(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Former Guy's (TFG) brain is aging faster than Biden's [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-01-14 Evidence suggests that long-term obesity contributes to accelerated aging and increases the risk of age-related diseases (Snieckute, 2023). This is known as biological aging, which tends to be similar across same-age individuals when they are young but can be years apart among chronologically same-age seniors (Belsky, 2020). Obesity accelerates biological aging by increasing chronic low-grade inflammation, insulin resistance, and metabolic dysfunction. Chronic elevation of these physiological outcomes negatively affects organs and systems throughout the body, including the brain (Hildebrandt, 2023)(Sui, 2020). We have two likely presidential candidates, one of whom is obese and has been overweight for years. The other has been slim all of his life. For older adults, biological age is a more important determinant of brain function than chronological age (MacDonald, 2011). Which candidate's brain function has been more impaired by biological aging? From his consistent avoidance of debates with sharp-tongued competitors (e.g. Nikki Haley) and from his sloganeering word salads in response to softball interview questions, TFG is plausibly more cognitively impaired than Biden. The truth would be plain to see if TFG were ever to debate Biden in a town hall format. TFG will make excuses to avoid such a format. Obesity is not the sole determinant of accelerated aging, of course. Regular exercise (e.g., bicycling) (Langston, 2023) and healthy eating (e.g., Mediterranean diet) (Itsiopoulos, 2022) can offset the low-grade inflammation associated with obesity but TFG flaunts his avoidance of exercise and his embrace of junk food. Ironically, it is the slim Biden, not the obese Trump, who engages in regular exercise and eats a fiber-rich diet. TFG's resulting elevated low-grade inflammation is accelerating his progressively worsening physical frailty and cognitive impairment. This will become evident during the presidential campaign if and when he takes questions from the independent media (Ferrucci, 2018). What can accelerate biological aging even more than obesity is stress (Bourassa, 2023). It is true that President Biden has a stressful job but he is not facing 91 felony counts across 4 criminal cases. The charges include colluding to subvert the transfer of government power, trying to overturn a state's presidential vote, making illegal payments to a porn star and decades of business fraud. Brain function is not the sole determinant of wise decision-making, however. Having long-term, trusted advisers serving as a stable brain trust can offset deficits in the decision-maker's brain function. Here, too, Biden has the advantage. Some members of Biden's political entourage have been with him for decades. TFG, by contrast, famously likes to pit his advisers against one another, which is not conducive to having them serve as a members of a long-standing brain trust. No matter how expert his advisers, Trump says that he knows as much as [the generals, the COVID scientists, the national security professionals, etc.] who he asks to advise him. Trump's tendency to disparage nationally recognized experts (e.g. Anthony Fauci, MD) means that he churns through advisers at a torrid pace. The record shows that he is able to retain for advice only relatively incompetent toadies (e.g. Scott Atlas, MD). The better decider-in-chief is clearly Biden, despite being chronologically older than TFG. Nowhere is the contrast more evident than in the two men's different track records in international relations. Biden's measured and strategic interactions with world leaders (e.g., mobilizing European leaders to help Ukraine months before Russia’s invasion) are a consistent contrast to TFG's embarrassingly impulsive and chaotic relations with foreign leaders (e.g., deliberately alienating long-standing NATO allies; bizarrely taking Russian President Putin’s word over the consensus of his national security advisers in a televised meeting with Putin in Iceland; gratuitously raising the world profile of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un by meeting with him in the Korean Demilitarized Zone, etc.). If the American voter monitors Biden and TFG carefully over the next eight months, they will notice more of the following signs of accelerated aging in TFG than in Biden: Word salad answers to questions – strings of words that make no sense. Confusion about what city they are in; confusion about what day of the week it is; confusion about the timing of past events of historical importance. Perseverance in word choices – obsessive use of the same phrase repeatedly (e.g. "witch hunt"), not to be confused with stuttering. Increasing paranoia that mysterious and unidentifiable "deep state" actors are out to get them. Persistent fatigue; decreasing energy level resulting in social withdrawal. Increased susceptibility to infections such as corona viruses. Labored walking, shaky gait despite concentrated effort to walk normally. Keep a score card! TFG will not disappoint us. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/14/2217150/-The-Former-Guy-s-TFG-brain-is-aging-faster-than-Biden-s?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/