Is it possible, a major segment of the American electorate has contracted Alzheimer’s disease? Yesterday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the private sector created another 161,000 jobs in October.  And the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent. Equally important, average wages rose 2.8 percent compared to October 2015, the highest annual increase in more than seven years.  October was the 73rd straight month of job growth in the U.S., a new record, with an accumulated creation of 15.5 million private sector jobs.

However, in the “bizarro world” in which Donald Trump lives, the numbers were a “disaster.”  Compared to what?  Take a look at the difference between the day Barack Obama took office and current data.

• In January 2009, the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent on its way to 10.0 percent by mid-year.  Today it is 4.9 percent.  In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney promised he would bring the unemployment down to 6.0 by the end of his first term.  How is the economy a disaster when the current administration bested that prediction by 1.1 percent?
• On February 25, 2012, then presidential candidate Newt Gingrich declared, “I am the $2.50 gas president, Obama is the $10.00 gas guy.”  As Donald Trump would say, “WRONG!”  Yesterday, the average national gas price reported by AAA was $2.18.
• On inauguration day 2009 the Dow Jones industrial average clocked in at 7,949.09.  Yesterday, it closed at 17,888.28.
• In January 2009, the consumer confidence index was 37.4 (with 100 in 1985 as the base).  Today it is 98.8.
• In January 2009, the median value of a new home had fallen from $245,000 in mid-2008 to $208,000.  Today, the median value of a new home is $313,000.
• In response to the 2008 financial collapse, the growth in GDP for 2009 was -2.8 percent.  For the third quarter of 2016, it was 2.9 percent.

The recovery from eight years of trickle down economics (tax cuts for the wealthy) and deregulation has been steady but, sadly, all Americans have not seen the benefits.  However, it requires a total memory lapse to believe economic policies which contributed to the 2008-09 recession will cure it.

Unfortunately, that’s not the only things Americans seem to have forgotten.  More recently they have shelved their visceral response to many of the things the Republican nominee has said and done during the course of the campaign.  The common denominator appears to be instances when Trump is unscripted.  Here are a few examples and the how voters reacted to them.

• On June 16, 2016, Breitbart News (managed by now Trump campaign chairman Steve Bannon) reported 50 percent of those surveyed in a Morning Consult survey thought Trump’s comments about Judge Curiel (a Mexican-American judge born in Indiana) were racist.  Another 19 percent said his comments were unacceptable.
• A Gallup poll following both national party conventions found 44 percent of Americans viewed the Democratic party as more favorable after Philadelphia while only 35 percent of Americans had a more positive view of the Republican party after Cleveland.
• On August 3, 2016, the Daily Standard reported 69 percent of those surveyed in a Fox News poll believed Donald Trump response to the Khan family, whose son died in Iraq, was “out of bounds.”
• CNN/ORC poll of debate watchers had Clinton winning the first presidential debate 62 to 27 percent.
• CNN/ORC poll of debate watchers had Clinton winning the second presidential debate (the town hall debate) 57 to 34 percent.
• CNN/ORC poll of debate watchers had Clinton winning the third presidential debate 52 percent to 39 percent.

Immediately following many of these events, members of his own party recognized Trump’s actions were outside the political norm or even standards of decency.  In reference to Trump’s attack on Judge Curiel, House Speaker Paul Ryan referred to the candidate’s comments as the definition of racism.  This week he announced he had voted for the party’s nominee.  Following release of the Access Hollywood tape, Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz said:

My wife, Julie and I, we have a 15-year-old daughter. Do you think I can look her in the eye and tell her that I endorsed Donald Trump for president when he acts like this and his apology? That was no apology, that was an apology for getting caught.

On October 26, Chaffetz announced he too would be voting for Trump.  [NOTE: Chaffetz chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and has promised to continue the investigations into Secretary Clinton’s use of private email.  Ironically, ABC News reported in March 2015, Congressman Chaffetz’ official business card lists a GMAIL.COM address rather than his official HOUSE.GOV address.  Instead of “lock her up,” maybe the Republican rallying cry should be, “Hyp, Hyp, Hypocracy!”]

And the list goes on.  Florida Senator Marco Rubio seems to have forgotten he once characterized Trump as a “con-man.”  Texas Senator Ted Cruz has demonstrated a similar lapse of memory about how disgusted he was when Trump vilified his wife or referenced a story in the National Enquirer about how Cruz’s father was involved in JFK’s assassination.

I would be more forgiving if Trump supporters were more consistent in their memory lapses.  However, the veracity of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is suspect when they cannot recall anything that happened in the last 18 months, but have no problem with the most minute details of every Clinton conspiracy theory, even those from 30 years ago.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP