People make a lot out of inconsequential political gaffes. Imagine it was you making big speeches or having every musing recorded, despite arduous and frequent travel. Not to mention people continuously trying to ask you loaded questions.
Still, this is what politicians sign up for. So is this anything?
In October, in a speech in Derry, N.H., he informed his audience that Viktor Orban, the strongman who rules Hungary, is “the leader of Turkey.”
In November, in a speech in Claremont, N.H., he advised the crowd that the current leader of the United States is “President Obama.” (He later claimed this mistake, which he made on several other occasions, was actually him being “sarcastic” — get it?)
Then, on Friday night, at a rally in Concord, N.H., Trump confused his Republican primary opponent,Nikki Haley, with former House speaker Nancy Pelosi. He claimed that Haley was “in charge of security” during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, that she refused all of his offers of help, and that she destroyed the evidence.
I’m not convinced it is. One or two gaffes a month means little. Since both presidential candidates are aged, either one is going to make substitutions from time to time even if otherwise cognitively sharp.
Donald Trump may or may not be displaying signs of mental confusion or age-related cognitive decline but it is difficult to say because he has both been making these kinds of careless gaffs for at least since 2016 as well as just not caring about factuality of statements or accuracy of details. So much of what comes out of his mouth is a mangled parroting of far right talking points and a quasi-random stream of consciousness that he is somehow even less coherent or truthful than a poorly reinforced chatbot.
And competent politicians and public figures make stupid gaffs all the time. Remember when George H. W. Bush was making an apparently off the cuff speech and confused the date of September 7th with the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor despite the fact that WWII was unquestionably one of the most formative experiences of his his young adult life?
There are plenty of reasons to question the basic competence and ethical suitability of Donald Trump as president (again) including the fact that he just doesn’t care enough to pay attention to the daily responsibilities of the job, but making careless gaffs is more a symptom of disinterest in fact than clear evidence of decline.
I think saying “Obama” instead of “Biden” is an actual gaffe - they’re both presidents, Trump has fought both of their legacies, etc.
But there’s no real connection between Haley and Pelosi, other than the fact both of their first names start with “N”. Trump rambles and makes shit up during his interminable speeches/rants, and this is simply evidence of him having no real regard for facts or the need to pay attention to important matters of national security.
So much verbal diarrhea comes out of his mouth, it’s hard to actually analyze it for quality and truth. It’s a constant stream of words without regard for if they make a lick of sense. I just don’t think he or his death eaters care if any of it is coherent.
Yeah, I agree with what others are saying: Trump has never particularly cared about how closely the words that come out of his mouth correspond with reality.
I agree with you there. But later in the article you cited, reporter Dana Milbank notes that Trump repeated himself several times, on several different subjects, in one speech, as if he had no memory of what he’d said earlier.
What infuriates me with the Haley-Pelosi flub is that he’s getting criticized for switching the names. What he should be criticized for are these:
Claiming that he offered to send troops to defend the Capitol. He certainly made no offer to defend the place he was going to invade.
Claiming that Pelosi turned down the protection. First of all, she would never do such a thing. Secondly, she had no authority to turn down the protection even if she was daft enough to want to do it. She had no more authority about Capitol security than Mitch McConnell did. The DC National Guard reports to the president. Nobody else.
By focusing on the little lie, the media ignored the bigger lie.
He has a decades long history heavily suggesting he categorizes most individuals on sight, mainly but not always by stereotypes (mainly ethnic and gender), with names essentially serving as labels to apply to the appropriate boxes
Between his age, with attendant mental calcification, and with fewer social norms he feels the need to satisfy, my take is his natural inclinations have only gotten stronger and he feels less of a need to make sure the labels he applies to those mental boxes are lined up properly
They’re both women high up politically who are, at least currently, opposed to Trump, which appear to be the mental box he’s using in this case
I tend to agree with the comments above that his gaffes are attributable to normal slips of the tongue (it happens to Biden too) or his ongoing intellectual laziness - not a sign of impending dementia.
But I’ve listened to that Nikki Haley for Nancy Pelosi clip a few times and it makes me wonder. It’s pretty incoherent.
All I can say is, if it is indeed some form of dementia, I hope it progresses quickly and undeniably, to the point where even his supporters must acknowledge he is unfit for office and the Republican nominee will be Haley. But I think that scenario is hugely unlikely. More likely, he’d be elected with someone like Kerri Lake as his VP and she’d take over when his mental acuity and motor skills deteriorate to the point where it becomes impossible to ignore. Shudder.
I completely agree with all of this, and I sort of have my own personal theory of what may be happening to trump, which is not based on anything but the most layman’s understanding of cognitive decline, but here goes anyway…
I believe it’s fairly well established that “training the brain” with complicated neural tasks such as mathematical problems, musical practice and composition, reading and writing, and even puzzles like Sudoku can help to stave off cognitive decline.
trump not only does nothing to challenge his brain, he also has little or no relationship with the truth. It’s been said he doesn’t just lie-- liars know they’re lying, and for what specific reason at the time. trump just says whatever is convenient to say in the moment, with absolutely no regard to what is a lie and what may actually be the truth, and no regard to whether what he is saying is a direct contradiction to something he may have said in the recent past.
So, I think the fact that he is absolutely unmoored from the truth, and therefore from actual reality, may be reinforcing or accelerating whatever aging-related cognitive decline he may have. And the cognitive decline may be contributing to his lack of understanding the truth / reality, in a vicious cycle.
Yes I share this infuriation.
It’s true that the “bigger lie” – that it is somehow Pelosi’s fault – has been commented on many times previously, but it’s also true that a massive chunk of the country probably still believes it, so it is worth at least reminding that it’s completely false.
The way I see it is this: Trump is indeed suffering some kind of neurological memory and concentration decline. And if this is what finally ends this clown show: a final dramatic episode, where even many of his cap-wearing supporters can only pity him and walk away…so be it.
But it would be so much better if the reason for abandoning him was actual disgust at Trump’s views, or that he doesn’t represent Americans, or a desire to return to Earth 1.0
Just my opinion, but lately he seems to be losing it. Not just his normal word salad, not his typical “the rules of English are no concern of mine” delivery—real troubling stuff. He has thoughts and struggles to articulate them. “America is in a powerful death penalty.” Shit like that.
And he said Haley’s name four times in the bit about Capitol security. Four times. Doesn’t seem like when your mom yelled at you using your brother’s name, seems like a widening gap.
I think his horrible life style, his lack of mental exercise, etc., are catching up with him. As @CairoCarol said earlier, for the sake of our country, I hope the decline is rapid, severe and undeniable. I say that very uncomfortable wishing such a thing.
My fear is that his worshippers won’t care if it’s undeniable and that he could end up back in the White House as a completely malleable puppet for whatever dictator is waiting in the wings.
Donald Trump has never been intellectually curious, nor has he ever displayed any analytical capability (witness his many business failures of ventures that should have been obviously flawed or should have been lucrative if properly managed). It would not be surprising if he has been in cognitive decline given his age and lack of either physical or intellectual exercise, but as you note he has just never had any real interest in or respect for truth, so it is difficult to distinguish decline from his normal indifference and ignorance.
Most modern politicians are far better at confidently espousing bullshit than they are at deep thinking or philosophizing but Trump is almost unique about making almost meaningless blather appealing to a large base of people, primarily by both feeding the fantasy of their dreams of easy wealth and celebrity as well as inciting fear and uncertainty. In part this is an extension of “celebrity culture” which awards attention to people just for being famous or outrageous regardless of whether they have anything insightful or particularly interesting to say; Trump is certainly the epitome of a vacuous personage whose success is correlated to his willingness to say and do anything for attention, but he also has a uniquely slimy charisma for people who are similarly incurious but lack his flair for showmanship. Trump not only has no use for truth or interest in factual accuracy in what he says, but his willingness to spontaneously espouse clearly evident falsehoods and nonsense are part of his appeal.
He’s been using that little trick a lot lately. Trying to cover up his brain farts by switching gears, making it seem as though he was done with a topic when in reality he lost the the thread.