Former President Trump’s version of a presidential campaign is to belittle, berate and ridicule others with childish insults and name calling. He has described Vice President Harris as “a communist,” “crazy,” “fake,” “not a smart person,” and as someone who recently “happened to turn Black.” After an hour of disparaging remarks at a recent news conference, former President Trump said, “I think I’m entitled to personal attacks.”
Informed voters need to read former President Trump’s social media posts on his own Truth Social and transcripts of his speeches, including his two-hour conversation on X with its owner Elon Musk. A recent example is this quote from his speech in North Carolina, which was billed as Trump’s “economic manifesto.” (The New Yorker, Aug. 15)
The former president said, “This is talking about a thing called the economy. I wanted to do a speech about the economy. A lot of people are very devastated [by] what’s happened with inflation and all the other things. So we are doing this as an intellectual speech. We are all intellectuals today. Today we are doing it. And we are doing it right now. And it’s very important. They say it is the most important subject. I think crime is right there. I think the border is right there, personally. We have a lot of important subjects. . . . They say it is the most important subject. I am not sure it is. . . . Inflation is the most important. But that is part of the economy.”
Former President Trump’s garbled, sometimes incomprehensible speeches are not the rants of a normal person. Exacerbated by his advanced age, his inability to focus and stay on subject and his loss of mental acuity are all obvious signs of cognitive decline. It’s more than weird.
Chad Mullins, Salt Lake City
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