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Andrew Feinberg
white house correspondent
Former President Donald Trump’s rambling, past-focused and increasingly angry speeches have raised concerns about his age and suitability for another term in the White House.
The 78-year-old former president recently suggested that there was an audience for his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, even though there was no audience, even though his remarks were likely aimed at Iran. He suggested that North Korea was trying to assassinate the president. He has a lot of gaffes and misremembering, and it seems like he doesn’t attract much attention anymore.
In September, more than a month after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, President Trump spoke as if he was still running against President Biden, not President Harris.
Following Biden’s resignation, Trump will be the oldest candidate of a major political party in U.S. history, and if he wins and serves another term, he will be the oldest president in history, turning 82 at the end of his term. .
Over the nine years Trump has spent on the political stage, his speeches have become increasingly darker, longer and more focused on the past, according to a New York Times review. Trump’s speeches averaged 45 minutes in 2016, but now they average 82 minutes, according to the media.
Additionally, the use of all-or-nothing terms such as “always” and “never” is now 13 percent higher than eight years ago. Some experts see this as a sign that someone is aging.
He currently uses 32 percent more negative words than positive words. In 2016, that number was 21 percent. This is also a possible sign of changes in cognitive abilities. They also used 69 percent more expletives than during their first campaign.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Dodge County Airport. As his speeches become longer and more rambling, further questions about his age emerge (Getty Images)
He frequently reached back to the 1980s and 1990s during his speeches, mentioning the fictional character Hannibal Lecter from “The Silence of the Lambs,” even though talk show host Johnny Carson died in 1980. He suggests that it should be revived. 2005. Trump also said that “most people have no idea what a phone app is,” even though 96 percent of Americans own a smartphone, the Times reported.
Anthony Scaramucci served as White House communications director for 10 days during the Trump administration. He currently supports Harris. He told the Times: “He’s not competing at the level he was competing eight years ago, there’s no question about that.”
“He has lost his way. Scaramucci said he has lost the ability to put together powerful sentences, calling him a “very effective communicator,” but adding, “The word salad buffet on the Trump campaign is… It is being offered at a discounted price,” he added. All you can eat, but at a discounted price. ”
“I don’t think anyone would say Mr. Trump is the most sophisticated speaker, but his speeches lately have seemed more disjointed, more rambling, and quite noticeably disorganized. There were moments when I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere,” the former vice president said. Spokeswoman Sarah Matthews told the newspaper.
“When he was running against Biden, he might not have been as prominent,” she says.
President Trump denied any idea that he was taking a step back.
President Trump recently said, “He spends two hours without a teleprompter, and if he says something even a little off, they say, “He’s cognitively impaired.”
Looking back on his time in the White House, Matthews said, “There was a lot of discussion about whether he could understand policy, and we knew he didn’t really understand those things.” Ta.
“No one wanted to say that outright in that environment — is he mentally okay? — but there were definitely moments where I had doubts personally,” she added.
President Trump denied allegations he was one step behind, despite numbers suggesting otherwise (Getty Images)
Several mental health experts recently told The Independent that Trump is showing signs of cognitive decline.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Ben Michaelis stressed that he had not examined Mr. Trump in person and could not give a formal diagnosis, saying the former president was “actually not very cognitively capable.” .
Michaelis pointed to last month’s debate between Trump and Harris, which started at 9 p.m.
“When we talk about people with dementia, there’s this word sunset, and as the days go by it gets more difficult for them,” he said.
“It’s very difficult for them to stay focused on a topic,” he added. “The idea that you can maintain that level of concentration for that amount of time late in the day…if that was your grandfather, you wouldn’t think twice about it. He just happens to be running for president. is.”
Trump campaign communications director Stephen Chan told the Times that Trump “has more energy and stamina than anyone in politics and is the wisest leader this country has ever seen.”
