'Disoriented in a new way': Former federal prosecutor raises fresh worry about Trump

After noting that 21 states are currently in different stages of litigating whether Donald Trump can appear on ballots in 2024 as they wrestle with how to interpret the wording of the 14th Amendment, a former federal prosecutor suggested there should be additional worries over whether the former president is mentally competent to run for office.

In a column for the Washington Monthly, attorney James Zirin, a former federal prosecutor in New York's Southern District, noted Donald Trump's growing problem with facts, his confusion when giving speeches as well as pronounced slurring when speaking.

Cutting right to the chase, Zirin asked: "Has Donald Trump gone nuts?"

Admitting, "This is obviously a difficult question to raise about any person, let alone a candidate, who has demonstrated vicious, paranoid, and violent behavior," he added, "Still, all the armchair gerontologists parsing every utterance from President Joe Biden, trying to distinguish his congenital stutter from his natural aging, should look at Trump, whose behavior has gone from bad to weird to bizarre."

Taking great pains to point out he's not a medical professional, Zirin asked if the former president might be "suffering from a palpable form of dementia."

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"While neither Trump nor Biden projects John F. Kennedy’s vigor, Trump, 77, has been even more bizarre of late — doddering and disoriented in a new way," he wrote before suggesting a recent speech by the former president should raise concerns.

"Referring to Kim Jong-Un, the hereditary dictator who rules North Korea, Trump said he was in charge of a country of 1.4 billion people, obviously confusing the Hermit Kingdom of 26 million with the Middle Kingdom of 1.4 billion," he wrote, before adding, "But it’s not just misidentification. It’s the cadence and slurring of speech, too."

"Trump is having trouble with names. 'On purpose' came out as 'on perfect.' Adherents of Karl Marx came out as 'markers,' not Marxists. He warned that Biden is drifting us into World War II."

According to the attorney, "Deranged people, as we all have learned, can be dangerous," before warning, "Trump’s policy pronouncements have become more incendiary and more insane, if that were possible."

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