By a happy bit of synchrony, the same Donald Trump who turned his supposed “Town Hall” gathering into an inexplicable and bizarre opportunity for people to watch him swaying to his favorite music for 39 minutes, also declared the necessity for his opponent to have her cognitive capabilities tested.
As quoted in kos’s piece of yesterday, “A deranged Trump claims it’s Harris who suffers from cognitive decline,” Trump declared:
I believe it is very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility. Her actions have led many to believe that there could be something very wrong with her.
There is nothing new, of course, about Trump projecting his own defects onto the other side. But this particular projective move opens the way for a Checkmate move from Kamala.
(“Checkmate” meaning there’s no escape: whatever way the King tries to escape, he will be captured — and the game is over.)
The move is this: Kamala accept his challenge but change it into a challenge to them both.
(The challenge should be framed as dramatically and inescapably and perhaps provocatively as possible, to get maximal exposure in the media and generate maximal interest in the public. Perhaps it could include things like this:)
“I challenge you to join me in having both of us evaluated by top-flight neurologists at one of America’s top medical facilities. (Mayo, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins,….)
“You have called me a “low-IQ” person. Let us both have our IQ assessed. I bet you I will beat you by 20 points.
”You say I lack ‘Cognitive Agility.’ Let us both be checked out for dementia. I bet you that the tests will show me far more capable of thinking clearly than you.
“(You won’t debate me. Let’s face off with these cognitive tests.)
“AND LET US AGREE THAT THE RESULTS OF OUR TESTS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE MADE PUBLIC BY THE DOCTORS.”
“And let’s do it right away, so that the American people can see who is and who is not fit to be President.”
This is a checkmate move because
- if he accepts it, he will surely lose, because Kamala is obviously cognitively sharp, and obviously there’s something seriously amiss with Trump.
- But also, if he refuses her challenge, he can be made to pay a big price— he hands her a giant club to beat him with:
Of course he’ll refuse, but that will enable Kamala — and her surrogates — to beat the drum about “What has he got to hide?” (which she has already begun).
If Trump refuses (daily?) repeated challenges between now and Election Day, that refusal can be used to throw a spotlight what might become the major story of the home stretch of this campaign:
Donald Trump, even on top of all his long-standing defects of character, is now rapidly descending into dementia. (Even his fans should be afraid to give the powers of the presidency to someone in his increasingly obvious cognitvely-damaged condition.)
His cognitive decline is being displayed in countless ways. Neurologists have pointed to the dementia symptoms he’s displaying.
And this huge story has not yet made it nearly far enough into the public awareness.
But there’s still time.
This checkmate move can utilize Trump’s own words — about the need for cognitive testing (for Kamala) — to make Trump’s own serious cognitive problems front and center in the public awareness.
Before Election Day.