While President Donald Trump alarmed onlookers with his United Nations address by openly threatening to “annihilate” another nation, clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. John Paul Garrison was alarmed for an entirely different reason.
“You can basically see where the abnormal brain activity is traveling,” Garrison said in a video published Tuesday evening, analyzing Trump’s movements in slow motion.
Trump delivered his address to the U.N. on Tuesday, and Garrison — who’s observed Trump’s “abnormal” body movements in the past — flagged at least three instances in which he believed the president exhibited signs of abnormal brain activity.
The first such instance saw Trump, while speaking about resupplying U.S. weapons stockpiles, twitch in a manner that could be seen traveling through his body from his right arm to his left arm.
“I want you to see how this travels from his right arm, to his eyes, to his mouth, to his left arm,” Garrison said. “What we're observing certainly looks like a focal motor seizure. You're seeing it travel from one arm to the other, and you're going to see it much more dramatically in just a second.”
A similar but more dramatic twitch soon followed, one that Garrison argued was “much more obvious.”
“I also want you to notice that after this happens, his rate of speech picks up dramatically,” Garrison said. “I think he was actually very scared for a moment there because he starts picking up the way he's speaking. It's gonna slow back down again after a minute, but his rate of speech changes quite dramatically.”
At 80 years old, Trump has faced growing questions regarding his physical and mental health. He’s been observed exhibiting a number of potential symptoms of various health conditions, including apparent facial drooping, severe bruising and swollen ankles. Bruce Davidson, a prominent clinical professor of medicine at Washington State University, said earlier this year that he believed Trump had suffered a stroke.
In his video published Tuesday, Garrison only gave further credence to Davidson’s theory.
“I think that was very noticeable, very alarming, and also very out of control,” Garrison said. “Something like having a stroke can cause people to develop focal epilepsy, and then they regularly have these types of seizures. I've seen him emphasize words for years at this point, and this looks different. To me, this appears like it is likely also a spasm.”