President Donald Trump stormed out of an interview with NBC News this weekend after being pushed on false claims, and according to a certified speech pathologist, there might very well have been a dementia warning sign hidden in his explosive reaction.On Sunday, NBC's Meet the Press released a sit-down interview with Trump conducted by Kristin Welker, in which the president became increasingly frustrated over tough questions. In particular, Welker pushed back on Trump's attempt to reiterate his false claims about elections in the U.S. being rigged, which he has made since losing the 2020 presidential race, and has rehashed this week as Republican Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt lost a spot in the general election.When Welker pressed him for evidence of these claims, which he has never been able to provide, he chastised her as either "crooked" or "stupid" and stormed out of the interview early. This prompted many shocked reactions from observers, with an MS NOW piece calling it the beginning of the end of his credibility as president, and CNN media analyst Brian Stelter calling it "one of the wildest interviews with President Trump that I've ever seen."Beyond the implications that the reaction had for Trump's perception and his claims about fraud, speech pathologist and political content creator "Hilary M.A. CCC-SLP" — who has highlighted numerous recent incidents as evidence of Trump's declining cognitive and physical health — argued that there was evidence to suggest that the incident was consistent with the behavior one would expect from someone struggling with dementia. The interview with Welker took place inside a barn in Wisconsin, where Trump was visiting to take part in an event for farmers. According to the pathologist, the persistent rainy weather in the state over the weekend could have contributed to Trump's hostility towards Welker."For people who have dementia, changes in weather, specifically rain, can actually be really problematic for them," she explained. "When it is raining all day long, the typical lighting of the day is very disrupted. So, it is difficult to know just by looking outside, is it daytime or is it nighttime, late afternoon, that type of thing."She continued: "With somebody who already has sundowning behaviors, as the president demonstrates he does, that can make it even worse, because the entire morning has not had the typical sunlight, his circadian rhythm is already off due to the deterioration of the suprachiasmatic nucleus, and it is very difficult when it is just gloomy, cloudy and raining all day to have any environmental supports for that."She noted that these sorts of situations can increase a patient's frustration and agitation, which might have already been elevated for Trump, as Welker seemed to note that the interview had been delayed from when it was initially scheduled. This might have troubled Trump's "cognitive flexibility," which causes dementia patients to struggle with understanding their daily structure and makes them susceptible to heightened agitation when it is disrupted.
