...the equivalent in his moldy mind ...
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My late FIL was an alcoholic who retired to Pago Pago after his wife passed.
He was in the hospital with incompetency from several small strokes and we (and the military docs) were trying to get him back to the States. All my husband’s interactions were by phone.
Dad would say, “I went swimming today.” Talking to med staff, this meant he had had a bath. OTOH, he could be brutally honest and say, “They are making me speak with people I don’t want to talk to.” And he meant it.
The brain will make connections that are evident to the speaker, even when there is obvious deterioration, while the filters just seem to slip.
It all makes sense to Joe and he likely is incapable of hiding his remaining core truths, such as they might be.
Not sure how they hide that in a 90-minute debate.