Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

Donald Trump has all the symptoms of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); trouble paying attention, impulsive behavior, acting without thinking about the result, and being overly active. Specifically, since DJT announced that he was giving himself two weeks to decide if the United States would join Israel in bombing Iran’s nuclear sites, global attention has been focused on Iran. The world “stayed tuned,” and asked, Will he or won’t he bomb? But just because Trump keeps being impulsive and acting without thinking of results, there is no reason for us to follow his every whim. Our attention must not shift from the situations in Gaza, the Russian/Ukraine war, the No Kings protests, and elsewhere.

Remember immigration? Harvard? USAID? UNRWA? U.S. Institute of Peace? The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts? DOGE? NIH defunding? Elon Musk? as well as Trump’s amassing billions in personal wealth as Matthew Stevenson so astutely described? If we want to be up-to-date, do we have to follow his frenetic activity?

There something pathological about this acceleration of time. Trump’s very limited attention span has become the global political norm. His ADHD symptoms have us struggling to keep up. We are all trying to follow his rhythm. But can we keep track of his frenzied impulses and not forget the past? There are important human issues that should not be forgotten or relegated to back pages in the media or in the recesses of our minds. He is not only exhausting us, he is taking our attention away from issues........

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