Well, it’s official. I’ve been diagnosed with early stage Objectively Lengthening Discomfort, or O.L.D. I know, O.L.D. affects huge swaths of the population. Millions live with it every day. Still, I’ve got to tell you, it’s a little scary when the diagnosis comes your way. It’s early days, yet, but I have all the symptoms. In fact, I may be in denial. It seems I’ve contracted O.L.D., but I don’t FEEL like I have O.L.D., you know? At least, not in my mind.

It’s my body where I feel it the most. That’s what gets you to go to the doctor in the first place. Your body starts to hurt for no reason at all and often, it doesn’t stop. Then they tell you. “It’s O.L.D., and you have it. We can manage it,” they tell you. “We can give you some pills,” they say. Oh! Em! Gee!, do they give you some pills! It takes a LOT of pills to combat O.L.D.

It can be hard to believe. You hear the words, but you don’t really accept them. “You mean, I’m going to be this way for the rest of my life?!?”
“Well, the science is advancing,” they tell you. “We’re trying to find a cure, but O.L.D. is an elusive condition. It takes years and years to manifest in the first place, and then, when it does, O.L.D. is already there. Too late to start treatment.” Bummer.

Listen, I’ll learn to live with it, just like all of it’s victims before me. I just… never really thought it would happen to me…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When it comes to the economy, it seems the strategy of Team Evil is to simply talk people into believing the economy is awesome. Do you think that’s going to work? I recently mentioned that the weirdo Kevin Hassett pretends that people paying more for everything actually means consumers are optimistic about the future. He suggested that the recent increase in delinquencies on credit card payments is really just optimistic consumers, taking a bit more time to make payments. No problem.

No truth, either. But it keeps coming. 47, himself, is constantly running around telling people the economy is great. “Never been better,” he claims. Then you stop at the gas pump on your way to the grocery story and it seems he might not have all of the information. I think he does, though. I think he knows he’s presiding over one of the worst economies in modern history, though it’s really humming along for him, personally. He just seems to think that if he TELLS you prices are down, you won’t know the difference. He must really think you’re stupid.

I mean, honestly, does his insistence that he thought gas prices were going to be much, much higher somehow make it okay that gas prices are through the roof right now? And, by the way, he’s telling us he KNEW his misadventure in Iran was going to trash the economy – and he did it anyway! He claims he’s feeling pretty good abo0ut the outcome because the damage isn’t as bad as he expected? What the hell was he trying to do to the American people?!?

I wonder if that’s what he told the girls he (allegedly) molested, it wasn’t so bad because he could have done it more. That just isn’t the comfort he seems to think. “Could have been worse” is NOT the same as “not at all bad.” Victims tend to focus on what happens, not the fact that it could have been worse.

This is one of the measures I use that indicate, to me, that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. The public part of an economic crisis is to reassure the public. He does that, or he’s trying. But GOOD presidents also work behind the scenes to try and fix the situation. That’s the part 47 seems to be missing. That’s the hard part, the boring part. So, he and the rest of Team Evil are left with just insisting the economy is good and you’re NOT experiencing any challenges in your day-to-day financial life.

It’s the ‘Who are you going to believe? Me, or your lying eyes?’ defense. Now, apparently, what you’re supposed to do is ignore all of the information you collect each and every day with your own experience about soaring costs and take his word for it, instead. He must REALLY think you’re stupid…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” That’s Matthew 12:34.

Sometimes, people try to hide natural tendencies. Sometimes, people over-compensate. If you, say, find yourself sexually attracted to a person of the same sex, you might suppress that feeling and then aggressively pursue members of the opposite sex to “prove” to someone – maybe someone else, maybe yourself – that you’re as straight as the day is long. You might be able to maintain the subterfuge for a long time, years, maybe decades. Over time, though, the clues add up.

One common sign that a guy might be pretending to be straight, for example, is overcompensating with masculine behavior. Another sign that a guy might be pretending to be straight is displaying an exaggerated interest in women. He might fixate on traditional gender roles. He’ll likely suffer a lack of genuine emotional connection with women. Just asking, here. Does any of that remind anybody of any current sitting “presidents?”

Let’s toss in a couple more. Another indication that a guy might be pretending to be straight is an overemphasis on his appearance, and one more sign is a pattern of consistent relationship issues with women. Yeah, all of that sounds like 47, to me.

I need to be clear, here. Gay or not gay is not an issue for me. I don’t care. Really, it’s none of my business and I think it’s hard enough just to find love in this world without restricting possibilities. But I suspect someone putting SO much effort into hiding the fact takes the “problem” VERY seriously. I’m not interested in, nor trying to, “out” Donny. That’s not my job and not why I’m on this.

It’s common knowledge that people in the throes of dementia often experience a loss of inhibition. It even has a name: disinhibition. A person might spend their entire lives trying to hide a reality about themselves only to expose the whole secret when dementia diminishes their capacity to maintain the facade. And that is one point. Donny’s noted interest in men and inability to hide his secret desires any longer might well be evidence of his dementia.

Trump has a long history of commenting on muscular men but, recently, his comments are getting less and less inhibited. He recently spoke at a John Deere plant and during his talk, he openly admired a man sitting next to him – several times. It was downright flirtatious. Then, a 22-year-old speed skater named Jordan Stolz gave 47 one of his gold medals, whether he meant to or not, after which 47 said, “I forgot to touch his leg. I didn’t want to do that, but I can tell you one thing, his leg is like a rock.”

It feels to me like Donny’s dementia is letting his “secret” out of the bag (or the closet), whether Donny likes it or not. IS it disinhibition and evidence of dementia? And then I find myself wondering how many women and girls have suffered through the years because trump couldn’t be honest with himself. How many people have died – and are dying – because trump is trying to overcompensate and prove he’s a manly man? Perhaps the secret to sating Donny’s insanity is simply to get him a boyfriend, maybe someone else trying to overcompensate, as well. Maybe someone named Jeffery, although any name will do…