The beginning of the end is upon us
It feels like I’ve been talking about Donald Trump’s declining cognitive abilities for too long. But it really is the political story of 2024. It’s an even bigger deal than Trump’s felony conviction, I think. It’s one thing to vote for a criminal who promises to steer the country in your preferred political direction. It’s another thing to vote for someone who’s so deep into dementia he can’t function.
The question all along has been when the media would stop soft-pedaling Trump’s cognitive decline, and start calling it out as bluntly as it deserves to be called out. Of course the trouble is that once the media fully goes there, it’s all over for everyone. Once the story on Trump is that he’s fully senile, he’ll be finished politically, and then the media won’t be able to keep getting ratings out of its “We’re all doomed because he’s going to win” narratives.
But even the media was going to have to budge eventually. Trump’s “position” on the environment is that he’d rather get electrocuted than eaten by a shark. His “position” on the military is that tanks are towing batteries behind them like wagons. His “position” on January 6th is that Speaker of the House Nikki Haley should have done something about it. His “position” on the 2024 election is that Barack Obama is the current President. With Trump this laughably far gone, the media knows it can’t retain any credibility by pretending it’s not happening. And so now we’re seeing the media finally start to acknowledge it.
The Washington Post recently ran an op-ed suggesting that Trump has dementia. MSNBC has begun doing lengthy segments about Trump’s cognitive collapse. Over the weekend the Associated Press ran a headline about how Trump didn’t know the name of the doctor who conducted his cognitive test. It’s finally, dare I say it… happening?
I still think the media on the whole is going to be inclined to downplay Trump’s dementia at least a little bit, if only to keep the ratings suspense going. But when Trump either shows up to the first presidential debate next week and gives a fully senile performance, or uses an absurd excuse to cancel at the last minute, the media is going to have to acknowledge that this guy is simply too senile to be running for anything.
So much of political activism involves waiting for the media to do its job, or trying to pressure the media into doing its job. That’s unfortunate. But when it comes to Trump’s dementia, it’s good to see that it’s finally starting to happen. Trump’s dementia can end him politically faster than anything else.
