Donald Trump’s latest exchange with a reporter reveals his mind is completely gone
At this point we’re seeing a pattern in which Donald Trump makes a public appearance, says senile things, and gets a lot of headlines about his cognitive collapse. Then he disappears from the stage for a few days and the headlines about his senility fade accordingly. Then he goes back out in public and the cycle starts over.
I would strongly argue that the outright senility of the supposed Republican frontrunner for President is headline news every day, regardless of whether Trump says anything on a given day or not. But the media generally prefers to wait for fresh material from Trump before circling back to his senility. Fortunately, Trump keeps obliging.
A reporter asked Trump if he planned to use campaign funds or PAC funds to pay for the massive financial penalties he’s facing in his E. Jean Carroll trial and the New York fraud trial. Trump gave the most honest answer he’s given in some time: “I don’t understand.” But then he went off the rails:
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Reporter: “Are you thinking of trying to use campaign funds to pay some of the penalties?”
Trump: “What penalties?”
Reporter: “In the New York fraud case and the defamation case.”
Trump: “I didn't do anything wrong. I mean, that's been proven as far as I'm concerned.” pic.twitter.com/pmw7AJt4Fh
— Republican Voters Against Trump (@AccountableGOP) January 31, 2024
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After the reporter repeated the question, a confused Trump said “What penalties?” He then went on to claim that he’s been proven innocent (this didn’t happen). Then claimed that the court of appeals has mostly wiped out the penalties against him (this also didn’t happen).
This is beyond surreal. Either Trump is outright hallucinating about appeals court verdicts that never happened (hallucinations can be a symptom of dementia), or Trump’s handlers have told him that he’s won on appeal in an attempt at keeping him calm.
Either way, this points to Donald Trump’s mind being completely gone. He’s either being fed an imaginary positive version of events and he’s swallowing it without questioning it, or he’s hallucinating an imaginary positive version of events.
To be clear, this isn’t a matter of Trump trying to put the best spin on things. If you’ve lost a trial and you want to spin things more positively, you don’t get up and falsely announce that you’ve won on appeal. You might talk about how you intend to win on appeal. But Trump seems to think he’s already appealed and won. He’s collapsing cognitively by the hour.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report