will handle the public appearance with Macron and the Press. Will he refuse to show up and just get in his plane and leave for home as he did at the G20? If he does show up at the presser, will he refuse to answer any questions?
Or if he does take questions and gets one he doesn't like, will he just shout "NEXT" and point to another journalist? The entire world will and SHOULD be watching intently.
There are reports that the atmosphere is a Category 5 Hurricane in the White House. It's totally out of control, a circular firing squad with all the in-fighting. Insiders say he is 100% OBSESSED with the investigation. He's watching TV all day long and yelling and cursing.
Mika on 'Morning Joe' said it's really serious and she fears for this country. She said it may be time to consider the 25th amendment.
Every day, I fear to turn on the news. This is so frightening.

[bdamomma]

56. the man is not well

the US was not even included in the G20, he was a misfit, and had his daughter with no experience sitting next to dignitaries. They were calling it the G19, we are in a total mess with the world economy. He has pledged his allegiance to Vlad and Poland what more effing evidence do they need?

He really should be escorted out of the WH. And the repigs are still not saying anything, they should be all be arrested hmm...how about citizens arrest? Just venting.

[3catwoman3]

35. 2 close-in-succession trans-Atlantic...

...flights. and the inevitable jet-lag will certainly be a drain on him physically and mentally. Should be interesting to see how he handles it.

[HipChick]

40. BS....he has a full size bed of AF1

he's not exactly stuck in coach with restricted movement...

[3catwoman3]

69. True enough. The accommodations on Air Force 1 are...

..quite plush. I had the opportunity to tour AF 1 in 2015 at a reunion of the Sam Fox squadron reunion at Andrews. My husband was pilot in that squadron for 8 years in the late 80s and early 90s. Not part of the AF 1 crew, but flew many US and foreign officials all over the world. Then flew for a major airline for 15 years before reaching mandatory retirement age. We have a considerable amount of experience with the effects of crossing time zones in this household.

Regardless of how fine the cabin conditions and furnishings might be, crossing time zones still messes up circadian rhythms. You eat and sleep at times not typical for your customary pattern, and the body doesn't like that. As a nurse, I will hazard the speculation that for Trump - who by all accounts barely sleeps anyway, has a lousy diet, seems to do nothing to take decent care of care of himself, and is in a high pressure job that he likely hates - consecutive trips like these would be even more stressful than they might ordinarily be.

Are you always so blunt when replying to a post with which you disagree?

[HipChick]

70. Stationed at Andrews AFB for quite a few years myself...

If he can't stand the heat in the kitchen, he has options like resigning

[3catwoman3]

71. That would be fine...

...by me.

We lived in Upper Marlboro. How about you?

[HipChick]

72. Fort Washington, but have since moved across bridge to NoVA

[3catwoman3]

77. We wasted several days of a 1 week...

...permissive TDY granted to look for housing. We were checking out neighborhoods in the Chevy Chase and Silver Spring area, where my favorite aunt lived, only to be told, with about 2 days left, that we would have to be within 20 minutes of Andrews because of the on-call commitment associated with the plane my husband was flying. One of those "so-and-so needs to go here NOW" situations.

As you would well know, needing to get somewhere within 20 minutes in the greater DC area means you can't be on the beltway because you could be on it for hours, no matter the time of day or night. Hence Upper Marlboro, which was somewhat on the decrepit side.

[HipChick]

79. After my husband passed unexpectedly, I found myself in housing in some of the sketchy parts of MD

I'm on a mobile device, so apologies if my response are terse..
Traffic is horrendous, have done my fair share of commuting from the 5 sided building

[struggle4progress]

36. I hear White House staff has locked him in the attic until he behaves

[Leith]

45. This Is Why We Should Be Able to Rec Posts

Brilliant!

PINO (thanks for that, MM) is scheduled to leave for France later today. It will be interesting to see what happens. Luckily, I get France24 news in English from Paris via antenna. That will be my go-to channel to watch for the next few days.

[spiderpig]

39. Couldn't agree more with your post.

He's been increasingly bizarre lately - and where Trump is concerned, that's saying a lot.

His physical condition has been a closely-guarded secret from the beginning of the campaign. Aren't many corporate CEOs required to have regular medical exams to hold their positions? It's obvious Trump's body is in horrible shape, and 71 is not old these days.

Mentally - well, where do we start? Awful as he was during the campaign, he's been acting more and more paranoid and forgetful at an accelerated rate.

Wondering if the Bastille Day visit will actually occur. Parisians are declaring a Trump-Free Zone. That might hurt his feelings.

[MineralMan]

42. I don't know about the French trip. If he goes, he can

probably avoid public speaking, I think. He is, after all, the PINO!

[HipChick]

41. MM...he has to get his hair re-dyed....It takes a while..

and get his Orange Tan back in..

[MineralMan]

43. Hmm...maybe the hair dye is responsible for

damaging his brain. I hope, too, that he didn't take any food or drink from any of the Russians, either. That's never a good idea.

[Setsuna1972]

46. he finally cracked

It could be that he's no longer functional enough to be shown on camera anymore . I'd bet his whatever conditions have become too clear to hide in plain sight, especially with the bad press over the past 24 hours

[Kaleva]

47. According to a CNN article, he needs downtime after a trip overseas.

[MineralMan]

48. No STAMina, eh?

[CentralMass]

53. Sad !

[MineralMan]

54. Indeed! Sad for him!

[hatrack]

83. "No stamina! No stamina! You're the stamina!"

Oh, shit, wait a minute . . .

[doc03]

49. Probably in a padded room nt

[bdamomma]

50. may be incognito

because he had gotten his marching orders from Vlad.

[MineralMan]

51. Could be, but I think the answer's simpler than that, really.

[Gothmog]

55. Catching up on TV?

[cwydro]

58. Not to mention incommunicado.

Except for twitter lol.

[Tanuki]

66. Based on his history of projection and his recent gratuitous insult

of Mika "bleeding from a facelift" Brzezinski, perhaps he is hiding while recovering from some minor "work," such as a chin tuck.

[Greywing]

73. How about this theory ... Putin scared the hell out of him.

Maybe invited him to come see the view from a rooftop in Moscow

[grantcart]

74. I know you meant incommunicado but picturing Trump trying to assume a new identity or

going around in a disguise is just hilarious to picture.

in·cog·ni·to

adjective & adverb
1. (of a person) having one's true identity concealed.
"in order to observe you have to be incognito"

synonyms: under an assumed name, under a false name, in disguise, disguised, under cover, in plain clothes, camouflaged, unidentified; secretly, anonymously
"you'll be traveling incognito"

[KentuckyWoman]

75. What meetings did he go to? Last I saw his daughter had to be president for him.

He didn't have enough stamina to be president for himself I guess.....

[livetohike]

78. My thoughts are the G20 brought back PTSD from when he was an

unwanted child at home and probably shunned at school because he was so obnoxious. In the G20 group he has to be laughed at behind his back. Who wouldn't? The leader of a once Superpower tweeting immature tweets.

[WestSeattle2]

80. Obviously his health is failing. The putrid stench of treason and legal culpability has taken

its toll. Mental lapses, physical fatigue, and the inability to competently administer the duties of the office, have conspired to bring down the Trump/Pence administration. SAD!

[PatrickforO]

81. I like your old-school traditionalism. It makes me yearn for the days when either party had real

statesmen and women. When you could (mostly) count on the Congress to do the right thing, and the president's first name was 'Mr.' and last name was 'President.' Days when there was respect for our government, and people generally believed in it.

Ah, I yearn for those days, too, but the MIC betrayed us with Vietnam, and it has rather gone downhill from there. When big business rallied around the 1971 Powell memo to the US Chamber of Commerce, and 16 years later, Reagan allowed the Fairness Doctrine to die, we were accelerating down an icy slope, and we went off the cliff when the Supreme Court made the disastrous Citizens United ruling. We can look at other things, such as the slow destruction of the US Labor movement after the Taft-Hartley Act of 1948, and the terrible consequences of decades of massive tax cuts failing to 'trickle down.'

That said, there are two issues. I'm in agreement with you that the most pressing is the apparent cognitive failure we've seen on a number of occasions. If Donald Trump is no longer mentally fit to be in office then Pence must remove him as specified in the 25th Amendment.

However, we cannot turn our backs on the fact that the once 'Grand Old Party' may be rotten from treason. As an American, the idea that Republicans would collude with a hostile foreign power to rig an American presidential election is not OK, not normal and is in fact treasonous. This treason must be rooted out vigorously and the perpetrators, all of them, brought to justice. I disagree with many Democratic Party leaders who are saying, "Oh, we shouldn't talk about Russia so much, because people are getting tired of it and it may backfire in 2018."

Because you know what? There is a time we need to put aside party affiliation and simply be Americans. Treason has been done, and it needs to be excised from our body politic.