There really should be a warning system for TV campaign ads in the run-up to the November election. Red lights would flash and sirens would sound just before going on air, so you could quickly change channels or dive behind the couch before being sucked into the fetid misery of political season.
The idea came to me during an early June visit to my family in central Pennsylvania. One night I was watching television and a political ad appeared on the screen.
It took me a while to activate the remote shutter, so I watched the ad, which began with a critique of Bidenonmics. “The Americans are fighting,” the narrator said, and yes, many are struggling. But that has been the case during every presidential administration.
“Biden is ignoring our problems,” the ad continued. Well, not exactly, but nuance and complexity is a tough sell.
California is about to be hit by a wave of aging populations, and Steve Lopez is taking advantage of it. His column focuses on the blessings and burdens of old age and how some people are challenging the stigma associated with older adults.
And then came the part that really caught my attention: “He keeps denying reality,” the narrator said.
“Is it dishonesty or insanity?”
Well, let's stop there.
As we all know, this is a depressing season, when the wicked and the vile sharpen their knives, and we expect things to get ugly, especially given the stale state of American politics.
But dishonesty or insanity?
That crosses a line, not that anyone should be surprised.
“If the concept of shame still exists, I would call it shaming,” said Dr. Laura Mosqueda, a geriatrician at Keck-USC and director of the National Center on Elder Abuse. “This is a cynical and sad attempt to plant a seed with zero in fact,” Mosqueda continued. “There is not the slightest evidence that President Biden has dementia. “He does a disservice to people who actually have dementia and a disservice to all older adults with his ageist messaging tactics.”
So if you're wondering about the “not a shred of evidence” part of Mosqueda's answer, given Biden's occasional gaffes, here's an explanation from Dr. Zaldy Tan, a neurologist and director of the Aging and Memory Program at the Cedars-Sinai Health System:
“Dementia is a medical diagnosis and can only be made by a qualified healthcare provider who has personally examined the person,” Tan said. “It is a serious neurological condition that should not be taken lightly. It is not a label that should be given lightly.”
So how is such a diagnosis made?
By obtaining a history of symptoms and “conducting a cognitive evaluation and neurological examination, and ruling out other causes of memory or cognitive change,” Tan said. “In my opinion, claiming that an elderly person must have dementia is a discriminatory and unfair statement. “It's similar to saying that a public figure who has recently lost weight must have cancer.”
Someone should have mentioned that to Robert Hur, the special counsel who interviewed Biden about his handling of classified material. Hur called the president “a well-intentioned old man with a bad memory.” Biden defiantly said, “My memory is fine.”
Former President Trump speaks at a June 6 campaign rally in Phoenix.
(Rick Scuteri/Associated Press)
Biden may have a problem, but we don't know. And it is not something that can be diagnosed by an amateur doctor or a political scientist.
The ad in question was “paid for by Make America Great Again Inc.” and “not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee,” the ad's fine print says. Politico reported that Securing American Greatness, a nonprofit “dark money” group (no need to disclose donors), was behind the ad and that the group is led by Taylor Budowich, a former Trump spokesperson.
What came to mind after seeing the ad was that old phrase suggesting that people who live in glass houses shouldn't cast the first stone. Any honest Trump surrogate or supporter has to admit that mental acuity and coherent speech are topics best avoided.
On June 9, at a rally in Las Vegas, Trump embarked on a rambling, hypothetical journey into uncharted waters. Trump speculated – for no clear reason – whether it would be worse to be electrocuted or eaten by a shark. The context, rather loosely, was alternatives to fossil fuels and a conversation Trump claimed to have had about electric boats with a boat manufacturer.
You should watch the video, if you haven't seen it already, especially if you've been scratching your head and wondering what would happen if you were on a battery-powered boat that started taking on water in the open sea.
Spoiler alert: After telling the audience that he was “very smart” because of his “relationship with MIT” (an uncle was a professor there), Trump concluded: “You know what I would do if there was a shark or electrocuted? “I would get electrocuted every time.”
Well, taking a strong stance on important issues is certainly what we look for in our leaders.
And aging, by the way, is an issue rich in policymaking opportunities, given how close the United States is to having a population with more people over 65 than under 18. If the candidates decide to intervene constructively , would recognize that the United States faces major challenges when it comes to expanding the eldercare workforce, developing ample affordable housing and managing the needs of a generation living longer, reinventing retirement rules, and finding ways to contribute to through long programs. careers or volunteer opportunities.
Biden, 81, and Trump, 77 on June 14, would do well to embrace all of those challenges, as well as draw on the wisdom and experience of the aging population, rather than cutting corners and feeding stereotypes.
The president may have a problem, but we don't know, and an amateur diagnosis is just that.
“The assumption that Donald Trump or Joe Biden could have dementia is unethical and stigmatizes people living with dementia,” said Craig Fleishman, director of advancement at OPICA, an adult daycare and memory loss treatment center in West Los Angeles. “The TV ad’s suggestion that Biden might have dementia,” is said in a negative and disparaging way. “This is not helpful to people living with dementia and their families, who…often struggle with the condition every day.”
I visited OPICA last summer while profiling the lives of Mannie Rezende and his wife, Rose, a family therapist who juggles work and the needs of her husband, one of the estimated 7 million Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
I asked Rose to look at the ad and send me her opinion.
“No matter where one resides on the political spectrum, the flippancy with which this ad uses the clinical term 'dementia' is cruel and disrespectful to those who suffer from it,” he wrote.
Dementia “is a series of progressive, heartbreaking losses that clearly do not describe Biden,” he continued. It is “one of the most heartbreaking diseases. It involves the progressive development of the self… from early memory loss to… loss of language, recognition, motor ability and, finally, death. It is a clinical term and using it in such a misleading way is, for me, as a therapist and wife of a husband with the disease, unethical and immoral.”
I couldn't have said it better myself.
