# 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:** 32
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/621 "2024-05-13T22:54:56Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > did Lecter ever actually say “I’m having a friend for dinner”? Doesn’t he say that on the phone to Clarisse at the end after his escape while looking at his former warden (the assumption being he is going to eat him) Though that is Anthony Hopkins the only actor who is synonymous with the role and who has nothing but contempt for Trump as far as we know:) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/622 "2024-05-13T22:56:05Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > For that matter, did Lecter ever actually say “I’m having a friend for dinner”? [Yes. (But it’s an ‘old friend’.)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbJ89LFheTs&t=78s) ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/623 "2024-05-14T15:51:58Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Yes. (But it’s an ‘old friend’.) Another outtake: [Family Guy - I’m having an old friend for dinner](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndh_1WQMqCM) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/624 "2024-05-15T14:07:47Z")
> ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/625 "2024-05-16T17:31:24Z")
From his lips to our ears: > [@](#): > > Somebody said he looks great in a bathing suit, right? And you know, when he was in the sand and he was having a hard time lifting his feet through the sand, because you know sand is heavy, they figured three solid ounces per foot, but sand is a little heavy, and he’s sitting in a bathing suit. Look, at 81, do you remember Cary Grant? How good was Cary Grant, right? I don’t think Cary Grant, he was good. I don’t know what happened to movie stars today. We used to have Cary Grant and Clark Gable and all these people. Today we have, I won’t say names, because I don’t need enemies. I don’t need enemies. I got enough enemies. But Cary Grant was, like – Michael Jackson once told me, ‘The most handsome man, Trump, in the world.’ ‘Who?’ ‘Cary Grant.’ Well, we don’t have that any more, but Cary Grant at 81 or 82, going on 100. This guy, he’s 81, going on 100. Cary Grant wouldn’t look too good in a bathing suit, either. And he was pretty good-looking, right? ---
**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:** [May 16, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/626 "2024-05-16T18:42:46Z")
Sure, it’s bafflegab. But is it worse bafflegab then years ago? People vote Trump because they 1) don’t like the alternatives better and/or 2) it is part of their contrarian identity or community. For many people, no speech, or no word salad quotation changes those things. Rather than mechanisms of grammar and logic, as a whole the segment quoted above: 1. Uses no big words so is easy to understand. Is not “condescending” or “intellectual” or “élite” (or “coherent”). I don’t know the “word level”… Grade three? This is not a bad thing, perhaps, if you prefer populism to policy. 2. Is poetic. You could make blank verse out of it; better than some. 3. Is nostalgic. Many old people probably say they agree with the sentiment. Even if it makes no sense, or no one remembers exactly what most elderly film stars even look like (since they are sometimes “seen with younger eyes”). A comedian once commented on a big TV network which used a lot of previously big stars; describing their nostalgia marketing strategy as “_They’ve_ still got it. Maybe _you’ve_ still got it.” Maybe you get five points every time you mention Matlock. 4. Avoids mentioning policy. This can be politically wise. Trump does not want some voters to think too deeply. In Canada, Trudeau is currently unpopular for various reasons. Since his opposition is polling much better (it’s early days), the opposition are not much articulating what they would do different. “You don’t have to run faster than the bear. You just have to run faster than your friend.” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/627 "2024-05-16T19:02:18Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > …2) it is part of their contrarian identity or community. Maybe we can get Boaty McBoatface on the ballot to siphon votes away from Trump. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/628 "2024-05-16T19:23:29Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > But is it worse bafflegab then years ago? Yeah absolutely. I can’t see the context for that rant, but apparently this was a response to a friendly journalist setting him up to talk about the debate (sleepy Joe, scared of me, gonna give best debate performance ever, etc. etc.). And instead he goes off on a random rant about water. 2016 Trump would not have done that. He’s never been particularly coherent but he didn’t used to need a translator. He literally doesn’t make sense any more. ---
**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:** [May 17, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/629 "2024-05-17T00:57:14Z")
“Oh, Biden is jargender once, with a, the one circling that beautiful resident desk in the Oval Office.” > ---
**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:** [May 17, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/630 "2024-05-17T01:44:56Z")
It’s pretty clear to me he is saying “Resolute desk” not resident desk. No clue what jargender means. ---
**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:** [May 17, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/631 "2024-05-17T01:49:55Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > It’s pretty clear to me he is saying “Resolute desk” not resident desk I can tell he’s trying to say “Resolute”, but to my ear it comes out sounding like “resident”. Why Biden is circling it is a mystery. > [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > No clue what jargender means. Maybe he wants some giardiniera. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/632 "2024-05-17T02:00:19Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I can tell he’s trying to say “Resolute”, but to my ear it comes out sounding like “resident”. Why Biden is circling it is a mystery. WAG: he’s channeling 1930s New Yorker cartoons to imply that Biden is [chasing secretaries around the desk](https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/chasing-around-the-desk.3587728/)? ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/633 "2024-05-17T15:22:09Z")
Real-time example of Trump’s train of thought: replacing Biden \> Gavin “Newscum” \> is terrible \> California \> is beautiful \> water \> tiny, tiny, little fish \> Pacific Ocean. Pointed out from the [Hugh Hewitt interview](https://hughhewitt.com/former-president-trump-on-the-new-inflation-number-and-president-bidens-arms-embargo-on-israel) with Trump on the FarronBalance [YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iEORKg1IT0) “Trump Interrupts His Own Tirade To Rant About Water”: > HH: I’ll look for a second. Do you think if his infirmity increases, they will dump him, Mr. President, at the convention, replace him with Kamala or Gavin or someone like that? > > DJT: I do. I do. > HH: And… > DJT: I don’t think they’ll have a choice. > HH: Will it be Gavin? Will it be Kamala or somebody else? > > DJT: I don’t know. I mean, Gavin’s a terrible governor, Gavin Newscum, he’s a terrible governor. I think he does a terrible job. I have things out in California, and you know, it’s so beautiful, everything. The weather is the best. Everything is so good, but he just does a terrible job. You know, water, I had a deal for water to come down from the north. They have so much water, and they don’t do it, because they’re trying to protect a tiny, tiny little fish that hasn’t made it. And millions and millions of gallons of water is sent into the Pacific Ocean, routed right into the Pacific instead of coming down throughout California. It’s so… > > HH: All right, I’ve got your statement. I’m ready to go. The dates that are proposed are fine. Anywhere, anytime, anyplace. Let’s see if Joe can make it to the stand-up podium. I think they ought to go at least two hours. Do you think the President can stand up for two hours? Allllrighty, then. Hewitt interrupts and quickly pivots back to the subject of the debates. Stable genius, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/634 "2024-05-17T16:06:08Z")
It may have to do with the conservation efforts for the Devil’s Hole Pupfish, which exist in one tiny biome only, and don’t seem to do well anywhere else. Extraordinary efforts are being made to preserve them. > **[Devils Hole pupfish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Hole_pupfish)** > > The Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) is a critically endangered species of the family Cyprinodontidae (pupfishes) found only in Devils Hole, a water-filled cavern in the US state of Nevada. It was first described as a species in 1930 and is most closely related to C. nevadensis and the Death Valley pupfish (C. salinus). The age of the species is unknown, with differing analyses offering ranges between one thousand and sixty thousand years. It is a small fish, with maximum lengths of ... ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/635 "2024-05-17T16:31:19Z")
> [@Daithi\_Lacha](#): > > may have to do with the conservation efforts for the Devil’s Hole Pupfish, which exist in one tiny biome only, and don’t seem to do well anywhere else. Extraordinary efforts are being made to preserve them I thinks it’s more likely to be a reference to the California delta and controls on taking water from (shockingly Trump is misrepresenting Newsoms position on it, which is actually trending towards allowing it, despite environmental objections): [https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article286928920.html](https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article286928920.html) But more to the point while this is exactly the kind of misleading rant Trump has always thrown out, the circumstances of this one, where he was teed up by a friendly journalist to talk about how even the Democrats “know” Biden is senile, is new. 2016 Trump would not have gone on a random irrelevant rant about water when given the chance to talk about something he really wanted to talk about, then have to be brought back to the matter at hand by a friendly journalist. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/636 "2024-05-17T16:38:19Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I thinks it’s more likely to be a reference to the California delta I think it’s both. The pupfish have been an issue for decades and water is needed to save them. Also, all that water is just going to waste by flowing into the ocean. Trump thinks they’re the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/637 "2024-05-17T17:25:13Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Trump thinks No. No he does not. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/638 "2024-05-17T20:02:12Z")
> [@Daithi\_Lacha](#): > > It may have to do with the conservation efforts for the Devil’s Hole Pupfish, which exist in one tiny biome only, and don’t seem to do well anywhere else Rerouting water from “the north” isn’t AFAIK a plan to save the pupfish, which live in Death Valley. DJT is probably referring to the Delta smelt. Big Ag interests in the CA central valley want to reroute large amounts of water around the delicate Sacramento Delta habitat which would increase the Delta’s salinity. The smelt are the poster children of the various environmental groups who’ve been trying to stop the water grab. The Central Valley is a **deeply** Red area of CA and the Republican ag interests are all for draining the Delta & shipping the water south. ---
**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:** [May 17, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/639 "2024-05-17T20:19:23Z")
KSTP: I think at one point you vowed never to come back to Minnesota after you lost the state in 2020. TRUMP: Well, I never said I’d never come back. I never even thought of that. KSTP: _cuts to tape of Trump saying “if I lose Minnesota, I’m never coming back” at a rally_ [https://x.com/atrupar/status/1791542041756754232](https://x.com/atrupar/status/1791542041756754232) ---
**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:** [May 18, 2024, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/640 "2024-05-18T02:58:03Z")
“We’re gonna withhold the powers and beauty of our second amendment” [https://x.com/atrupar/status/1791656974481862962](https://x.com/atrupar/status/1791656974481862962) “If you didn’t have me as president you wouldn’t have Minneapolis” [https://x.com/Acyn/status/1791656365922103784](https://x.com/Acyn/status/1791656365922103784) “In 2016, I almost got elected” [https://x.com/Acyn/status/1791652836629180725](https://x.com/Acyn/status/1791652836629180725) “Does anybody have any Tic Tacs” [https://x.com/Acyn/status/1791642451251503608](https://x.com/Acyn/status/1791642451251503608) “I saved a couple of your cities, remember? I came in with a big force and we saved” [https://x.com/atrupar/status/1791651238301282518](https://x.com/atrupar/status/1791651238301282518) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589.md?page=33)