We expect lies from Trump, of course.
We expect him to take credit for the stock market when it's going up — even when he's out of office — and to blame Biden for the stock market when his own stupidity sends it crashing down.
But this week, there were several moments where it was impossible to know for sure where Donald Trump's ridiculous lies ended and his dangerous delusions began.
According to Seth Meyers, "you can see Trump's brain deteriorating in real time," in his garbled responses to questions lobbed at him by reporters on Air Force One.
In the same segment, Meyers read aloud a segment of the transcript from Trump's "100 days" interview with TIME Magazine that, said Meyers, read like "a Vaudeville routine":
In the span of maybe 30 seconds, Trump claims that Biden would never do the same interview, finds out Biden did do the same interview, asks how Biden did in that interview, claims he saw the interview he didn't know Biden did, and said Biden did badly in the interview he said Biden never would do.
That was crazy enough
But when Trump sat down with ABC News correspondent Terry Moran in the Oval Office for a televised "first 100 days" interview, he went completely bonkers.
Just consider this transcript of a nearly four-minute portion of that interview, where Trump refuses to concede that the photoshopped picture he has shared repeatedly on social media of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's alleged "gang tattoos" was not just photoshopped, but photoshopped so amateurishly that The Verge called it "'drag-and-drop MS Paint text box'-level stuff."
TERRY MORAN: Alright. Well, let me ask about one man and one court order. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He's the Salvadoran man who crossed into this country illegally but who is under a protective order that he not be sent back to El Salvador. Your government sent him back to El Salvador and acknowledged in court that was a mistake. And now the Supreme Court has upheld an order that you must return him to the – facilitate his return to the United States. What are you doing to comply?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, the lawyer that said it was a mistake was here a long time, was not appointed by us -- should not have said that, should not have said that. And just so you understand --
MORAN: Said it in court. Said it in court --
TRUMP: – the person that you're talkin' about, you know, you're makin' this person sound – this is a MS-13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife, and the wife was petrified to even talk about him, okay? This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland --
MORAN: I'm not saying he's a good guy. It's about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands, sir --
TRUMP: He came into our country illegally.
MORAN: You could get him back. There's a phone on this desk.
TRUMP: I could.
MORAN: You could pick it up, and with all --
TRUMP: I could
MORAN: – the power of the presidency, you could call up the president of El Salvador and say, "Send him back," right now.
TRUMP: And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that.
MORAN: But the court has ordered you --
TRUMP: But he's not.
MORAN: – to facilitate that – his release--
TRUMP: I'm not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don't want --
MORAN: You're the president.
TRUMP: – to do this, Terry --
MORAN: Yeah, but the – but the buck stops in this office --
TRUMP: I – no, no, no, no. I follow the law. You want me to follow the law. If I were the president that just wanted to do anything, I'd probably keep him right where he is --
MORAN: The Supreme Court says what the law is.
TRUMP: Listen. I was elected to take care of a problem that was – it was – a, a unforced error that was made by a very incompetent man, a man that turned out to be incompetent that you always said was wonderful, a great genius, right? And now you find out – all of the media, now they're saying what a mistake they made. A man who was grossly incompetent allowed us to have open borders where millions of people flowed in --
MORAN: Alright.
TRUMP: I campaigned on that issue. I wouldn't say it was my number one issue, but it was pretty close.
MORAN: Right up there.
TRUMP: I campaigned on that issue. I've done an amazing job. I have closed borders. He said you couldn't do it, you wouldn't be able to do it, it would never happen. Well, it happened. And it happened --
MORAN: Alright.
TRUMP: – very quickly. Wait a minute. When we have criminals, murderers, criminals in this country, we have to get 'em out. And we're doing it.
MORAN: By law --
TRUMP: And you'll pick out one man, but even the man that you picked out --
MORAN: He's got --
TRUMP: – he said he'd – wasn't a member of a gang. And then they looked, and --
MORAN: Alright.
TRUMP: On his knuckles – he had MS-13 --
MORAN: Alright. There's dis – there's a dispute over that --
TRUMP: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. He had MS-13 --
MORAN: Well --
TRUMP: – on his knuckles tattooed.
MORAN: – he – he – he – it didn't say– oh, he had some tattoos that are inper – interpreted that way. But let's move on
TRUMP: Wait a minute.
MORAN: I want --
TRUMP: Hey, Terry. Terry. Terry.
MORAN: He – he did not have the letter --
TRUMP: Don't do that – M-S-1-3 – It says M-S-one-three.
MORAN: I – that was Photoshop. So let me just--
TRUMP: That was Photoshop? Terry, you can't do that – he had -— he– hey, they're givin' you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you're doin' the interview. I picked you because – frankly I never heard of you, but that's okay --
MORAN: This – I knew this would come --
TRUMP: But I picked you – Terry – but you're not being very nice. He had MS-13 tattooed --
MORAN: Alright. Alright. We'll agree to disagree. I want to move on --
TRUMP: Terry.
MORAN: – to something else.
TRUMP: Terry. Do you want me to show the picture?
MORAN: I saw the picture. We'll – we'll – we'll agree to disagree --
TRUMP: Oh, and you think it was Photoshop. Well --
MORAN: Here we go. Here we go.
TRUMP: – don't Photoshop it. Go look --
MORAN: Alright.
TRUMP: – at his hand. He had MS-13 --
MORAN: Fair enough, he did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way. I'm not an expert on them.
I want to turn to Ukraine, sir --
TRUMP: No, no. Terry --
MORAN: I– I want to get to Ukraine--
TRUMP: Terry, no, no. No, no. He had MS as clear as you can be. Not "interpreted." This is why people --
MORAN: Alright.
TRUMP: – no longer believe --
MORAN: Well.
TRUMP: – the news, because it's fake news --
MORAN: When he was photographed in El Sal – in– in El Salvador, they aren't there. But let's just go on --
TRUMP: He is --
MORAN: They aren't there when he's in El Salvador.
TRUMP: --there – oh, oh, they weren't there --
MORAN: Take a look at the photograph --
TRUMP: But they're there now, right?
MORAN: No. What --
TRUMP: But they're there now?
MORAN: They're in your picture.
TRUMP: Terry.
MORAN: Ukraine, sir.
TRUMP: He's got MS-13 on his knuckles.
MORAN: Alright. I --
TRUMP: Okay?
MORAN: – we'll – we'll take a look at it --
TRUMP: It's – it's – you do such a disservice --
MORAN: We'll take a look. We'll take a look at that, sir --
TRUMP: Why don't you just say, "Yes, he does," and, you know, go on to something else --
It's bad enough that the world's most powerful man — the man we've trusted once again with the nuclear codes — would share such obvious and easily fact-checked misinformation on social media. Worse, still, that he would spend 10% of a highly publicized TV interview refusing to either acknowledge reality or move on from the topic.
But watching that part of the interview — and reading the transcript — leads to an even more disturbing conclusion... Could it be that this aging, mentally feeble, Fox News-obsessive actually thinks the fake picture he shared is real? And that there's no one in his inner circle capable of telling him how completely his ridiculous claim has been debunked?
Not for the first time, the delusions of Donald Trump are causing smart people to question his sanity.
If this continues, he'll be practically daring JD Vance to do what Trump said a Vice President must do at times like this — invoke the 25th Amendment.
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Further reading:
Trump’s Damaged Brain
Is it the drugs? Or dementia? It’s time to get serious about Trump’s mental deterioration.
Richard Hine
What Causes Dementia?
The lifestyle changes Trump could have made to reduce his risk of Alzheimer’s—but didn’t.
Richard Hine
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