Suddenly it’s September! The weather has cooled into gorgeous, sparkling days that remind us that fall is coming soon. I’ve been thinking about how my relationship to the natural world keeps me from getting too lost in the often-distressing, ever present news cycle, especially these days. When I think that Nov. 5, Election Day, is less than two months away, I’m stunned. And frightened as well.

This election is the most consequential of my lifetime — if Donald Trump wins and becomes president again, our democracy will not survive and there will be no going back. He’s pretty much said so himself.

Lately, I’ve been doing something I’d been avoiding for years — watching the former guy speak at his rallies and other venues. I consume my news by reading, not by watching. So, I read the words of Trump, shocking as they are, but don’t watch him in action. Well, that’s not exactly true, I did watch the last Trump/Biden debate live and was horrified by the spectacle of the former guy’s constant lying and the president struggling to respond.

I’ve seen some reporting that the former guy is losing it, that he no longer makes sense. He loses track of what he is saying, meanders, and slurs his words. And if you read Trump’s words, that description seems correct. But many of the bigger news sources don’t seem to think his presentation is that bad and instead report their translation of what he might have meant.

Now I’m extremely aware of his mendacity, how he lies with every breath. But has he begun to disintegrate before our eyes? To answer that question, I began by watching a video of the former guy at a meeting last week of the Economic Club of New York where he gave a speech and took questions.

What I saw is that he is a great talker and fabricator of stories, who could go on forever if someone didn’t stop him. But the clearest sign of mental breakdown was his attempt to answer a question regarding the unaffordable cost of child care in our country and what would he do to fix it should he become president again. His response was a garbled mess that did not answer the question at all.

Here’s just the beginning of Donald’s answer – “Well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down — you know, I was, uh, somebody, we had Sen. Marco Rubio [(R-Fla.)] and my daughter, Ivanka, was so, uh, impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that — because child care is child care. It’s, couldn’t — you know, it’s something, you have to have it. In this country, you have to have it.”

Do these words inspire confidence that the former guy has any ability to think clearly, or has knowledge about the subject that might lead to solutions? What I saw is that his delivery masks just how bad his thinking and speech are. He is a performer, but that’s all he is. It was clear that he had no idea how to answer that important question as he doesn’t understand policy or governance or legislation and has no empathy for those families affected. He only knows how to make grand statements about all he will do – tariffs, tariffs, tariffs! Somehow tariffs will solve every problem.

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Speaking of tariffs, what exactly are they? According to Erica York, a senior economist at the right-leaning Tax Foundation, “It is a tax on people who buy things from foreign businesses.” And that foreign business doesn’t pay a cent of it. It’s the American importer of a tariffed product that pays that tax and then passes that cost on to the consumer of their products by raising prices. So, tariffs fall on consumers, not foreign countries, no matter what the former guy says.

So, yes, I agree that the former guy’s cognitive abilities are in decline. What has not declined is his ability to spew lies in long tortured word conflagrations. He’s a vaudeville act and is so good at entertaining that his word salads are not taken seriously enough. The truly scary part is that half the country thinks he’s the answer to all their problems, when of course he is not.

On the contrary, if Trump manages to win the election, most of his supporters will eventually discover that all he cares about is amassing power and wealth, and staying out of jail. He cares not one wit about them or their lives and like his first term, but worse, will do nothing to improve them.

So, make sure to register and vote to protect our democracy. Oh, and don’t forget to get outside and enjoy the beauty of nature whenever you can. You’ll be glad you did.

Karen Gardner of Haydenville can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.