The New York Times, Finally: ‘Trump’s Rambling Speeches Reinforce Question of Age’
Peter Baker and Dylan Freedman, reporting for The New York Times, with the conspicuous absence of Maggie Haberman from that shared byline:
Former President Donald J. Trump vividly recounted how the
audience at his climactic debate with Vice President Kamala Harris
was on his side. Except that there was no audience. The debate was
held in an empty hall. No one “went crazy,” as Mr. Trump
put it, because no one was there.
Anyone can misremember, of course. But the debate had been just a
week earlier and a fairly memorable moment. And it was hardly the
only time Mr. Trump has seemed confused, forgetful, incoherent or
disconnected from reality lately. In fact, it happens so often
these days that it no longer even generates much attention.
He rambles, he repeats himself, he roams from thought to thought — some of them hard to understand, some of them unfinished, some
of them factually fantastical. He voices outlandish claims that
seem to be made up out of whole cloth. He digresses into
bizarre tangents about golf, about sharks, about his own
“beautiful” body. He relishes “a great day in
Louisiana” after spending the day in Georgia. He expresses
fear that North Korea is “trying to kill me” when he
presumably means Iran. As late as last month, Mr. Trump was still
speaking as if he were running against President Biden, five weeks
after his withdrawal from the race.
Better late than never, but if it were Joe Biden who had rambled on about “the audience going crazy” at a debate that had no audience, the New York Times would have been all over it the next day, not a month later.
I don’t think Donald Trump was ever hooked up right. But he’s clearly losing the few marbles he ever had to dementia, just like his father did. The signs were clear during his 2017–2021 term in office:
John F. Kelly, his second White House chief of staff, was so
convinced that Mr. Trump was psychologically unbalanced that he
bought a book called “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” written
by 27 mental health professionals, to try to understand his boss
better. As it was, Mr. Kelly came to refer to Mr. Trump’s White
House as “Crazytown.”
Of course the Times had to both-sides this story, and this is who they found to do it:
Sam Nunberg, a former Trump political adviser, said he still
talked with people who see him almost daily, and had not heard of
any concerns expressed about the former president’s age. “I don’t
really see any major difference,” he said. “I just don’t see it.”
Nunberg is the guy who showed up shitfaced drunk on half a dozen cables news appearances at the height of the Robert Mueller investigation. That’s the guy saying, sure Trump is OK in the head today.
If you haven’t watched Trump speak in a while — because you’re on team “fuck that guy”, like any sane voter — you should watch the video clips the Times culled for this piece. Like I said, I don’t think the guy was ever hooked up right, but it’s very clear he’s in serious decline today.
My suggestion to the Harris campaign is that they should repeatedly describe Trump as “an 80-year-old”, and force Trump surrogates to correct them that he’s “only” 78.
★
Peter Baker and Dylan Freedman, reporting for The New York Times, with the conspicuous absence of Maggie Haberman from that shared byline:
Former President Donald J. Trump vividly recounted how the
audience at his climactic debate with Vice President Kamala Harris
was on his side. Except that there was no audience. The debate was
held in an empty hall. No one “went crazy,” as Mr. Trump
put it, because no one was there.
Anyone can misremember, of course. But the debate had been just a
week earlier and a fairly memorable moment. And it was hardly the
only time Mr. Trump has seemed confused, forgetful, incoherent or
disconnected from reality lately. In fact, it happens so often
these days that it no longer even generates much attention.
He rambles, he repeats himself, he roams from thought to thought — some of them hard to understand, some of them unfinished, some
of them factually fantastical. He voices outlandish claims that
seem to be made up out of whole cloth. He digresses into
bizarre tangents about golf, about sharks, about his own
“beautiful” body. He relishes “a great day in
Louisiana” after spending the day in Georgia. He expresses
fear that North Korea is “trying to kill me” when he
presumably means Iran. As late as last month, Mr. Trump was still
speaking as if he were running against President Biden, five weeks
after his withdrawal from the race.
Better late than never, but if it were Joe Biden who had rambled on about “the audience going crazy” at a debate that had no audience, the New York Times would have been all over it the next day, not a month later.
I don’t think Donald Trump was ever hooked up right. But he’s clearly losing the few marbles he ever had to dementia, just like his father did. The signs were clear during his 2017–2021 term in office:
John F. Kelly, his second White House chief of staff, was so
convinced that Mr. Trump was psychologically unbalanced that he
bought a book called “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” written
by 27 mental health professionals, to try to understand his boss
better. As it was, Mr. Kelly came to refer to Mr. Trump’s White
House as “Crazytown.”
Of course the Times had to both-sides this story, and this is who they found to do it:
Sam Nunberg, a former Trump political adviser, said he still
talked with people who see him almost daily, and had not heard of
any concerns expressed about the former president’s age. “I don’t
really see any major difference,” he said. “I just don’t see it.”
Nunberg is the guy who showed up shitfaced drunk on half a dozen cables news appearances at the height of the Robert Mueller investigation. That’s the guy saying, sure Trump is OK in the head today.
If you haven’t watched Trump speak in a while — because you’re on team “fuck that guy”, like any sane voter — you should watch the video clips the Times culled for this piece. Like I said, I don’t think the guy was ever hooked up right, but it’s very clear he’s in serious decline today.
My suggestion to the Harris campaign is that they should repeatedly describe Trump as “an 80-year-old”, and force Trump surrogates to correct them that he’s “only” 78.