# Is Trump confused? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 24, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589 "2024-01-24T13:53:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/341 "2024-03-14T22:30:26Z")
But… but what happened to, “So let it be written. So let it be done?” He thought about it so it happened, just like he declassifies documents. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/342 "2024-03-14T22:46:42Z")
Living rent-free in his head would feel like prison. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/343 "2024-03-15T13:28:12Z")
I posted this elsewhere, but it seems to go best here. Tell me what the hell happens to him during this segment? It’s like his brain melts down for a couple seconds. > [@A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4748): > > Not sure that this video has been posted, but I just learned of it. Does Trump have a mini-stroke during this? I mean seriously, how can you watch this and think they guy is OK? > > [https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5108401%2Fuser-clip-saudi-arabia-russia-what](https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5108401%2Fuser-clip-saudi-arabia-russia-what) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/344 "2024-03-15T15:45:34Z")
Could be a number of things. Mini stroke, I suppose. I lean more towards he’s an idiot and a word popped up that he did not know. Combine that with his likely need for glasses, and that would explain it too. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/345 "2024-03-15T15:59:16Z")
The apparent word was a grade school level “reducing” His face and everything in that, including the “uhhhh” after he said ree-pee-toot is very odd. It’s not his normal stumbling over a word and trying to make it seem like he meant to do that. I can see him stumbling on the “Yos-e-mites”, but reducing? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/346 "2024-03-15T17:54:16Z")
Do his keepers spell words out phonetically on the teleprompter? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/347 "2024-03-15T18:55:10Z")
Hieroglyphics. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/348 "2024-03-15T19:45:26Z")
Or rebus, I guess. [![](https://assets.playbill.com/editorial/_articleLeadImage/97b89595da39e9e355d36338e125af3a-playbill-rebus-teaser-image-with-answer.jpg) ](https://assets.playbill.com/editorial/_articleLeadImage/97b89595da39e9e355d36338e125af3a-playbill-rebus-teaser-image-with-answer.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/349 "2024-03-15T19:51:40Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Do his keepers spell words out phonetically on the teleprompter? I don’t know if you’re joking, but Nicole Wallace (who was W Bush’s communications director) has said that they would do that for W. And a speech was once accidentally leaked which confirmed it. [https://www.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSN2540350420070925/](https://www.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSN2540350420070925/) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/350 "2024-03-15T19:54:52Z")
I wasn’t joking. I can certainly see spelling out phonetically certain long, unfamiliar, or foreign words, especially names. Even for a good reader ( i.e., **not** trump). ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/351 "2024-03-15T21:36:52Z")
Maybe the “Speak ‘n Spell” jammed? ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/352 "2024-03-15T22:08:36Z")
I think his brain jammed ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/353 "2024-03-15T22:11:17Z")
As long as we’re nitpicking Donald’s conduct, he’s recently been criticized for “snubbing” his own grandson while attending a UFC fight. Snubbing? Or _forgetting_? He clearly doesn’t recognize Ivanka’s son. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lxhm7vXQ-bc/maxresdefault.jpg "Donald Trump Ignores Grandson in front of Ivanka and Jared: UFC 299 Event in Miami") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxhm7vXQ-bc) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/354 "2024-03-15T22:12:08Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I posted this elsewhere, but it seems to go best here. Tell me what the hell happens to him during this segment? It’s like his brain melts down for a couple seconds. I had responded to Buck\_Godot’s reply to your post in the Schadenfreude thread: > [@A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4762): > > Honestly, I think he just got tongue tied saying the word “reducing” and made a poor recovery. I’m not saying he is not losing it, but by itself I don’t necessarily see that this is strong evidence. Now if he had a thirty second blank out like McConnell had started having that would be something else entirely. > [@A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/4769): > > I hate to admit it, but I think you’re right, at least in this instance. He flipped the first two syllables of ‘be reducing’ so it came out “re-be-du…”. I’ve seen that clip several times, but most clips cut off right at the “re-be-du…” and that weird sigh he makes right after, which gives the impression that he’s really losing it. That clip shows him saying what he meant to say right after, which gives the flub a bit more context. You know what I also hate? I hate that I’m wishing accelerated … As I said in that thread, I hate that trump is making me wish accelerated dementia on anybody, even him. And to be clear, I don’t wish dementia on him, just that _ **if** _ he _ **is** _ coming down with dementia, let the full-blown phase come sooner rather than later. Like, before the election sooner. There are other, perhaps even more telling, recorded examples out there where trump seems to completely lose his train of thought and does a quick “but anyway…” subject change, which, as has been mentioned many times, is a typical coping mechanism that people in the early stages of dementia adopt. The “re-be-du…” may be one example, or it may just be someone transposing syllables, taking a beat, and moving on. I’ve made it clear which one I’m hoping for, and also that I’m not happy with myself for doing so. But such are the times in which we find ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/355 "2024-03-15T22:43:53Z")
If you think someone is evil and out to actively harm many, many (most) people, is it really wrong to hope something happens to keep them from getting re-elected, including something health related? This is a bit of the “trolley problem”, but instead of sacrificing 1 to save 5, it is sacrifice 1 to save millions. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/356 "2024-03-15T22:50:09Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > This is a bit of the “trolley problem”, but instead of sacrificing 1 to save 5, it is sacrifice 1 to save millions. Problem? What problem? Hey donald… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hwP6kNIDg30/maxresdefault.jpg "The Trolley Song - Meet Me In St. Louis - 1944 - Judy Garland") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwP6kNIDg30) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/357 "2024-03-16T00:11:04Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > If you think someone is evil and out to actively harm many, many (most) people, is it really wrong to hope something happens to keep them from getting re-elected, including something health related? This is a bit of the “trolley problem”, but instead of sacrificing 1 to save 5, it is sacrifice 1 to save millions. I appreciate you saying that, but I just feel bad that things have come to this. It seems like our Democracy should have stronger guardrails. And, they have held, barely, so far-- I thought that once Biden was elected, and when even prominent Repubs were calling trump out for Jan. 6, things were self-regulating like they should, and trump was done. As he should be by any sane measure. But here we are again, with the threat of trump 2, Elected Fuckadoo. I thought we were more evolved than this. Clearly I was too optimistic. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/358 "2024-03-16T03:33:40Z")
> [@solost](#): > > But here we are again, with the threat of trump 2, Elected Fuckadoo. I thought we were more evolved than this. Clearly I was too optimistic. Don’t feel too bad, I feel the same way. I distinctly remember it was probably about 15 years ago or so, it was toward the end W’s second term during the rise of the Tea Party movement and when all the birth are nonsense started, I started thinking “the Republicans are really starting to lose it.” I’ve mostly always been more sympathetic to the liberal Democratic side of the political spectrum. That said in my mid teens and first starting to pay attention to politics I briefly flirted with the conservative side of things and actually was listening to Limbaugh on a semi regular basis. One day I just realized like an epiphany how dumb all of it was, I wish I could pinpoint a particular story or moment but I really can’t it was something that evolved through multiple sources over the years. Through exposing myself to both conservative and liberal viewpoints I gradually started to reach the conclusion that the liberal side generally made more sense and was more empathetic toward people. I decided, probably in my early twenties, that’s who I would go with. This board 25 years ago played a not small amount in me going that way politically. That said I’ve always harbored the idea that even though I think conservative ideas are wrong almost all the time and occasionally flirted with evil, I still retained the idea that the people who espoused them had to have some kernel of genuine thought put into what they believe. They might be wrong but they honestly believe what they said. I still think that’s true to a degree. The quiet parts are being sent out loud now more than they have been in the past of course. But now ever since Trump came to power in 2016, I gradually have reached the conclusion that what I’ve traditionally known as the conservative movement in this country is actually and autocratic movement trying to dress itself in the clothes of something that was previously acceptable. It’s been a hell of a thought train. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/359 "2024-03-16T03:44:10Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I appreciate you saying that, but I just feel bad that things have come to this. Ehh, if it makes you feel any better, he’s made me go all Ned Flanders. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FQSmvmzO-Nk/hqdefault.jpg "And if you really tick me off, I'm gonna run you down with my car.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQSmvmzO-Nk) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/360 "2024-03-16T22:41:26Z")
“The Rolling Song Stones ‘Hold On I’m Coming’” > “Joe Biden beat Barack Obama in the largent margin” > “It’s spelling Fani, like your ass” > “Anyone that changes the name of the Cleveland Indians should not be a senator” > [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589.md?page=19)