The Emperor Has No Clue

Hello, mainstream media, anybody home?

I’m likely not the first to say it, but still, despite an unending cycle of mainstream reporting and analysis, there is not a single major news outlet making top news out of what should be top news — Donald J. Trump is losing his marbles, rapidly, right before our eyes. Sure, there are ongoing references by outlying, so far mostly left-leaning outlets, to the numerous, almost daily cognitive breakdowns by Trump. But the story still hasn’t become mainstream.

Is it because we are already accustomed to the hourly dose of public nastiness that the orange one excels at? I’m not talking about that behavior. I’m referring to the speech pattern associated with his thinking pattern, which together offer compelling evidence of significant and rapid mental decline. Not just the occasional mid-sentence pause that one might expect from almost any almost-octogenarian — this is more like the sad babbling of a dementia patient, an other-worldly word salad, served up by an increasingly confused narcissist.

There are numerous examples of this, not the least of which is Trump’s recent (and still uncorrected) mixing up of Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, or his previous confusion over Biden and Obama. In case you’ve been missing out, here are a few more recent reminders of the mental state of Mr. MAGA:

"Over the seas and it comes right over our land. And then they want us to have clean. I said wait a minute, we're gonna have clean but it's all flying. Just remember that. Does that make sense? In other words, it's all coming through the currents through the air. It all comes. You can, they can name it, they can say exactly where it's going to be and when.”

“We’re…going to place strong protections to stop banks and regulators from trying to debank you from your—you know, your political beliefs, what they do. They want to debank you, and we’re going to debank—think of this. They want to take away your rights. They want to take away your country. The things they’re doing. All electric cars.”

"When the magnetic elevators -- think of it -- magnets. Now, all I know about magnets is this: Give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that's the end of the magnets”

Trump repeatedly brags about his performance on cognitive tests, taking great pride in being able to distinguish the contours of an elephant or a giraffe, while also “remembering” the outline of a whale, which the test designers confirm was never a shape included in the cognitive test that Trump claims he “aced” in the first place.

It’s not so much that the news media has completely ignored Trump’s alarming speech pattern and its related behavior. They’ve obviously reported on the state of confusion at least once. But that’s about it. The Emperor is losing it? Oh well, on to the next story about the 2024 election. While Trump’s oratory style is clearly limited in all sorts of traditional ways, and has been for some time, his more recent commentary sound and read like literal gibberish. Should’t this be taken seriously by someone, some newsroom, some editor’s desk somewhere in mainstream news-land? Does this not matter?

Trump wisely refused to participate in the GOP debates, but not because he didn’t need to, thanks (his people say) to his consistently strong poll numbers among the MAGA base. That explanation is effective cover for the fact that the brain of Trump in 2024 is not the same as the brain of Trump in 2016, when he first ran for President. Trump today would get his clock cleaned in any real debate where actual issues are addressed, and comments must, at very least, pass as coherent.

Back in 2016, as lumbering as he was on the debate stage, his performances seemed at least somewhat cogent. Today, Trump can barely eek out two coherent sentences in a row, let alone relate them to each other. He knew he would be incapable of holding his own in any real debate that requires anything beyond his well-rehearsed schtick. He and his keepers knew that his declining mental state would be obvious to viewers in any “live” debate setting. He couldn’t take a chance facing the likes of Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, or any the other members of the evil-clown-car brigade who might dare oppose their Orange Jesus publicly. So, he simply avoided the debates altogether, declaring his polling lead as the only explanation required.

Obviously, Trump can riff ad ad-nauseam in front of his rally attendees, repeating tired themes and doing his best to bring out the worst in people. And it doesn’t really bother Trump’s audience when what he says makes absolutely no sense at all. His devoted followers (which, worth noting, barely make up 8% of all registered voters) may even doubt their own intellect for not understanding the wise utterances of their messiah. He delivers the goods that they want to hear, and they will take his drivel on faith. But for most other people, it sure seems like Trump is quickly slipping into dementia, or whatever it would be called if any other human being spoke and acted like he does.

In the view of the real movers and shakers of the new American fascist-fest, it ultimately doesn’t matter if Trump goes completely off his rocker. Just as long as he does so after the election, which he must win at all costs. Because if he wins, it means that fascism can completely come out of the closet. Project 2025 is on its way! The likes of the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation can pop the champagne!

So, as the presidential campaign continues to unfold, self-proclaimed “Dictator on Day-One” will playing his part, as he always does, assuming he’s not in prison or fleeing capture. But in this dark (yet still preventable) scenario, post-election, the forces that Trump has unleashed plan on presiding with or without him. He just has to win (or at least claim he won, again). After that, he will have served his purpose. The dogs will have been released. Trump will continue to keep the media’s eyes focused on his vile and dangerous behaviors, while a legion of new anti-democracy laws, policies and appointments are put in place by those who have waited patiently in the shadows, ready to create a new fascist infrastructure to replace the democracy we once knew and loved.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.

If there was any shred of self-respect left in the Republican party, the majority of its members would go on record with the observation that it is a national security threat of highest order to allow someone with significantly compromised cognitive abilities to occupy the highest office in the land, especially someone who is also a malignant narcissist with a record of uncontrollable behaviors. They would offer up an alternative. Yet, that’s not what’s happening in the GOP or within mainstream news media. The closest we’ve come is a recent last-ditch Hail-Mary by Nikki Haley, declaring Trump “not as sharp” as he “used to be,” and a reference to his “cognitive decline.” Both honest and opportunistic, yet a far cry from the GOP distancing itself from the babbling beast.

Instead, in a Herculean show of cynicism, what used to be the Republican party continues to inflict upon the country a sick sideshow on steroids, knowing full well how irresponsible and dangerous that strategy is. And our mainstream news media supports this, through its nonchalant, only occasional mention of Trump’s declining cognition, ignoring the risks that it presents. It implies that this is simply not an important enough story to warrant continued, “top of the news” coverage. Certainly not as important as reprinting Trump’s tweets every time he pinches one off.

The media has no greater responsibility than to keep calling out what should the top news story of the campaign. The story is pretty clear — the Emperor has no clue. Does our mainstream news media really have no interest?

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(To participate in extended discussion, this article also appears on my Daily Kos page)