'Cognitive decline': Clinical psychiatrist recommends 'rigorous
neuropsychiatric evaluation' for Trump

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris picked up some major endorsements
after her contentious presidential debate with GOP nominee Donald Trump at
Philadelphia's National Constitution Center on Tuesday night, September 10
� including pop superstar Taylor Swift and conservative former U.S.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served in the George W. Bush
Administration during the 2000s.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), former Fox News host Megyn Kelly and
other Trump defenders have been claiming that ABC News' debate moderators
David Muir and Linsey Davis were unfair to Trump, but countless pundits
have argued that Republicans attacking the moderators are in denial � and
that Harris clearly won the debate.

Much of the debate analysis has focused on Trump and Harris' command of the
issues. But Richard A. Friedman, a clinical psychiatry professor, has been
analyzing Trump's debate performance from a mental wellbeing standpoint.
And Friedman has said that he would recommend a "rigorous neuropsychiatric
evaluation" based on Trump's performance during that debate.

In an article for The Atlantic, Friedman wrote, "Donald Trump's expressions
of those tendencies were alarming. He displayed some striking, if familiar,
patterns that are commonly seen among people in cognitive decline."

Friedman noted Trump's "compulsive" repetitions.

"If a patient presented to me with the verbal incoherence, tangential
thinking and repetitive speech that Trump now regularly demonstrates," the
clinical psychiatry professor wrote in The Atlantic, "I would almost
certainly refer them for a rigorous neuropsychiatric evaluation to rule out
a cognitive illness. A condition such as vascular dementia or Alzheimer�s
disease would not be out of the ordinary for a 78-year-old."

Friedman added, "Only careful medical examination can establish whether
someone indeed has a diagnosable illness � simply observing Trump, or
anyone else, from afar is not enough."

The Daily Beast's Sean Craig notes that Friedman isn't the only one who has
been weighing in on Trump's mental state.

Craig observes, "MSNBC host Chris Hayes said last week there has not been
'nearly as much discussion about Trump's diminished mental acuity' compared
to President Biden's. Trump biographer Timothy O'Brien even told The
Guardian he thinks Trump is aware that he's mentally slipping."

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/other/cognitive-decline-clinical-
psychiatrist-recommends-rigorous-neuropsychiatric-evaluation-for-trump/