'Take away the car keys': Trump's mental decline draws devastating parallel in new column

A Guardian columnist drew a devastating parallel between Donald Trump's increasingly erratic behavior and the cognitive decline that ultimately ended Joe Biden's political career, and asked why no one in Washington seems willing to say what millions of Americans suspect.

In a blistering column published Monday, Gaby Hinsliff catalogued a string of recent Trump episodes that raised eyebrows across the political spectrum: rambling about Sharpie pens in the middle of a war cabinet meeting, making a baffling Pearl Harbor joke in front of Japan's prime minister, and calling the Strait of Hormuz the "Strait of Trump," then insisting it was deliberate.

Meanwhile, 61% of Americans told Reuters-Ipsos they believe Trump has grown more erratic with age, and 56% told the Washington Post they don't think he has the mental sharpness to handle the challenges he faces.

Hinsliff compared the situation to caring for an elderly parent whose driving has become dangerous.

"If you are reading this as the son or daughter of elderly parents whose memories have begun to falter, you will know how long it often takes from the first uneasy gut feeling that something has changed to what might ultimately lead to a conclusive medical diagnosis – and how many sleepless nights lie in between," she said.

Thoughts creep in when confronted with such a situation, about whether that parent should really be driving, or if they've become a "danger to everyone on the road."

"The fear of barging in too early, causing a hurt and outraged octogenarian to dig their heels in, clashes with the guilt of knowing that it will be your fault if they run someone over while you’re still agonising over taking away the car keys," she said.

Hinsliff concluded constitutional guardrails exist precisely to thwart such dilemmas when it comes to political leaders.

"For without them, we’re all potentially just passengers in some superpower’s speeding truck: watching helplessly from the back seat as the driver weaves all over the road, and wondering just how close we have to get to crashing before someone speaks up," she said.