So…Donald Trump got an MRI, but he’s really stupid about it.
Trump added Sunday that he has
no ideaon what part of his body he got the MRI.
It was just an MRI,he said.What part of the body? It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it.Doctors typically order an MRI to help with diagnosing symptoms or to monitor an ongoing health problem. So-called “preventive” cardiac and abdominal MRIs are not part of routine screening recommendations. What Trump’s doctor called an “executive physical” generally refers to adding extra, non-routine tests including MRIs to pricey and lengthy exams, not covered by insurance, that are marketed to wealthy people.
I can speak authoritatively from a patient’s perspective on MRIs, because I’ve had two of them in the past year. The first was for a knee problem, and the second was that the doctors wanted to rule out that I was having a stroke after a blood vessel in my eye popped.
First thing I can say is that MRIs are expensive and you don’t get them routinely. The doctors have to get approval from the insurance company, which is maybe not an issue for a stupidly rich person. But they don’t just give them to you on a whim — they have a medical reason for checking you out, and they tell you why they’re doing it. Even if you are so rich you can afford to just do it, it’s going to take a substantial chunk of time, maybe an hour or more, so doctors do try to justify it to you.
The second thing is that you know what’s being scanned. For my knee, they braced it with a couple of padded clamps to hold it in place. For my brain scan, they fitted a plastic helmet around my head to limit movement. Only an idiot would fail to recognize what the instrument was for.
Thirdly, afterwards the doctors tell you what they found. In one case, they found I had a torn meniscus; in the other, no evidence that I’d had a stroke (that must be what getting a “perfect” MRI means). They both discussed it with me in person and sent me an after-examination document that spelled it all out. They also noted some deterioration of the cervical vertebrae, but my knees, other than the meniscus, were flawless.
Is Trump so out of it that the doctors treated him as a dumb piece of meat, sending him off for tests without explanation, stuffing him into a noisy tube without explanation and no preparation, and then not bothering to let him know the results? Did he just sleep through the whole procedure?
Fourthly, you don’t “ace” a cognitive test, and it’s mostly separate from MRIs. I had an MRI but I’ve never taken a cognitive test — the doctors have no suspicion that I’m cognitively impaired, so they don’t bother testing. My mother, on the other hand, didn’t get an MRI because she wasn’t exhibiting those kinds of physical symptoms, but she was exhibiting behavioral symptoms, so they gave her a basic cognitive test, like the ones Trump has previously described (she did fail parts of the test, which was heartbreaking to see). Passing a cognitive test only means that you’ve retained basic mental skills, like having short-term memory and being able to draw a clock face.
You get a cognitive test when there are grounds to suspect a patient is having mental problems. I’ve never had one, but Trump has had a couple of them, with good reason, I think.
You get MRIs when there are physical symptoms that warrant a closer look. Trump seems to be getting trundled off to all kinds of exceptional tests, suggesting that doctors are concerned.
Of course, it’s also possible that he has hired a team of unethical, incompetent doctors, similar to his usual hiring practices, and they see Trump as a healthy mark with more money than sense that they can gouge for all kinds of unnecessary testing.
I was told some cervical spine degeneration is common of people in out age group. I suppose carrying around our brains is hard on the spine.
I wonder how many people under, say 20, could correctly draw a clock face? Do they still teach clocks in school? I don’t know cause I don’t have kids.
Since President MangoBrain has the US Navy Medical Corp as his personal physicians, I assume that the MRIs were ordered because of his acknowledged chronic venous insufficiency.
It’s likely that they did a full-body workup for him (possibly in stages, hence “multiple”) and have ruled out thoracic and abdominal blockages (so that’s what will be released, per Leavitt). So now Bethesda is monitoring brain and limbs for potential physical damage, like the visible foot dragging.
Trump mentioned the MRI to his billionaire toadies, and they all assured him that was a “standard executive” thing. I think we can guarantee that Trump dictates the USN press releases, because that didn’t sound like any normal hospital PR flack.
There is your answer. The Orange Turd is absolutely an idiot.
Dementia. Trump like his father had it. Seems pretty clearly the case if unconfimed officially.
Also note his failure to stay awake during meetings and court cases and things that affect him as well as being – at least in theory important as seen on olbert tonightand common knowledge now rally.
To think he & others called Biden “Sleepy Joe” & thought the former guy was too old and mentally incompetent.. (Trump[ “hold my beer..”..
^ Colbert.
Maddow wa sawesome inher interview too I thought.
See Maddow’s Colbert interview
How The “Five Eyes” Intelligence Alliance Reacted To Trump’s Caribbean Boat Strikes – Rachel Maddow (7 mins) and Illegal Orders From Leadership Put Military Members In A Disastrous Position – Rachel Maddow (5 mins) plus : Rachel Maddow: Government Bad Guys Can Face Consequences Even Decades After Their Crimes. (7 mins.)
Of course, it’s also possible that he has hired a team of unethical, incompetent doctors, similar to his usual hiring practices, and they see Trump as a healthy mark with more money than sense that they can gouge for all kinds of unnecessary testing.
At taxpayers’ expense.
They said he had an MRI of the heart, this is rare, only 5% to 10% utilization for a Cardiac MRI. Now try to imagine a regular person trying to be approved for one.
At 76, during the annual Medicare “Wellness” exam, I get given a minimal version of the cognitive test. So far, no doctor has said anything about any impairments showing up, nor has there been any sort of follow-up work. From my experience, I’d say that claiming to have “aced” such an idiotically simple test is a pretty solid sign that one is impaired.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the cervical disc degeneration unless it is symptomatic.
That is common in old people.
The prevalence of degenerative disc disease in 60 year olds is 90%.
That includes me.
This is yet again, another stunning example of how the human body was…intelligently designed. /s
I wonder what an fMRI of Trump’s brain would show. Even that’s different from a cognitive test. I’ve heard of functional brain scans being referred to as brain porn. David Eaglemen likened brain scans to an astronaut assessing the workings of Earth from the vantage point of a space station.
Still what would the fMRI reveal? That the old mistaken adage we only use 10% of our brains overstates the case for Trump?
Trump is the ultimate warrior against staying woke. Sleepy Don. Does he ever know he’s pardoning people? One could at least understand the case with Hunter for Joe.
Kamala would at least have been far more alert at meetings. She would been attentive to a Secretary of State toadying up.
I wonder if we snuck on Trump while he was sleeping, we’d find a puppeteer taking a break to rest his hand.
Don’t forget that everything he says is a lie.
If he says it wasn’t his brain, it was.
I’m not a gambler, but I would bet that he has experienced at least one mini-stroke, and the MRI was to check his brain damage.
The cognitive decline is accelerating as his heart is failing. He can’t stay awake, he is losing his filters, and the inside of his mouth is very dark purplish.
All are symptoms of impending death.
There’s a theory on Reddit that the orange shitgibbon is actually on Kisunla, which carries a risk of blood clots and MRIs are required to monitor for that.
They may be right.
I had a cranial MRI done in 2018 after suffering an optical migraine. I’d never had an optical migraine before and thought I was having a stroke (look it up, they’re very weird). My wife rushed me to the ER, where they checked me out and ran a CT scan. Nothing unusual. A week later I had the cranial MRI, and, once again, nothing out of the ordinary was seen — no tumor, blockages, or circulatory pressure on nerves. My point here being, I knew full well what the MRI was for and where on my body it was being conducted. Maybe the better point is that I remembered what the neurologist told me. I believe that’s Trump’s problem, he doesn’t remember. Perhaps it’s high time for him to have a cranial MRI, too.
This is what stupid rich means is wordplay, that much I see.
(‘stupid’ can function as both literal and as intensifier, and it’s good when it works in both senses)
why would anyone take what this asshole says at face value at all. The one thing everyone should know by now is he lies all the time big ones or little ones. What ever is going on with the state of his health does, he know or does he not know, only he and his close handlers have any idea. What ever they say on any subject is largely total BS on a good day. He is old and clearly not in good health and may not even live to finish his term in office. I will wait for the “official Announcement” that he has passed until then nothing.
‘why would anyone take what this asshole says at face value at all.’
Because some people are stupid.
@19: And they’re in his qult so of course they believe Dear Leader™️.