During speech, Donald Trump confused 9/11 with “7-Eleven”
September 11th marks a solemn and historical moment in American history, and it always will. The attack, the tragedy, and the fallout are so firmly etched in the minds of the public that the phrase “9/11” has become a fundamental part of the lexicon. That is, unless you’re Donald Trump – who seems to think that 9/11 is actually 7-Eleven. This isn’t a joke. We wish it were.
Well, Donald Trump is a joke. But today is an appropriate time to take a look back at a moment during the campaign when we first began seeing the signs that Trump was declining into some sort of senility or mental incompetence. In this video from a campaign speech, Trump actually refers to 9/11 as “7-Eleven” – you can watch it below:
At the time it seemed like perhaps a one-off flub, the kind he shouldn’t have made, but perhaps just a sign of how bored he’d become with his own meandering campaign speeches. In the time since, particularly over the past few months, we’ve seen more and more of this. It’s not simply that he misspeaks; it’s that he suddenly appears mid-sentence to have no idea where he’s at, or whom he’s speaking to, or what he’s doing. He invents words to fill the gaps. He routinely gets confused and wanders off in the middle of his own press conferences and bill signings. He’s declining rapidly.
So yeah, it was significant back when Donald Trump said “7-Eleven” instead of “9/11” during that campaign speech. At the time we thought he was just being his inept and incompetent self. In hindsight, he was already in cognitive decline. Not only is it getting worse, it’s accelerating. So even as we take this day to honor those we lost on 9/11 and to take pride in all that’s right about America, let’s not forget that we’re now once again facing one of our greatest challenges: the individual in the Oval Office.
