Trump's Cognitive Decline is Causing Problems

I have written multiple posts arguing that cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has suffered serious cognitive decline. The problem with such posts is that as soon as they are posted, they become out-of-date because Trump continues to provide additional evidence of his neurological deterioration. In the past few days, Trump has shown a nearly complete disconnection from reality and clearly allowed his cognitive state to interfere in public policy. To put it clearly, Trump's mental decline is having a negative impact on the United States.

Trump's cognitive decline and disconnection from reality is frequently demonstrated through his posts on his Truth Social social media network. In recent days, there have been multiple examples of such posts. For instance, on October 24, Trump wrote:

Just in: Documents show conclusively that Christopher Wray, Deranged Jack Smith, Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, and other crooked lowlifes from the failed Biden Administration, signed off on Operation Arctic Frost. They spied on Senators and Congressmen/women, and even taped their calls. They cheated and rigged the 2020 Presidential Election. These Radical Left Lunatics should be prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior!

The most serious allegation made by Trump is that former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, former Special Counsel, Jack Smith, former Attorney General, Merrick Garland, former United States Deputy Attorney General, Lisa Monaco, and others rigged the 2020 Presidential Election. This allegation is also the most obvious evidence that Trump has lost connection to reality. In 2020, Wray was serving as Trump's handpicked replacement for James Comey as FBI director. Smith was serving in The Hague in the Netherlands as a war crimes prosecutor. Garland was an U.S. appeals court judge, and Monaco was practicing law at the firm of O'Melveny & Myers. They could not have rigged the 2020 election, which took place when Trump himself was President. Trump even implies that "the failed Biden Administration" was involved in rigging the election, but that administration, failed or otherwise, did not exist until January 2021, which, for those of you unfamiliar with linear time, was after the election.

What Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) calls the Arctic Frost investigation did not occur before the election. Rather, it was part of Smith's special counsel investigation into the January 6, 2021, insurrection. Smith was appointed to the position in November 2022. Which, again, was well after the 2020 election. It has long been known that Trump made several calls to the U.S. senators and other elected officials during the violent attacks on the Capitol Building. However, the House of Representatives Select Committee that investigated the insurrection discovered a seven-hour gap in White House phone records during the violence. This suggests that Trump used so-called "burner phones" that were hidden from investigators. As part of the investigation into January 6, investigators were interested in identifying phone numbers used by Trump. Therefore, the FBI obtained "tolling records" of the phones of 8 Senators and one Representative who Trump is known to have contacted. Toll records are not phone taps and provide no information about the content of a call. Rather, they contain the initiating and receiving phone numbers, the time and date of the call, and its duration. The FBI is authorized to make such requests by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, for which, ironically, Grassley voted in favor.

In summary, Trump confused time such that he believes that an investigation that occurred years after the 2020 election was an effort to rig that election. He further misrepresents telephone toll records as phone taps. Furthermore, Trump wants to prosecute former public officials who took perfectly legal steps. This is not the behavior of someone fully in command of his cognitive abilities.

A second example is another post on Truth Social the same day. In this one, Trump wrote:

CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY. Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country. Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer. Thank you to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for exposing this FRAUD. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!

The background to this temper tantrum is that the Province of Ontario — not the government of Canada — produced an advertisement that did nothing but feature an excerpt of a 1987 radio address by Ronald Reagan in which he strongly criticized tariffs. In the full broadcast, Reagan discussed tariffs that he was placing on Japan, but the primary message was that he regretted that it was necessary to take that step and that he believed that tariffs "hurt every American worker and consumer." Trump is quite obviously wrong in almost every part of his post. Canada didn't cheat. The Province of Ontario legally and appropriately produced an advertisement. Reagan certainly did not love tariffs as anyone listening to the full address would understand. Ontario was less likely trying to influence the Supreme Court, but rather American voters. Trump, however, simply does not have the cognitive abilities to distinguish fact from fiction or reality from fantasy.

Trump returned to the topic of Canada and the advertisement on Saturday with another Truth Social post that said:

Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs. The Reagan Foundation said that they, “created an ad campaign using selective audio and video of President Ronald Reagan. The ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address,” and “did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute is reviewing its legal options in this matter.” The sole purpose of this FRAUD was Canada’s hope that the United States Supreme Court will come to their “rescue” on Tariffs that they have used for years to hurt the United States. Now the United States is able to defend itself against high and overbearing Canadian Tariffs (and those from the rest of the World as well!). Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy, but Canada said he didn’t! Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD. Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

I can't explain the behavior of the Reagan Foundation, and the foundation itself has not clearly explained what it believes was wrong with Ontario's advertisement. It has said that the audio is selectively edited, but that does not appear to be the case. Trump, for his part, basically repeated the same falsehoods that were in his earlier post. However, he went on to say that he would place an additional 10% tariff on Canada. Trump apparently does not have the wherewithal to listen to Reagan's original address — which was only 5 minutes long — and decide for himself whether the ad is accurate. Nor does Trump appear to have any advisors willing to tell him the truth. But now trade relations with Canada are potentially being disrupted because Trump is angry about something he simply misunderstands.

Today, Trump repeated much of what was in his Truth Social post, but then refused to say when the new tariff would be introduced and cut discussion of the topic off, saying, "But I really don't want to discuss it." Potentially, therefore, this will be another example of "TACO" or Trump Always Chickens Out. Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs only to back down before they take effect. This further illustrates Trump's erratic behavior that is a symptom of neurological decline.

Last week Trump was asked about the pardon that he had given the previous day to the founder of Binance, a cryptocurrency firm with whom Trump does considerable business. Trump was unsure about whom the reporter was talking, saying "I do pardon a lot of people." So we apparently have a president who is handing out pardons in such a cavalier manner that he can't remember to whom they have been given.

Also last week following Trump's unilateral decision to completely demolish the East Wing of the White House in order to make way for a ballroom, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that “at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the president's main priority." Leavitt appeared to be referring to Trump's priority among potential construction projects, but the statement could easily reflect Trump's general interests as well. According to CNN, Trump has been holding weekly meetings about the ballroom project and is involved in making decisions about details of the building. Trump even brought up the ballroom project during a meeting with the Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte.

The result of Trump being fixated on topics such as the 2020 election, a new ballroom, and tariffs is that he is ignoring other more important issues. While Trump is tied up in meetings about the ballroom, the operation of government is being left to others. World-class hater Stephen Miller is running the deportation effort and militarizing American cities. Miller is acting as little more than a tin-pot dictator, wrongly telling federal agents that they are immune from state laws and seeking ever greater federal control over majority Democratic areas. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears to be single-handedly implementing a foreign policy that is completely contrary to MAGA principles. While Trump has generally opposed regime change, a fundamental MAGA position, Rubio is leading us toward regime change intervention in Venezuela. The U.S. has conducted multiple bombings of boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing unidentified individuals accused of being drug smugglers. This is the sort of interventionist policy to which Trump has normally been opposed. It is exactly the sort of neo-conservative policy that most MAGAs despise. Economic policy has been left to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. His main priority has been to bail out Argentina to the tune of $20 million in U.S. taxpayers' money. While U.S. soybean farmers have been unable to sell a single bean to China, Bessent's policy allowed Argentina to make massive sales of its own soybeans to China. Now, Bessent wants to import beef from Argentina to compete with U.S.-produced beef. While these policies hurt U.S. farmers, they have served the interests of Bessent's hedge fund buddies who have huge bets on Argentina. Trump, whose mind clearly no longer fully functions, has essentially been put out to pasture while others run the show, often in ways contrary to Trump's professed values.

Trump no longer has the cognitive capacity to serve as president. He is unable to consistently distinguish fact from fiction. He obsesses over meaningless issues and makes erratic moves. He seems to seriously believe that actions that took place in 2022 impacted an election that was held in 2020. While he is busy playing with models of his ballroom, his underlings are running amok, implementing policies that are harmful to America and contrary to MAGA philosophy. Intervention is necessary, but those in the best position to intervene are clearly benefiting from the situation. This does not bode well for the future.