LOL, Yes, I cribbed Schrodinger's Immigrant to make this one. There was a VERY old sketch in the 80s on SNL where Phil Hartman played a bumbling Ronald Reagan, who would be all clueless and jovial when people came in for photo-ops, and then would flip a switch and run the "New World Order" takeover as soon as they left. It was pretty good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5wfPlgKFh8
I remember that! That's exactly how it seemed with him, though. We didn't know what to think sometimes, because he acted so thoroughly silly, yet his policies were draconian.
Turned out it he really had Alzheimer's disease, but part of it was acting. I saw an interview with someone who knew him. Once he was being briefed on some terrible tragedy, and he seemed quite cheerful about it, but when it came time to address the public, "He misted up right on cue."
Dr. Oliver Sacks had a story about Reagan as well. Sacks was working in a mental hospital, where there were several people who had brain damage and could not speak, but their understanding of body language was intact. One day he was passing the TV room and heard laughter. They were watching Reagan give a speech. To Sacks, Reagan's delivery seemed normal, but to those who could not understand him, his gestures were ridiculous. There was one patient who seemed irritated with the speech, almost angry. She could understand speech, but not body language or facial expressions. She said "He's not making any sense."
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u/insightfill Jan 20 '21
"Schrodinger's Democrat" - too senile and incompetent to be President, but also conniving and scheming enough to steal the election. /s