It's a twist on another word that gets used in a derogatory way. When I see it, my insides twist. I have a special needs grandson which is why it affects me the way it does.

I just ignore it when I see it no matter how it makes me feel.

I have some other terms of endearment that I have no problem using.

...offers as the definition - a person, especially an old person, exhibiting a decline in mental faculties; a weak-minded or foolish old person.

A related word is dotage, with an essentially identical meaning - a decline in mental faculties, especially as associated with old age. Common use - “He is in his dotage.”

Both words have been around since about the 1400s.

I post this not to be a smart as or a know-it-all, but as someone who hopes to ease some pain that you are feeling when you see this word.

but how it's been used in recent years in such derogatory ways hasn't changed any. I look at my beautiful grandson and his needs has made him so unique and caring.

It just hurts me on the inside when I read any variation on it, but I don't say much about it unless one of my more insensitive family members blurt it out. Then I attack.

The Orange Fuck Knob
Fuck Face von Clownstick
Clownface von Fuckstick
Clownstick von Fuckface
Orange Fornicate
The Orange Fuck
Shithead
Fornicate Face
Ass Wipe
Shitler
Putin's Personal Fluffer
Putinfluffer
Herr Orange
Adolf Twitler
Asshole
The Orange Toxic Megacolon
The Orange Asswipe
Orange Wipe

And some others as well...

I prefer Orange Menace

Juvenile nicknames belong on Free Republic (like Hitlery), but I can certainly endorse refusing to give him a title of great respect and honor that he neither earned nor deserves.

...moment of inattentiveness.

I immediately went and spat in the sink.