"Rambling, Confused, Disjointed, Parading His Grievances With Barely A Wave From Afar At Coherence ... We Have Zoomed Past Embarrassing And Into Territory That Is Genuinely Frightening"

Another perspective on Donald Trump's performance art two days ago in the Rose Garden:

Charkes Sykes, The Bulwark, July 14, 2020:

Elder Abuse at the White House
Tuesday's Rose Garden press conference was . . . something else.

What did we just see? And who thought this would be a good idea?

Donald Trump is sinking in the polls, failing spectacularly at the worst crisis of his presidency, dogged by recurring scandal, betrayed by his closest aides and family members.

And amazingly, in the midst of this, someone suggested he give this press conference.



Summaries do not suffice.

The president of the United States, ladies and gentlemen, was in full Mad King mode, rambling, confused, disjointed, parading his grievances with barely a wave from afar at coherence. It was as if a hive of buzzwords exploded in his head: statues, boats, vandalism, socialism, suburbs.

It is hard to write this display without using the word "impaired." Because it wasn't just the disjointed word salad. It was the delivery. Trump was somnolent, as if he'd pulled an all-nighter watching Fox & Friends or maybe his VCR tapes of Shark Week. ...

The Rose Garden event was ostensibly about China, but quickly disintegrated into something between one of his improvisational stump performances, a stream of broken consciousness, and a rambling oppo dump. Perhaps the president really misses campaign rallies. Or maybe he just got confused.

Someone on his staff gave him a summary of horrible things that he might someday be able to craft into a campaign attack on Joe Biden . . . and so he just stood there and read the whole thing. ...

We have zoomed past embarrassing and into territory that is genuinely alarming.

There was no reassurance that Trump was on the case; no sense of either empathy or a plan. ...

The Trump campaign has signaled that they intend to spend a few hundred million dollars talking about the cognitive decline of Joe Biden.

Good luck with that.

Folks, the president is unwell. pic.twitter.com/qet3rx1tsK

— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) July 15, 2020

“Trump looked like he was under the weather and sounded defeated, worn out and wobbly it was hard to understand and challenging for people to follow his train of thought. Trump's all-over-the-place Rose Garden speech led to the hashtag #Trumpisnotwell https://t.co/d9fVCABMRm

— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) July 15, 2020

Rarely do I see Anderson Cooper absolutely lost in trying to comprehend THAT rally in the Rose Garden tonight. #TrumpIsNotWell pic.twitter.com/eBfg1pl2wS

— Garren Bellew (@garrenbellew) July 15, 2020

"No. We are down to Kool-Aid drinkers and next of kin," said @acosta in response to question from @andersoncooper about whether there is anyone in the White House who could tell the President to not say/do what he did today. 🤭

— Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) July 15, 2020

"Thumbs up. Orange. Grinning like he won a prize," says @andersoncooper on Pres. Trump's Goya photo.

"137,000 Americans dead and this is our self-proclaimed wartime President's answer to it." pic.twitter.com/aVeFJU5NmL

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) July 16, 2020

CNN hammers on Trump for his willful deliberate ignorance! Bullshit! pic.twitter.com/XF35ravhDE

— Elric the Damned (@FettGeo) July 16, 2020

CNN Nails It: Trump Is Malfunctioning and the GOP Cannot Save Him https://t.co/224r9aaqEs

— #TuckFrump (@realTuckFrumper) July 16, 2020

Someone needs to retake that cognitive test

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) July 14, 2020

Vive la Résistance!#BastilleDay

— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) July 14, 2020