# 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:** 20
**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 17, 2024, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/381 "2024-03-17T19:12:12Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > This is the exact same s\*\*\* he was pulling during the run after the 2020 election that let the January 6th. Wow I messed that whole sentence up. Just to clarify what i was trying to say: “This is the exact same s\*\*\* he was pulling during the run up to, and during the time after, the 2020 election that led up to Jan 6th”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/382 "2024-03-17T19:38:34Z")
> **[Trump predicts ‘bloodbath’ if he loses election and claims ‘Biden beat Obama’](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/17/trump-verbal-gaffes-ohio-rally-bloodbath)** > > Republican candidate insists at Ohio rally that Biden had beaten ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ in elections that never took place [ Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) # Trump predicts ‘bloodbath’ if he loses election and claims ‘Biden beat Obama’ _Republican candidate insists at Ohio rally that Biden had beaten ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ in elections that never took place_ _[Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) tore into [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump)’s mental stability at a dinner in Washington DC on Saturday – just as the former president was making verbal gaffes at a campaign rally in Ohio as well as predicting a “bloodbath” if he met defeat in November’s election._ _Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, confused the crowd at an appearance in Vandalia by insisting that Biden had beaten “Barack Hussein Obama” in elections nationally that never took place._ _Freewheeling during a speech in which his teleprompters were seemingly disabled by high winds, Trump – a frequent critic of the 81-year-old Biden’s age and mental acuity – struggled to pronounce the words “bite” and “largest”. And he left the crowd scratching their heads over the reference to Obama, whom Biden served as vice-president from 2009 to 2017 before taking the Oval Office from Trump in 2020._ trump is losing it. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/383 "2024-03-17T22:27:10Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > trump is losing it. You really have to wonder if there is any limit at all to what MAGA people will explain away (or simply ignore) about Trump’s increasingly erratic performances. If he actually goes the usually-metaphorical underpants-on-head route, will that be okay, too? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/384 "2024-03-17T22:30:35Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > If he actually goes the usually-metaphorical underpants-on-head route, will that be okay, too? The more erudite among them will brag about how the Intel Community deemed TFG fit to receive the traditional candidates’ briefing. [Yeah. I’m sure I _could_ have helped myself. I simply chose not to] ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/385 "2024-03-17T22:33:18Z")
Well, I laughed. (But then I started wondering how many of Trump’s fans would understand a pun involving “briefs”…) ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/386 "2024-03-17T23:18:10Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > You really have to wonder if there is any limit at all to what MAGA people will explain away (or simply ignore) about Trump’s increasingly erratic performances. They aren’t really at the rallies to hear a speech. They are there to be in Trump’s presence and to wallow in the comfortable embrace of their like-minded deplorable brethren. They enthusiastically respond like Pavlov’s dogs to certain associated phrases but are otherwise oblivious to the word salad coming from Trump’s mouth. Unless he actually fell down on the stage, I don’t think they would notice that anything was wrong. ---
**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 17, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/387 "2024-03-17T23:21:41Z")
Yeah, everyone knows it was actually Michelle. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/388 "2024-03-18T00:39:10Z")
[“Following Trump’s Use of Language”](https://news.berkeley.edu/2016/08/24/following-trumps-use-of-language) By George Lakoff Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, UC Berkeley (retired) > [@](#): > > Donald Trump’s discourse style has stumped a number of reporters. Dan Libit, CNBC’s excellent analyst, is one of them. Libit writes: > > "His unscripted speaking style, with its spasmodic, self-interrupting sentence structure, has increasingly come to overwhelm the human brains and tape recorders attempting to quote him. > > “Trump is, simply put, a transcriptionist’s worst nightmare: severely unintelligible, and yet, incredibly important to understand.” . . . > > “Trump’s crimes against clarity are multifarious: He often speaks in long, run-on sentences, with frequent asides. He pauses after subordinate clauses. He frequently quotes people saying things that aren’t actual quotes. And he repeats words and phrases, sometimes with slight variations, in the same sentence.” > > Some in the media (Washington Post, Salon, Slate, Think Progress, etc.) have called Trump’s speeches “word salad.” Some commentators have even attributed his language use to “early Alzheimer’s,” citing “erratic behavior” and “little regards for social conventions.” My problem with the thread: – What Professor Lakoff writes above is true for Trump this year – Lakoff published the above in 2016 Read this if you don’t believe the Lakoff/Libit analysis still applies: [Trump Georgia Rally Speech, March 9, 2024](https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/trump-campaigns-in-georgia-and-responds-to-the-sotu-address) Could coherence have gotten worse in the last eight years, with Trump more often making statements where even his most devoted followers cannot fill in the blank? Yes. Would I trust myself to objectively measure that? No. So who would I trust? Some sort of legitimate expert applying a statistical approach. And I haven’t seen that. So – Is Trump confused? Rarely. Less rarely than four or eight years ago? I don’t know. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s a little more often confused than in the past, but it still is rare, and it’s not enough to matter. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/389 "2024-03-18T00:47:00Z")
Holy fuck, all you have to do is listen to Trump speak. It doesn’t merit a study. ---
**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 18, 2024, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/390 "2024-03-18T01:33:25Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > So – Is Trump confused? Rarely. Less rarely than four or eight years ago? What do you suppose he meant by saying that Biden beat Obama by the largest margin in history? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/391 "2024-03-18T02:04:21Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > What do you suppose he meant by saying that Biden beat Obama by the largest margin in history? Without the full transcript, I have no idea what he meant. However – just guessing – he might have been riffing off of this: [Joe Biden breaks Obama’s record for most votes ever cast for a U.S. presidential candidate](https://www.cbsnews.com/politics?ftag=CNM-16-10abg0d) ---
**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 18, 2024, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/392 "2024-03-18T02:34:20Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Without the full transcript, I have no idea what he meant. > [@Very Stable Genius](#): > > You know what’s interesting? Joe Biden won against Barack Hussein Obama. Has anyone ever heard of him? Every swing state, Biden beat Obama but in every other state, he got killed. > ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/393 "2024-03-18T02:39:59Z")
Biden did run for the Democratic nomination in 2008, but he never got any traction in his campaign, and withdrew after the Iowa caucus (i.e., the first nomination contest), in which he finished in fifth place, with about 1% of the total vote. That, as far as I know, is the only time that voters _ever_ chose between Biden and Obama on the same ballot. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/394 "2024-03-18T02:41:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > What do you suppose he meant by saying that Biden beat Obama by the largest margin in history? Note, he’s been saying Biden outran Obama since the 2020 election. > I think he means 1. Biden got more votes in the election than Obama did in a previous election, 2. that’s not believable, 3. therefore stolen election. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/395 "2024-03-18T02:45:50Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Holy fuck, all you have to do is listen to Trump speak. It doesn’t merit a study. I literally do not have the patience to listen to a two hour rally speech, much less a whole bunch where I go back and forth between old and new. (Trump rally speeches are far longer than typical in American politics. You know what kind of leader makes speeches that long? Communists. I’m not kidding.) Transcripts – those I can read. And reading the first half of the [Georgia speech](https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/trump-campaigns-in-georgia-and-responds-to-the-sotu-address) I previously linked, it matches up perfectly with the techniques George Lakoff – my new favorite Donald Trump expert – identified, including repetition and drawing in the audience with the fill in the blank technique. I’m up to here: > [@](#): > > I took care of the Black colleges and universities. They would come up to Washington. After three years, they said, “Why do you guys keep coming back?” One of them, I got friendly with some of them, really good people. They said, “Every year, we come back looking for money.” They do a great job. Black colleges and universities, they have very little money. And then you look at Harvard and these maniacs, and they have billions and billions of dollars. Very unfair. We’re going to have to look into that whole situation. We’re going to have to. Is he always that coherent? No, but he doesn’t need to be. And – note to any lurking conservatives – Trump is almost as much for reverse discrimination as Biden. As far as meriting a study, now that I think more about it, I am halfway to agreeing with you. The problem is that before you can do a study, you need to have criteria for rating speech confusion. Suppose Trump’s speeches were shown to be using more sentence fragments, simpler vocabulary. increased repetition, and more spots than ever where the listener has to fill in the blank. With the same data, you might say he is getting confused, and I may see more skillful demagoguery than ever. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/396 "2024-03-18T03:04:41Z")
Look how bored the people behind him look. ---
**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 18, 2024, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/397 "2024-03-18T03:05:15Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I think he means That’s not what he said, though. He said that Biden ran against Obama and beat him in every swing state. I don’t understand why liberals are making excuses for Trump or trying to rationalize his comments when he spews word salad and calls for violent uprisings on his behalf, when MAGAs know exactly what he’s telling them and what he wants them to do and it isn’t about historical comparisons or the auto industry. He’s right out there saying that immigrants aren’t human and I half-expect a thinkpiece from the New Yorker about how he’s referencing the Bene Gesserit philosophy of sapience in the Dune franchise. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/398 "2024-03-18T03:10:30Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Transcripts – those I can read. But I have a question- who is doing those transcripts and are they cleaning up stuff? > [@Smapti](#): > > I don’t understand why liberals are making excuses for Trump or trying to rationalize his comments when he spews word salad and calls for violent uprisings on his behalf, when MAGAs know exactly what he’s telling them and what he wants them to do and it isn’t about historical comparisons or the auto industry. He’s right out there saying that immigrants aren’t human… Yeah, trying to rationalize what trump meant leads to insanity. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/399 "2024-03-18T03:16:17Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > What do you suppose he meant by saying that Biden beat Obama by the largest margin in history? > > Note, he’s been saying Biden outran Obama since the 2020 election. > > [x.com](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1325442336957018112) > > I think he means > > 1. Biden got more votes in the election than Obama did in a previous election, > 2. that’s not believable, > 3. therefore stolen election. Do these people not understand that population growth is an actual thing? Jeez Louise. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/400 "2024-03-18T03:19:19Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > He’s right out there saying that immigrants aren’t human and I half-expect a thinkpiece from the New Yorker about how he’s referencing the Bene Gesserit philosophy I don’t think that’s what’s happening, though. Trump is constantly vomiting out lies, dangerous ideas, word salad, mispronunciations, stammers, and weird sighs. In my view, those missteps are ranked in order from most to least importance (first two are tied, probably). Who cares about the occasional flubbed word when he is telling outright untruths and promoting ideas that destroy democracy, dehumanize migrants and the LGBTQ community, and wreck the environment? I see no evidence that liberals are defending Trump against those frightening and consequential statements. Anyone who is doing so is not, by definition, a liberal. If a liberal individual or news outlet presented with a clip showing Trump stumbling over a word, or even making a “senior moment” misstatement shrugs and wants to move on to something, I agree. Why get all fussed over a leaky faucet when in the next room, the house is catching fire? It just makes you look stupid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589.md?page=21)