Twitter is alive with tweets about Trump’s health, pointing to a video showing him walking very slowly and unsteadily down a ramp after he addressed graduates at West Point, accompanied by an officer. Another clip from his speech showed him taking a drink of water during his speech and using both hands to steady his grip. These clips produced the hashtag #TrumpIsNotWell, and many clips of Obama bounding up and down steps, even one of Obama drinking water from a glass with one hand.
Trump responded with a defensive tweet that brought additional attention to the mishaps.
The Washington Post reported:
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Trump late Saturday tried to explain his slow and unsteady walk down a ramp at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which had generated concern and mockery on social media, by claiming the walkway was “very slippery” and that he was worried about falling.
The walk in question came at the conclusion of Saturday’s commencement exercises at West Point, where Trump was the guest speaker. As he exited the raised platform by descending a ramp alongside Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, the academy’s superintendent, Trump was visibly tentative and took short, careful steps.
Video of the moment was widely shared on social media, with critics of the president — including Republican operatives working on the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group whose ads have provoked the president’s ire — using the hashtag #TrumpIsNotWell in their tweets.
The chatter seemed to get the attention of Trump, who is spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. At 10:57 p.m. Saturday, the president wrote on Twitter: “The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery. The last thing I was going to do is ‘fall’ for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten feet I ran down to level ground. Momentum!”
Elements of Trump’s explanation strained credulity. Trump’s claim that the ramp had been “very slippery” was inconsistent with the weather, which on Saturday in West Point, N.Y., was sunny and clear-skied. The grass plain on which the commencement took place was dry.
In addition, Trump wrote that he “ran down” the final stretch of the ramp. Video footage of the episode shows the president picking up his pace slightly for the final two steps, but that would hardly be considered a run or a jog by any standard definition.
Once on flat ground, Trump appeared to walk normally as he surveyed the field and mingled with officers on his walk to board Marine One, which was parked roughly 100 yards or so from the platform stage.
The ramp video was not the only clip from Trump’s speech to generate considerable attention on social media. Another was when he briefly took a sip of water while standing behind the presidential lectern. As Trump raised a small glass of water toward his mouth with his right hand, he used his left hand to steady the bottom of the glass so he could take a sip.
Some defenders of Trump say that its unfair to criticize Trump for any physical disability, but bear in mind that this is a man who ridiculed a reporter with disabilities, raided questions about Hillary Clinton’s fitness, raises questions about Biden’s health, and never acknowledges any infirmity. It matters very much to the public to know whether the president’s physical and mental health is diminished.
Excuse me, could someone come help me lift this glass of water?
A consequence of the hydroxychloroquine and the disinfectant injections?
I think he just has a drinking problem.
Snorting Adderall. He doesn’t drink.
cx: Elements of Trump’s explanation strained credulity.
Everything Trump has ever said strains credulity.
Bob What you said about Trump’s credulity.
But then there’s this about that: Oddly, two things came to mind when I saw this: FIRST, that’s exactly what I do to be sure I don’t fall–it’s what happens to many, I think, post-70. So I don’t see it as a clue to Trump’s having bad health at all. the water and hand-shaking, well . . .
SECOND, however, I remembered Hilary losing her balance as she got into that car on that grueling campaign trail . . . and how the Trumpers made such a big-deal out of it. . . . Go twitter! CBK
Yes, all this stuff about the walking is silly. It’s normal enough at a certain age. Lord knows, both candidates this time have seen a few cycles of the wheel. The issues are cognitive health and mental acuity and physical health sufficient not to interfere with the former for the next four and a half years.
He may have been wearing new shoes with slick leather on the bottom, nothing to add traction, and no rail to hang on to. In any case he is old enough to be wary of a ramp with no handrail and I doubt if his minders will every let him be placed in that situation again. Of course he lied about the ramp being slippery.
I love that expression, CBK, “there’s this about that.” LOL.
As a senior I can relate to walking like that – before my hip replacement surgery. And before that was when I just got new eye glasses and was adjusting to the strength of those glasses.
But if you watch 45 in other videos while he is walking, he has a strange gait. Of course it does not help that he has wedges in his shoes to make him look taller than he really is.
He ridicules others based on their physical characteristics—women’s faces, among other things. He called Bloomberg “Mini-Mike.” Glass houses.
Just a reminder: if Trump goes, Pence is next. I know you all think Pence is better because he can string together a coherent sentence without profanity. But he is actually far more dangerous. He will also be a lot harder to beat in November. Be careful what you wish for.
Trump is not resigning or dying, Dienne. Relax. He will be on the ballot in November.
“I know you all think Pence is better because he can string together a coherent sentence without profanity.”
I have never heard anyone here say “Pence is better”. In fact, it is just the opposite — the only people I ever see who compare the two are those who lecture Trump critics about how Pence is much more dangerous than Trump. Trump critics don’t like Pence either.
Comparing Trump to Pence — pronouncing Trump much less dangerous than Pence and accusing critics of “wishing for” Pence to be president, when Trump critics are pointing out serious issues with Trump — seems very suspect.
When people were rightly criticizing Nixon, were there a few on the left who kept chiding them for not recognizing that Spiro Agnew was “worse”? Agnew resigned 9 1/2 months before Nixon, but there was a lots of valid criticism of Nixon before Agnew’s resignation and it would have been suspect if someone on the left believed that their duty was to “inform” Nixon critics that Agnew was “more dangerous” every time anyone dared to criticize Nixon.
When people were rightly criticizing George W. Bush’s actions as president, did some on the left accuse those people of wanting Dick Cheney to be President? Did some on the left try to shut down all critics of George W. Bush because “Cheney is much worse”?
Trump is very dangerous for the future of our democracy. Does it matter whether Pence would be a little worse or a little better for democracy and must all criticism of Trump be silenced because Pence is VP? That makes no sense, except as right wing propaganda.
Dick Cheney might have been the VP but G. W. Bush handed most of his responsibility as president to Cheney so it is arguable Cheney has already been our president even if he didn’t wear the title.
“Cheney: A VP With Unprecedented power”
“Vice President Cheney has been the most powerful vice president that we’ve ever had,” said Joel Goldstein, author of The Modern American Vice Presidency.
“In the first term, Cheney reshaped national security law, expanded the prerogatives of the executive branch and orchestrated secret, warrantless domestic surveillance, circumventing a court set up by Congress specifically to oversee such surveillance. He presented the president with options that led to a shutdown of negotiations with North Korea, and played a major role in persuading President Bush to go to war against Iraq.
“On the domestic front, he screened potential Supreme Court nominees, presided over the budget, led the selection of personnel from Cabinet officers to key lower-level positions. Without the president’s knowledge, he engineered the rewriting of the president’s tax bill so it included a capital gains tax break that the president had initially rejected. With the president’s knowledge, he led an industry-friendly revamping of energy and environmental regulations.” …
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99422633
Pence on the other hand doesn’t seem to have any responsibility as VP unless standing behind Trump looking glum is his job.
He’s know to have a phobia of ramps. Remember when he walked down an incline with Theresa May at the White House? Speaking of his health, here’s a good Crumb cartoon from NYRB today:
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/06/11/bad-diet-bad-hair-destroy-human-civilization/
JeremyNewberger
✔
@jeremynewberger
· 14h
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
…And the water glass was very heavy, twice the weight of a normal water glass, and that’s why I had to hoist it up with my other hand, to make sure it didnt fall and break, causing broken glass to hurt one of our troops, which the fake news would love.
JeremyNewberger
✔
@jeremynewberger
…might be one of the steepest ramps in the history of our country. Many people are saying that not even Evel Knievel would have attempted it as quickly as I did. Sleep Joe Biden would have skidded down the ramp. My strong heels managed it like a champ. I had Bone spurs ya know.
19.4K
10:04 PM – Jun 13, 2020
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George Conway
@gtconway3d
·
4h
please don’t retweet this it might make
@realDonaldTrump
mad on his birthday and make everyone else think #TrumpIsNotWell so again please don’t retweet
Quote Tweet
Rob Reiner
@robreiner
·
4h
Some people are afraid that when Trump loses he won’t leave the White House. Don’t worry. The Army Corps of Engineers will build a sturdy ramp with solid handrails.
Drinking a glass of water and creeping down a ramp are so complicated.They’re nothing like Universal Healthcare or making a pandemic go away like a miracle, or solving racial problems in the US.
As much as I loathe this administrations policies, style of communication, and crazy rhetoric, there is enough to criticize without making fun of his physical appearance or how he holds a water bottle.
As Michelle Obama says, “When they go low, we go high.”
Disagree. It speaks volume about a so-called man who “loves the uneducated” and grifts about being for common folk. It speaks to how different he is. He can’t take a drink while standing, he can’t walk down a ramp (or stairs, for that matter) without assistance. He’s never been in a grocery store, mowed a lawn, or worked up a sweat doing real work. It’s not about going low, it’s about demonstrating the rank hypocrisy of how he cannot in any way relate to the actual people who make up his cult.
Calling into question the physical and mental capacities of the president of the United States when he exhibits feebleness is not making fun of him. It’s, a we say in the South, as serious as a heart attack. Look up Woodrow Wilson or Dwight Eisenhower in Wikipedia for historical examples.
beachteach: Trump had NO problem making fun of a journalist who was physically impaired.
If Trump is indeed having physical problems, as is shown in this video both in how awkward he walks and how he holds a glass, we need to know.
…………………………………
Donald Trump Appears to Mock Disabled Reporter
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/donald-trump-appears-to-mock-disabled-reporter-574777923731
I remember. It was totally atrocious, I agree. It’s why I am campaigning for Joe Biden.
But…. “When they go low, we go high.” Michelle Obama would not be making fun of him on a blog right now.
The health of the president is a legitimate concern for the public.
As is the president’s finances. Transparency reveals if the President can be trusted, even marginally.
Trump hides evidence of his finances and refused to back away from running his businesses even though he pretends Trump Jr is in charge.
Trump hides the facts of his health and pays quacks to sign letters written by someone working for Trump.
I have read that Trump requires everyone that works for him to sign confidentiality agreements, even in the White House.
Trump is a liar on steroids.
Trump is a super white racist.
Trump is a thug.
Trump is a bully.
Trump is a cheat.
Trump is a crook.
Trump is a fraud
et al.
I know Al. Al was a good friend on mine. The Idiot is no Al.
When they go low, I will go high. I am very proud of Donald J Trump, with good reason. We should be proud of him for taking baby steps down the ramp instead of crawling. Walking is a milestone reached. Also, we know his hands are too small to hold a grownup cup. I’m telling you, he needs baby bottles (and more naps, so we don’t have to deal with so many tantrums). It’s unfair and too much to ask that he should walk with an adult’s gait or be able to close an umbrella. And, remember the pee tape trouble so we don’t forget baby diapers next time we take him to visit Vladimir. That’s our Donald: baby diapers, baby bottles, baby steps.
Seriously though, the facts that Trump can’t close an umbrella, can’t drive a car, and looks different in many of his mannerisms than do most people are important. They are telling signs of a coddled, sheltered, eccentric billionaire. If more people understand who he really is, the fewer people will fall for his fake, populist tough guy façade, and the fewer votes he will receive.
If what you describe is a fact, it may also be a sign of some type of neurological malfunction.
COVID-19 symptoms include dizziness. Was Trump walking slower because he was dizzy and unbalanced?
Confusion is also a symptom and Trump has been confused every day for the last four years. Does that mean, he is ground zero for COVID-19?
Fatigue, which frequently accompanies other symptoms, is uncommonly reported in the absence of more prevalent symptoms.
https://www.businessinsider.com/rare-uncommon-symptoms-of-covid-19-coronavirus-2020-3
My mother had Parkinson’s disease and her shaky hands that got worse as she aged.
According to WebMD, these are the reasons for hands that are shaking:
Essential Tremor: This nerve disorder is the most common reason your coffee cup won’t stay still while you hold it. It kicks in while your hands are doing something, but goes away when they’re not.
Parkinson’s Disease: When you have this condition, your hand shakes because brain cells that tell your muscles to move get damaged.
Multiple Sclerosis (MA), Hyperthyroidism, too much caffeine (hmm, that might explain why my hands tremble sometimes but not all the time – how much caffeine is in Trump’s diet Cokes that he loves? Coke’s caffeine content is 34mg for a 12-oz can, and Diet Coke caffeine content is 46mg. That’s three to four times less than coffee! The same-sized coffee, in this case a 12-oz cup, has 140mg or more.), Alcohol Withdrawal (I have read that he doesn’t do alcholol), Lack of Sleep (strong possibility), Low Blood Sugar (?), Stress (YES), Certain Medications (Maybe), Smoking, lack of Vitamin B12, Pheochromocytoma, liver disorders, and BRAIN DISORDERS (no doubt about this one).
https://www.webmd.com/parkinsons-disease/ss/slideshow-reasons-your-hands-are-shaking
The hand didn’t appear to be shaking. It appeared to be unable to complete the act of lifting. ALS?
ALS, then he’s losing his strength and he isn’t doing anything to slow it down. I have read that allegedly he will not exercise because he thinks we are born with all of the energy we will ever have and if we use it up exercising, we will lose it earlier. The exact opposite of what science says. If we do not exercise, we will lose our muscle mass and our strength will go with it.
For TrumpelThinSkin, the sooner the better.
If L stands for lard (the bad kind, not the kind I use to cook occasionally), I agree with you.
It’s not whether his health is impaired, its how much and due to what causes it’s impaired. Add to the mostly self inflicted ramp debacle the questions of his pupils being dialated and fixed, and his blatantly obvious personality disorders, the guy is like a walking version of that coffin full of medical waste in the movie “Brazil”.
Can’t go as high as beach teach myself; DJT can expect petty snark to the same degree he dishes it out. But the content of the #TrumpIsNotWell tweets strikes my funnybone. If it were me I’d be damn mad somebody routed me down a rail-less ramp! And I’d be a sight to see, doing it – as would many of my peers. (Not [quite] over 70 yet, but it doesn’t take much arthritis to produce that effect.) Nor are shaky hands that unusual in the senior set.
Just you wait, youngsters! Don’t like it, find younger prez contenders.
I read the text of Trump’s West Point speech. This is an excerpt about half way through. Today is his birthday by the way… He had to announce that in his speech.
“Tomorrow, America will celebrate a very important anniversary, the 245th birthday of the United States Army. Unrelated, going to be my birthday also. I don’t know if that happened by accident. Did that happen by accident [inaudible 00:24:59], but it’s a great day because of that Army birthday, and as you know the Army’s first commander in chief, General George Washington, called the fort that stood on this majestic point the most important post in America. It’s strategic location on the Hudson River was vital to our war for independence. If British ships gained control of this river, they would have divided our young nation in two so American soldiers stretched a massive metal chain across the waters of the Hudson from West Point all the way to Constitution Island. I saw a piece of that chain. It’s incredible. No enemy ship even dared try to cross. Every link in that great chain was formed from over 100 pounds of pure American iron, mined from American soil, and made with American pride.”
I did a couple of Wordle exercises with the full text of the speech. Among the most common words, in addition to West Point were “great” and “never.” We know that Trump did not write the text. We have been led to believe that it was written by Steve Miller, who was a key writer of Trump’s inauguration speech. George Conway may know who helped with the writing. Perhaps his wife had a hand in it.
I woke up this morning to news that middle-school students in Mason Ohio, and affluent mostly white and youngish professional community north of Cincinnati, had organized a Black Lives Matter march. This is evidence of the power of social media and savvy of a few “woke” students to other to participate, including moms pushing babies in strollers. Masks were being worn, but there was little social distancing.
Imagine what that speech would have been if Trump wasn’t reading text off of a teleprompter written by someone else with a MUCH higher intellectual reading level.
Since Trump cannot speak and/or think beyond a 4th-grade level,l and he likes to talk about how great he is, … It must have been impossibly difficult for him to stay on script.
“Today is his [Trump’s] birthday by the way…”
Yup. A matter that did not escape “America’s Best Christian”…
Trump called the media “fake news” in the same tweet that he said he “ran the last 10 feet” down the ramp, when we could clearly see on the video that he did not. Like the toddler-in-chief that he is, he walked haltingly, taking steps with his left foot first, all the way down and he just picked up a bit of steam on the last two steps while moving his arms as if doing a little victory dance showing he was accomplishing a major feat.
“Don’t believe your lying eyes” is typically the sub-context Trump conveys to counter the facts when HE lies.
cx: Woops! I meant sub-text not “sub-context.” Sorry.
Tomorrow William Barr will announce that he has opened an investigation into the origins of who decided to put a “long and steep” ramp at the West Point graduation.
Barr’s handpicked crony, US Attorney John Durham, will be overseeing this very serious probe as part of Durham’s very serious investigation into how the left wing FBI and justice department committed crimes by questioning why the Trump campaign and the Russians were doing huge favors for one another. Durham and Barr are certain that there was a conspiracy by the Democrats – who Barr and Durham know control West Point — to put up that long ramp to “get” Trump, just like there was a conspiracy by the Democrats — who Barr and Durham know control the FBI — to “get” Trump’s campaign for all the mutual favors the campaign and Russia did for one another.
Maybe John Durham will learn that some evil Democrat “forced” West Point to put up that ramp and forced Trump to walk strangely down it. It is surely part of his “investigation” about how the evil left wing FBI “forced” Trump’s campaign to meet with Russians and change the Republican platform to what Putin wanted.
Barr and Durham surely know someone is guilty of making Trump look odd walking down that ramp, and Barr and Durham surely know that person is a Democrat who needs to go to jail.
Like that last paragraph, NYCpsp!
Thanks for giving me a much-needed chuckle!
It is tempting to indulge in almost any sort of language in the attempt to chasten and repudiate this vile oaf in the Whiter House. I’ve tried to imagine what I could learn about him that would make me think less of him. That’s a tough one. For those of you who had grandmothers who said, “If you can’t say anything good about a person, don’t say anything at all.
So, here, something good about Trump:
There are no reports that he is a cannibal.
Found by a friend: Craigslist ad looking for MINORITY actors and actresses to diversity the Idiot’s crowd: https://tulsa.craigslist.org/tlg/d/tulsa-actors-needed-june-20/7141828474.html
Greg, the Craigslist posting for minority actors to attend Trump’s rally in Tulsa has been removed.
They couldn’t get away with it. Should be remembered when the Idiot cites “his blacks” at his Nazi rallies.
I’ve often heard people say that a president has very little actual power, and certainly, Trump has been continually frustrated by his inability simply to make happen whatever he wants to make happen. “Who knew healthcare was so complicated?” he once said. Well, everyone but Trump. LOL. This is a common observation from Trump, ofc. It usually takes the form of “Most people [or many people or few people] don’t know this, but. . . ,” as in “Most people don’t know this, but Lincoln was a Republican.” Well, sorry, Donald, but educated people DO know this. Trump uses this construction when he has learned something that surprises him, and since he knows so little, he is often surprised.
Trump is very much like the ignorant, blowhard uncle who has too many at the 4th of July picnic and embarrasses everyone by starting to rant about “the gays” or making English the national language. He clearly has as little knowledge of the Constitution as he does of the Bible–that is, none. He thinks it grants the president absolute power to do whatever he wants. But, of course, we have a system of checks and balances, and a president can’t do anything he or she wants. He or she can’t, for example, simply decide to turn the force of the U.S. military on the country’s citizens whenever it pleases him or her.
But despite these checks and balances, a president can do A LOT. Trump’s abuse of Executive Orders has demonstrated this again and again. The list of the evil that Trump has been able to do on his own authority is quite long. Kids in cages. Kids separated from their parents. Kids whose breakfast and lunch programs have been taken from them. Allies abandoned to be slaughtered. Trans enlisted personnel and DACA recipients living in fear. Air and water polluted. Wildlife decimated. People dying from the nonresponse to the Covid19 pandemic. I’m not going to go on with the long, long list of evil wrought by Trump. Suffice it to say that it seems like he and his sycophants and those using him get up every morning and ask, what can I destroy today? Oh, yeah. Let’s allow hunters to go into dens and kill the mother bears and their cubs holed up there. Oh, yeah. Let’s let hunters import trophies of exotic, endangered wildlife. Oh, let’s kill the INF and the Open Skies Treaties at a time when Russia has developed hypersonic nuclear missiles. Oh, yeah. Let’s enable rapists on campus. Let’s make students pay back loans they got to attend fake, predatory, pseudo-universities as bad as the scam Trump University. Let’s end programs that protect kids from lead paint. LET’S ALLOW KIDS TO GO WITHOUT LUNCH AND TO GET LEAD PAINT POISONING.
How sick is that?
There is considerable reason to believe Trump is a Russian asset; that the Russians have developed him over many decades; that they compromised him in several ways; and that he has delivered and delivered and delivered for them. If it quacks like a duck and all. And who knows how deeply compromised this country is as a result. It’s pretty shocking to me that our intelligence services haven’t outed him definitively and that an entire American political party has been OK with his quotidian traiterousness, is able to ignore the clear signs, very clear signs, as long as they can more rapaciously pursue the interests of their oligarchical donors with Trump in place.
I think that we dodged a bullet, recently, when Esper and Milley stood up to Trump and refused to use the military against U.S. citizens. But I also think that we are one national emergency and one Supreme Court stay on a federal court injunction away from a definitive existence proof of the truth that IT CAN HAPPEN HERE.
Think for a moment of what would have happened had the armed neo-Nazi Trump brownshirts who turned up recently at statehouses (“Liberate Michigan! Liberate Ohio!” Trump tweeted) had been black and their cause had been keeping kids from being murdered for walking to buy Skittles instead of insisting on their right to infect others with a deadly disease. Do you think Trump would have tweeted “Liberate Michigan?” Not likely.
cx: It usually takes the form of “Most people don’t know this, but. . . ,” or “Few people know this, but. . . ,” as in “Most people don’t know this, but Lincoln was a Republican.”
cx: Think for a moment of what would have happened had the armed neo-Nazi Trump brownshirts who turned up recently at statehouses (“Liberate Michigan! Liberate Ohio!” Trump tweeted) been black and not neo-Nazi rednecks and their cause had been keeping kids from being murdered for walking to buy Skittles instead of promoting a supposed right to infect others with a deadly disease.
If they had been black, the National Guard would have been mobilized to protect the state houses.
Bob Shepherd: “Suffice it to say that it seems like he and his sycophants and those using him get up every morning and ask, what can I destroy today?”
THIS is exactly what I see happening. EVERY DAY there is a new hurt or destruction to someone or some place. I am appalled at the ‘news’ articles from such nonsense places as Fox, Patriotic Times, Breaking Christian News, NRATV, Breitbart and others that simply lie to cover up or never tell what actually is happening in this country. These rotten media are never held responsible.
“I’m a young, vibrant man… I think that I just feel like a young man… I’m so young. I can’t believe it, I’m the youngest person”.
Sometimes the disinformation and cognitive dissonance is simply overwhelming…
Is that why he bounded down the ramp at West Point like a teenager?
Diane “Is that why he bounded down the ramp at West Point like a teenager?”
“In such cases as these, a good memory is unpardonable.” (Elizabeth in Austen’s’s Pride and Prejudice)
In England, police departments and social workers have traditionally worked together, but
not in the U.S. because the right wing prefers to incarcerate the poor, especially people of color.
Defunding social workers is the agenda of the Koch Network and, the right wing clergy, who are in alliance with despots.
Not just in England, in all civilized nations.
This humor comes from Andy Borowitz. I LOVE Borowitz.
………………………………….
Trump Orders Bill Barr to Investigate Nation’s Ramps
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Arguing that “there’s something going on” with the nation’s sloping surfaces, Donald J. Trump has ordered Attorney General Bill Barr to launch a Department of Justice investigation into the United States’s vast collection of ramps.
“It’s something we’re looking into quite strongly,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. “Ramps have treated me very unfairly.”
The decision to probe the nation’s ramps came after a night of Trump feverishly retweeting anti-ramp conspiracy theories, including one claiming that George Soros had plotted to make American ramps steeper and slipperier than they were during Barack Obama’s Presidency…
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-orders-bill-barr-to-investigate-nations-ramps?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker
He clearly is developing Parkinson’s which would explain his apparent lack of memory, the unsteadiness of his hands and legs, and his delusions.
Pamela K Cobb, MD