Trump’s mental decline bad enough to 'take away his car keys': analysis

President Donald Trump's signs of mental and physical decline are becoming more pronounced as time goes on, and according to a new analysis published by The Guardian, his same level of degradation might lead a family to "take away his car keys" if he were a normal person and not the leader of the free world.

Trump will be the oldest person to ever hold the office by the time his second term wraps up, and while voters ultimately preferred him to the slightly older Joe Biden in 2024, they are now starting to express the same concerns about his advanced age as his behaviors become more erratic and his stamina seems to flag. Writing for The Guardian on Monday, columnist Gaby Hinsliff noted his worsening tendency to get sidetracked while talking, including his recent interruption of a cabinet meeting to talk about Sharpies and his baffling decision to make a Pearl Harbor joke while meeting with the prime minister of Japan.

Concerns about his physical health are also growing, given how often he has been caught falling asleep during televised meetings and the frequency with which he seems to be getting neurological exams. Hinsliff cited findings from a Reuters-Ipsos poll showing that the American people are concerned about his state, with "61 percent of Americans... [thinking] their president has become more erratic with age and... 56 percent... don't think he has the mental sharpness now to deal with challenges."

"It’s strange that this has become a subject seemingly too delicate to discuss in public, given what is at stake," Hinsliff wrote. "Though the US has checks and balances to stop a president veering off piste, none seem iron-clad. The ultimate backstop is the requirement to seek Congress’s approval before declaring war, which could yet end this conflict and prevent others in future, perhaps over Greenland or Cuba."

The main levers in place to keep a president from making erratic decisions or from succumbing to the realities of age, Hinsliff suggested, are not likely to do much good against Trump. The GOP-led Congress has largely given up any pretense of blocking Trump's whims in any meaningful way, while the 25th Amendment — a tool that could allow Trump's cabinet to remove him for being unfit to carry out his responsibilities — is also a pipe dream, given how little it has ever been used with the president's consent.

Some of this unwillingness to respond to Trump's decline could be down to fear of retaliation from him or his allies. However, Hinsliff also argued that it could be driven by "the ferocious loyalty and protectiveness, even love, that longtime service in political trenches breeds," likening the situation to what adults go through when their parents show signs of fading health.

"If you are reading this as the son or daughter of elderly parents whose memories have begun to falter, you will know how long it often takes from the first uneasy gut feeling that something has changed to what might ultimately lead to a conclusive medical diagnosis – and how many sleepless nights lie in between," Hinsliff wrote. "Should they really be driving still, or have they become a danger to everyone on the road? Is it safe for them to manage their own money, or is it time to have an awkward conversation about powers of attorney? The fear of barging in too early, causing a hurt and outraged octogenarian to dig their heels in, clashes with the guilt of knowing that it will be your fault if they run someone over while you’re still agonising over taking away the car keys."

She concluded: "But it’s precisely to override such emotional dilemmas that, in the case of political leaders, constitutional safeguards exist. For without them, we’re all potentially just passengers in some superpower’s speeding truck: watching helplessly from the back seat as the driver weaves all over the road, and wondering just how close we have to get to crashing before someone speaks up."