Trump’s latest 'glitches' suggest 'dementia' and 'decline': psychologist

U.S. President Donald Trump appears onstage during a campaign rally for U.S. Senator Darline Graham (R-SC) at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, U.S., August 21, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

During a string of recent events, President Donald Trump displayed “highly concerning behavior” in which he was “slurring his words,” “having word-finding issues,” and struggling with other problems “that appear to suggest that he is in significant decline.” This is according to the widely cited psychologist Dr. John Garrison, who warns “it appears that this has been getting dramatically worse over the past year.”

Garrison begins by looking at a recent rally in South Carolina, in which Trump opens with a slurred “nnn-ank you.” According to Garrison, “He's having a hard time enunciating, and that is concerning neurologically because it could be post-stroke behavior. It could be suggesting some degree of dementia, Alzheimer's type dementia, Lewy body dementia. There's all sorts of concerning behaviors that we're seeing that are in line with a variety of neurological concerns.”

“I do want to acknowledge that people do trip over their words,” Garrison admits. “But he does this constantly. We are hearing a distinct change in how he communicates.”

As Trump continues talking, his elbow makes a sudden sharp movement. Garrison zooms in on this, saying, “You may already be noticing there's his arm twitching again. We're going to see a lot more of that today, but he does this constantly when he's at the podium. His right elbow is just constantly twitching.”

Later in the rally, Trump turns to one of his favorite targets, Hillary Clinton. As he attempts to rail against his old nemesis, Garrison notes, “There were a number of issues. One is that he was struggling to remember Clinton's name. His teleprompter probably says Hillary, but you're going to see him close his eyes when he tries to remember the name Clinton. He is struggling there and then he can't say it directly afterwards because I don't think he can remember it right then. We're seeing these kinds of neurological glitches over and over.”

Next, Garrison shows clips from the Freedom 250 Grand Prix event in Washington D.C., saying, “He was having significant problems with spasms, with involuntary spasms[.] The amount of control he's losing is getting more substantial.” In one segment, as Trump nervously prepares for an interview, Garrison asserts that “he looks uncomfortable. You can see on his face that he looks uncomfortable. He's breathing through his teeth in a very unusual way… he looks more uncomfortable here than he normally does.” As Garrison explains, “You're seeing more discomfort from situations like this because I think he gets overwhelmed, which is not something we used to see. And this is what we see when people have neurological deficits. They get overwhelmed more easily. Loud noises can be more distracting. They have a much harder time focusing. So, situations like this that didn't used to be distressing can become very distressing.”

Finally, Garrison shares footage from Trump’s latest Rose Garden event. First, the former notes that the latter “does not use his right hand as much as he used to. There are times where I think that there seems to be some distinct weakness in his right hand.” He says this is frequently accompanied by right arm spasms. Then as another speaker takes the podium, Trump’s right arm makes a very noticeable, seemingly involuntary twitch.

“You could very clearly see it again right there,” says Garrison, “And the reason this happens when he's standing by listening to people is, I believe, because he dislikes having to sit and listen to people. And when he's agitated, he's more likely to have these types of spasms. Sometimes when people are more intensely emotional, then we are going to see more loss of control like this.”

As the speaker continues, so do Trump’s tics. “You're seeing spasms all over the place,” says Garrison. “It doesn't matter where he is. They are constant and they are noticeable. We're also seeing problems with verbal fluency. We're seeing him get confused. We're seeing him slur his words. There are so many challenges we're seeing over and over and over again.”

According to Garrison, “If you're not paying close attention, it's very easy not to notice this, but there is clearly something going on. I've suggested it seems like there was some kind of medical event about a year ago and there's been a decline since then. It may also be that we're dealing with a progressive neurodegenerative disease.”

What’s more, Garrison notes that Trump is making fewer public appearances, which leads him to conclude, “We might start to see a trend. He might start speaking publicly less. We might start seeing less of him because these issues are going to become so difficult to control.”

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