Donald Trump suggested Melania wasn’t in attendance at an event. She was standing next to him.

| 2:54 pm EDT September 22, 2017
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Was Donald Trump merely guilty of incoherent phrasing, or did he honestly believe his wife wasn’t in attendance while she was standing next to him? That’s the question after Trump gave a speech to a crowd which saw him flanked by Mike Pence on his right and Melania Trump on his left, even as he explained that Melania “really wanted to be here.”

The manner in which Trump said the phrase has led numerous people across social media to conclude that he truly wasn’t aware that his wife had made the trip, and that he was explaining why she wasn’t in attendance. You can watch the video below and decide for yourself (link):

The trouble here is that Donald Trump has been suffering from mental lapses with increasing frequency and severity. Just last week, after Melania Trump introduced him during a speech, he walked up and coldly shook hands with her, as if he didn’t recognize his own wife. Now he’s made the kind of reference which has given at least some people the impression that he wasn’t aware his wife was standing next to him, and instead believed she had stayed home. The trouble here is that it’s part of a larger pattern.

This comes on top of Trump’s other various mental lapses. When not using a teleprompter, he seems unable to put together a coherent sentence. He’s blankly wandered off in the middle of his own bill signings and joint press conferences. He’s failed to recognize his own motorcade. Now, more recently, Trump appears to be struggling to recognize his own wife.