Biden epitomizes a senile dementia prevalent in an increasingly aged West, unable to grasp how ridiculous and dangerous he has become, while only his wife might make him see reason. Simultaneously, Trump’s narcissistic dementia, fueled by fake news and conspiracies, distorts reality for his ends, drawing his supporters into a vicious cycle of lies. Both embody a collective dementia of obstinate partisanship, where personal opinions are mistaken for truth, reducing politics to selfish conflict and depriving citizens of true decision-making power.
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Biden’s condition is a classic senile dementia, widespread in an increasingly aged West, where the ego outlives the body. Biden belongs to the type of people who identify with their job. If you are your job, when you stop, you are nothing. This is why they don’t quit. Dementia prevents him from understanding how ridiculous and dangerous he has become for society. He is demented, but so are those who didn’t stop him sooner. Now they say only his wife could make him see reason, while Obama’s wife is the frontrunner to replace him. A woman and also African American, who can ask her husband for advice in the evening, wouldn’t be bad. After all, if Trump is indeed dangerous for democracy, as they say, they must take action. A madman with nuclear codes would be just as dangerous.
While Biden’s ego is hopefully regaining some common sense, another type of dementia has inflamed the debate: Trump’s, stemming from malignant narcissism beyond acceptable levels. This form of dementia has spread worldwide—fake news and conspiracy theories, parallel realities built by the ego for selfish purposes. It works like this: you first set an idea or a goal in your mind, then manipulate reality to be right and achieve your goals. An ego that centers itself in the world and then uses it. Trump has bombarded lies without shame because he needs them to win, and because he knows his supporters are like him. They want to prevail and impose their will, regardless of the means. It’s less Machiavellian realism, more collective dementia rooted in egoism because it’s disconnected from reality. Trump called Biden the biggest liar in history and the worst president. People reveal who they are if you listen.
From the unsettling American debate emerged another kind of collective dementia engulfing us all: stubborn partisanship. We’ve shifted from collective ideologies to individual ones. The egotistical mind functions like an algorithm, continuously scrolling and stopping only on what confirms its beliefs. People lock themselves in their own world, confusing it with reality and developing visceral partisanship. Opinions are mistaken for truth, and participation for cheering. In debates, like at the bar, there is no objective analysis, no mutual listening, and thus no constructive reasoning. Politics has become a way to dump existential frustrations and pursue selfish dreams of glory. A permanent clash of factions, while true decision-making power has been taken from citizens and thus from democracy, and no one talks about it. A true global dementia, with Biden and Trump as its most illustrious representatives.
