It has long been obvious to the casual, somewhat informed, halfway intelligent observer that the very stable genius is, in fact, a very unstable, seriously mentally ill individual, possibly mixed with a heaping helping of incipient senility. For purposes of this piece I’m going to assume it has been even more obvious to the New York Times reporters who cover him on a daily basis, since by definition, anyway, they should be somewhat informed, halfway intelligent observers.
But, of course, since Trump is a Republican it is verboten to state the obvious about him, since that would be a failure to maintain journalistic objectivity or something of the sort, though, of course, it’s entirely okay for the same newspaper to literally make up Joe Biden lies to maintain the fiction that both sides do it in equal measure.
Still, one can’t help but feel that reporter Peter Baker is trying to send a message in this report on Trump’s public breakdown yesterday:
What followed instead was an hour of presidential stream of consciousness as Mr. Trump drifted seemingly at random from one topic to another, often in the same run-on sentence. Even for a president who rarely sticks to the script and wanders from thought to thought, it was one of the most rambling performances of his presidency.
He weighed in on China and the coronavirus and the Paris climate change accord and crumbling highways. And then China again and military spending and then China again and then the coronavirus again. And the economy and energy taxes and trade with Europe and illegal immigration and his friendship with Mexico’s president. And the coronavirus again and then immigration again and crime in Chicago and the death penalty and back to climate change and education and historical statues. And more.
“We could go on for days,” he said at one point, and it sounded plausible.
At times, it was hard to understand what he meant. He seemed to suggest that his presumptive Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., would get rid of windows if elected and later said that Mr. Biden would “abolish the suburbs.” He complained that Mr. Biden had “gone so far right.” (He meant left.)
Even for those who follow Mr. Trump regularly and understand his shorthand, it became challenging to follow his train of thought.
For instance, in discussing cooperation agreements with Central American countries to stop illegal immigration, he had this to say: “We have great agreements where when Biden and Obama used to bring killers out, they would say don’t bring them back to our country, we don’t want them. Well, we have to, we don’t want them. They wouldn’t take them. Now with us, they take them. Someday, I’ll tell you why. Someday, I’ll tell you why. But they take them and they take them very gladly. They used to bring them out and they wouldn’t even let the airplanes land if they brought them back by airplanes. They wouldn’t let the buses into their country. They said we don’t want them. Said no, but they entered our country illegally and they’re murderers, they’re killers in some cases.”
The entire thrust of the article amounts to an implied shout that Trump is mentally ill and/or senile. Of course, Baker never comes out and says that, but he comes close.
On a final positive note, there is a link at the Times website at this article linking to another article discussing “Trump’s Falsehoods”. Again, close, but no cigar, as they continue to avoid the much shorter and more accurate term.
On the negative side, neither the title of the web article (The White House Called a News Conference. Trump Turned it Into a Meandering Monologue) or that in the print edition (White House News Conference Takes a Rambling Turn) come close to conveying the disturbed mental faculties that were on display. The print article was on page A17, and I dare you to claim that it would have been placed there had Clinton or Obama performed in such a fashion.
Irrelevant postscript: While I was typing the word Obama on my Ipad, Apple helpfully suggested “Obamagate” by way of its autocomplete function. I guess they’ll allow any right wing fantasy to creep into their algorithms.