Donald Trump is skipping another GOP primary debate this week and the theories abound as to why. Some paint it as a smart strategy, setting his opponents to take each other apart while he sails into the presidential nomination. Others, including the right-wing editorial board at the Wall Street Journal, have accused Trump of being afraid to debate. But watching clips of some recent Trump speeches, I have a different theory: His team is worried Trump will start talking about how he bested Teddy Roosevelt in a bear-hunting competition, before trouncing the 26th president in the 1904 presidential election.

To be sure, Trump was never playing with a full deck. Never forget when he recommended bleach injections for “cleaning” COVID-19 from lungs. Lately, however, his brain functioning, as impossible as it may be to believe, seems even worse. He appears to believe he’s won every presidential election in the last two decades, instead of that one electoral college-based win against Hillary Clinton in 2016. During a campaign stop in South Carolina, Trump spun out a whole story about defeating a famous military leader named “Bush.”

“When I came here, everyone thought Bush was going to win,” he rambled, saying it was “because Bush supposedly was a military person.” Then he added, “He got us into the, uh, he got us into the Middle East. How did that work out, right?”

Trump did prevail over Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida in the 2016 GOP primary. But he appears to believe he defeated President George W. Bush, Jeb’s older brother, who is actually the guy who “got us into the Middle East,” when he invaded Iraq.

Before bragging about besting two-term winner George W. Bush, Trump gave another speech boasting about his imaginary win against another two-termer, President Barack Obama. “With Obama, we won an election that everyone said couldn’t be won,” he prattled on in a speech in Washington, D.C. last week. In the same speech, he confused Obama with President Joe Biden, and warned that, if he didn’t win in 2024, we would enter “World War II,” which famously ended the year before Trump himself was born.

While Trump, who likes to call Biden “cognitively impaired,” got widely mocked on social media for this, the audience he’s speaking to doesn’t seem to notice their god is brain-farting. That’s because Trump fans, as I’ve written about before, don’t actually listen when Dear Leader is talking. Instead, they wait for him to say buzzwords they can cheer, like “lock her up,” but otherwise they tune him out. After all, MAGA is an authoritarian movement based on tribalist politics. Merit-based systems allow women and people of color to rise up, which is intolerable to the GOP base. What Trump says is not imporant. What they like about him is he’s rich, white, male and a bully.

There’s no way to know from afar what’s going on with Trump. On one hand, he’s 77 years old, and his own father died of Alzheimer’s. On the other hand, Trump’s narcissism has long fueled a willingness to lie shamelessly about his own supposed accomplishments, from making up golf scores even pros can’t achieve to pretending he had a chance with women who hated him to falsifying charitable donations to claiming his inauguration drew crowds it didn’t.

But claiming to have won elections he didn’t run in would be next-level lying, even by Trump standards. Plus, it doesn’t explain really his confusing Biden with Obama, or confusing the two Bush brothers. The likelier explanation is he’s confusing his fantasies with memories. Nor does it explain how his social media presence, which was always ungrammatical and silly, has become even more unhinged and incoherent. Perhaps we’ve all become numb to it, but stepping back, it’s really remarkable that he regularly issues violent threats on Truth Social that get ignored mainly because they’re as incomprehensible as they are terrible.

That the press understands Trump isn’t doing well is evident in the way they all politely ignore him screaming for the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, much like one would smile patiently at a dementia patient yelling invective about long-dead relatives. But of course, this is unbelievably unfair, because the very same press is in an endless hype cycle about “concerns” that Biden, who does not issue grammar-challenged murder threats regularly, is slowing down from age.

“Biden is old” is swiftly turning into one of those self-perpetuating B.S. media cycles that only end up seeming to smear Democrats unfairly, such as “Hillary Clinton’s emails.” First, the press runs a million pieces on this non-story, creating the illusion of controversy where none exists. Then voters start to parrot the “concerns” back in polls, concerns they only have because they’re being told by a 24/7 news cycle to worry about this. Then those polls are used to justify even more coverage of a non-controversy, making sure a candidate is defined by something that was never a real problem.

With Biden, the rejoinder is “but he actually is old!” But of course, so is Trump. Worse, Trump, who is only 3 years younger, is clearly feeling his age a lot more than Biden, who does not forget what elections he ran in or how many world wars there were. Crucially, Biden isn’t displaying the loss of impulse control we see with Trump, whose baseline of self-control was not good to begin with. Trump struggles to get through interviews without confessing to his crimes. Good for prosecutors, but also a reminder that a man who can’t be a passable steward of his own freedom has no business running the country.

As Salon’s Heather “Digby” Parton pointed out on Twitter, the press actually knows they’re treating Biden and Trump very differently, even though the latter is way worse.

Part of this is the same old bothsiderism that has cobbled Beltway journalism for decades. The press exaggerates the flaws of Democrats while minimizing the transgressions of Republicans, in order to create a false sense that the two parties are equal. They do this to seem “fair,” even though it’s the opposite of fair to handicap one party so thoroughly. They also do it for market reasons, because horse race coverage benefits from false equivalence, while giving audiences clear and accurate information would take some of the sport out of it. It gets to downright silly levels the closer elections get: (see article link)

A lot of the double standard is driven by perceptions of what the two voting bases care about. Mainstream journalists believe, with good reason, that Democratic voters care about qualities like intelligence, competence, and mental fitness. They also believe, with good reason, that Republican voters don’t care if their candidates are babbling morons, so long as they a rich, white men. Indeed, being seen as “too” smart can hurt you with the GOP base, which suspiciously eyes intelligence as a gateway drug to rationality. So the Beltway press, in an attempt to be “objective,” ends up covering candidates through these perceived partisan biases. A Democrat saying something wrong or off is “news” because his own party members won’t like it, even if the mistake is inconsequential. Meanwhile, flat-out dumbassery or overt bigotry from Republicans is shrugged off, because of the belief that their base voters don’t care anyway.

And it’s true enough that most Democratic voters care about competence and most Republican voters do not. But that doesn’t excuse the press’s wild double standard on this. For one thing, it’s basic journalistic ethics to report the truth without worrying whether their most loyal voters care. But also, it’s foolish to think that giving audiences greater context doesn’t matter. There are a lot of swing voters, independents, and people who haven’t decided if they’re going to vote yet. Those folks can actually have their opinion shaped by the information they’re taking in. If the media focuses on Biden’s age while ignoring that Trump is worse, a lot of those fairweather citizens may vote in ways they come to regret — or not vote at all.

That’s bad news in any environment, but especially bad considering how much of a threat Trump is to our democracy and the nation’s future. He was bad enough in his first term where he, as much as the media might often forget, attempted a coup. If, as all public signs indicate, his already fragile mental state is getting more disjointed and reckless, that’s terrifying. What may be more dangerous than Trump’s idiocy is that, while he’s always been sociopathically impulsive and evil, he seems to be getting worse in his late 70s. If he gets power again, there’s little that could contain him.

  • Vaggumon@lemm.ee
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    I mean the moron looked directly into the sun during and eclipse. Can’t wait for this fucker to drop dead.

    • Carvex@lemmy.world
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      You’re forgetting that not only did he look, while squinting without protective glasses, twice, at the eclipse, he also pointed at it with arm and finger to aid others in locating the sun.

      • billwashere@lemmy.world
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        Yeah I got banned from r/politics because, I shit you not, someone said “orange is sus” and I responded “Does that mean we can push him outta an airlock?” … I mean really?

        • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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          I got banned from r/politics because when someone posed an article that trump had COVID, I commented-

          “fingers crossed!”

          That’s it. That’s all it took to upset them. The mod even had the audacity to offer to remove it if I apologized. I told them to fuck themselves. Got a permaban and muted.

        • TowardsTheFuture@lemmy.zip
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          I got banned because when it said florida republicans want to return to the 50’s I said good let’s see them die of heat without A/C in florida.

          Obviously so insidious.

      • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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        I was checking on reddit, found a story about Feinstein’s death, and apparently you’re not even allowed to say you’re indifferent to someone’s death from natural causes now.

        It’s frankly absurd.

          • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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            I assume the classic JFK quote about those who make peaceful revolution impossible, making violent revolution inevitable would also get you banned.

            Protected free speech, even outside the US, and simply a fact.

            What a shithole that site was. I’m sad I wasted so many years on it.

        • squiblet@kbin.social
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          People like Richard Stallman, it’s okay to talk massive shit about him for decades and then oh, he’s sick now… BE RESPECTFUL.

          • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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            He’s the guy who defended paedophilia and basically admitted to being attracted to adolescents, isn’t he?

            Fuck that guy.

            • grue@lemmy.world
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              No, he did no such thing. You’ve fallen for lies told by people engaging in character assassination.

              • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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                In September 2006, Stallman wrote, “I am skeptical of the claim that voluntarily [sic] pedophilia harms children. The arguments that it causes harm seem to be based on cases which aren’t voluntary, which are then stretched by parents who are horrified by the idea that their little baby is maturing.” … In September 2018, Stallman again attracted controversy when he wrote on his website, “However, it is normal for adults to be physically attracted to adolescents”, in a defense of convicted sex offender Cody Wilson. … In the thread, discussion had turned to deceased MIT professor Marvin Minsky, who was named by Virginia Giuffre as one of the people that Epstein had directed her to have sex with. Giuffre, a minor at the time, had been caught in Epstein’s underage sex trafficking ring. In response to a comment where one reply stated that Minsky “is accused of assaulting one of Epstein’s victims”, Stallman questioned whether the word “assault” was applicable in that case, arguing that “the most plausible scenario is that she presented herself to him as entirely willing.” …

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman#Controversies

    • hansl@lemmy.world
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      Can’t wait for this fucker to drop dead.

      If I had the choice I’d rather we build something where no one like him would ever hold public office ever again, and him living in the 200 years. I don’t care about his miserable little life nor person. Fix the loopholes so the rest of us improves.

      He is and always had been a symptom of a deeper problem with American culture.

      I don’t know why so many people are celebrating deaths here (cf Feinstein’s death). It’s bizarre and macabre.

  • worldwidewave@lemmy.world
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    He’s run for president twice and can’t remember who he ran against either time. If you’re looking for the senile candidate, look no further.

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        And his base reads into his incoherent ramblings for hidden meanings, like a profit. They are as sick as he is.

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          You and I know that. But to them Biden is the one with dementia. It’s so incomprehensible and infuriating I have to laugh (or else go insane).

          It is utterly baffling to me now people can go through life not giving the slightest shit about what is real or bullshit.

          • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
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            Biden can talk coherently and on topic and make good points for 45 minutes straight, but if he stumbles over a couple words, right wing media will make a big deal about that and act like it’s all he said. Meanwhile, they just repeat “Biden so old, Biden senile” over and over again until it’s drummed into the right-wing brains thoroughly. It’s pretty annoying that their last president passed a dementia test and seemed to think it was an IQ test, bragged about how doctors could barely even believe how good he was at it… still voting for this guy… and then they insist “Biden doesn’t even know what room he’s in!!”.

            • PizzasDontWearCapes@sh.itjust.works
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              And let’s not forget that they love to post the video of Biden getting his foot caught in his bike’s toe clip and falling.

              This guy is 80 years old and not just riding a bike, but using toe clips while doing it

              I would pay actual money to see Trump try that

              • agent_flounder
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                Remember when Trump couldn’t walk down a slight incline by himself?

              • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
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                Yeah, just the fact that he’s biking at all is pretty good for his age. But just like his public speaking, they highlight the 1-2 times he screws up in a speech, repeat it endlessly, and ignore the rest.

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    President Drink Bleach

    That’s actually giving him a step up - he wanted people to inject it, not drink.

    Unfortunately he’s not the type to lead by example.

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      The whole thing was, if possible, even dumber than people think.

      Can’t find the video any longer, all you can see now is Trump on the podium saying stupid shit, you miss the context.

      Trump’s taking the stage, ill prepared as always, when he stops for a few moments to read a CDC infographic on ways to sterilize surfaces. Then he just turns on his mouth and lets it run.

      God help me, there’s nothing more I can add to illustrate how idiotic it all was.

  • MagicShel@programming.dev
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    Indeed, being seen as “too” smart can hurt you with the GOP base, which suspiciously eyes intelligence as a gateway drug to rationality.

    This is an epic quote. Succinct, biting, and true. When I was growing up, the left was demonized for putting feelings over facts, but now the shoe is in the other foot. “Don’t confuse us with facts,” is clearly the sentiment of the Trumpet base.

  • HWK_290@lemmy.world
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    Then voters start to parrot the “concerns” back in polls, concerns they only have because they’re being told by a 24/7 news cycle to worry about this.

    This

  • The Barto@sh.itjust.works
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    I think he might actually be starting to crack under pressure, he’s been saying some weird shit for him to say lately, and he says some weird shit as it is.

    • WHYAREWEALLCAPS@lemmy.world
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      Ever since 2016 I’ve been saying he has dementia. He ticked enough boxes for symptoms that I was and am now even more convinced he has dementia.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        Agreed. People should have a look at old videos of him in interviews. He could string coherent thoughts together.

        What’s really stunning is reading a speech transcript. When you listen all you hear is, “bla, bla, bla”. Reading it is a whole 'nother experience. Fragmented, incoherent, rambling, frightening.

        Don’t take my word for it folks! Give it a try yourself.

        • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
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          Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you’re a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible.

  • mateomaui@reddthat.com
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    Obama essentially single-handedly made Trump do all this because Trump couldn’t handle a joke at his expense. Trump got voted out, including by fed up members of his own party, and somehow Trump has beaten Obama in any way whatsoever? LOL

    edit: also hard to believe he’s beaten GWB in any way considering how many people were like “wow GWB seems kinda reasonable in hindsight now”

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      This is truly an important part of American history we should all watch. Plus, it’s hilarious.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHckZCxdRkA

      Trump was in narcissist hell there. Trapped, literally nothing he could do but grit his teeth. Keep in mind, a narcissist is literally incapable of self deprecation, unable to even pretend. Probably hadn’t been so impotently humiliated since his school days. Those 5 minutes changed history.

  • Gargleblaster@kbin.social
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    The alternative explanation here is that he’s doing this because he’s planning to claim that he’s mentally unfit for prison.

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    The dude is about to be tried in 3 different criminal courts with very slim chances of success.

    It’s real interesting that suddenly he’s losing his marbles.

    Coincidence probably.

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    The question is whether Trump can beat ALL 91 felony indictments. Trump may get 4 more years, and another 4 more years, repeated 90 more times. Other claims, easily disproven, are smoke and mirrors.

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      That still doesn’t preclude him from serving as President. Federal charges would have to end in conviction before he’s potentially elected or he’ll just pardon himself.

      Also, one trumper on a jury is all it takes for him to escape justice. I doubt he’ll be convicted. Unfortunately.

  • flossdaily@lemmy.world
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    He was always a moron, from a very young age. If his daddy hadn’t given him money, Trump would be nowhere. He’d be the dumbest, laziest guy in some prison somewhere as a repeat offender with a history of fraud.