Donald Trump’s senility defense falls flat

| 11:15 pm EDT May 31, 2018
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From the start, Palmer Report has predicted that once it was fully demonstrated that Donald Trump’s crimes were firmly proven, he’d eventually resort to one of two defenses. One would consist of claiming he was too naive to know that nearly all of his political operatives were committing crimes on his behalf. The other would consist of positioning himself as too mentally infirm to be held responsible for his crimes. Today we saw Trump dip his toe into the water of the senility defense.

Shortly after Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, he went on NBC and told interviewer Lester Holt that he fired Comey specifically to try to shut down the Russia investigation. When you confess to a serious crime like that in front of an audience of millions, it’s not something you forget as easily as where you parked your car. Yet this morning, Trump decided to go ahead and try it anyway.

Here’s what Trump tweeted earlier today: “Not that it matters but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!” This was out of nowhere and out of context, and no one is entirely sure why he decided to suddenly bring it up. But if he was trying to paint himself as being too far gone to remember what he’s even said and done during his crime spree, it didn’t work.

The mainstream media promptly fired back at Donald Trump’s tweet with footage of him confessing on NBC that he did indeed fire James Comey over Russia. While the media is still trying to decide whether it wants to actually call him a “liar,” the media is largely characterizing his latest tweet as a false claim on his part. No one is taking the bait and characterizing this as Trump having forgotten what he said. That distinction matters, because if this is indeed the senility defense in action, it’s not working.