As people analyze the flurry of rambling misstatements, outright lies and flip-flops coming from the toupeed totalitarian sitting in the Oval Office, credible voices who once giggled at Donald Trumps antics have stopped laughing and started asking a very serious question:

Is the president of the United States suffering from dementia or Alzheimers?

Rice University history professor and leading presidential historians Douglas Brinkley analyzed Trumps interviews from over the last few days. Brinkley, who has read hundredsif not thousandsof transcripts and presidential interviews, concluded that Trump seemed to have a confused mental state, the likes of which he has never seen. It seems to be among the most bizarre recent 24 hours in American presidential history, Brinkley told Politico magazine.

If Douglas Brinkley is not the top presidential historian in the world, then Jon Meacham is certainly in the running for that title. During an appearance Monday on MSNBCs Morning Joe, Meacham and host Joe Scarborough had a conversation about the latest White House fiascoes. Scarborough said Trump was mumbling, he was rambling around, incoherent, and then just sort of quit talking. Walked off.

This conversation is significant for two reasons: Scarborough has a long relationship with Trump, and during the transition and early days of Trumps presidency, Scarborough made numerous trips to both Trumps home and his Mar-a-Lago estate. The second reason is that Scarboroughs words reflect his own personal experienceScarboroughs mother suffers from dementia.

My mothers had dementia for 10 years, Scarborough remarked concerning Trumps wondering why no one ever asks about the Civil War. That sounds like the sort of thing my mother would say today.

Even more troubling is the fact that Trumps medical records, released during the campaign, are basically a cursory exam, filled with hyperbole, written by a family friend who is a gastroenterologist. Oh yeah, we also have that time he went on Dr. Oz.

Donald Trump is the oldest man ever to be sworn in as president, surpassing the record held by Ronald Reaganwho died in 2004 after a battle with Alzheimers disease. According to the Alzheimers Association, people who have a parent, brother or sister with Alzheimers are more likely to develop the disease.

At the time of his death in 1999, Fred Trumpthe father of Donald Trumphad suffered from Alzheimers for six years.

Michael Harriot is a staff writer at The Root, host of "The Black One" podcast and editor-in-chief of the daily digital magazine NegusWhoRead.

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Does Donald Trump Have Dementia? - The Root