Don’t expect traditional news media to report his cognitive decline
If you’re expecting traditional news sources to keep the public abreast of the content and frequency of President Donald J. Trump’s mental lapses, you’re bound to be disappointed.
Perhaps the most anomalous this week happened Tuesday in Pittsburgh at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation event hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA).
Or maybe it was forgetting that he was the person who appointed Jerome Powell chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump, on the air: “He’s a terrible Fed chair. I was surprised he was appointed.”
Trump on Jerome Powell: “He’s a terrible Fed chair. I was surprised he was appointed.”
Trump appointed Jerome Powell during his first term in office.
[image or embed]— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) July 16, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Trump 2017: "It is my pleasure and my honor to announce my nomination of Jerome Powell."
Trump today: "He's a terrible Fed chair. I was surprised he was appointed. I was surprised frankly that Biden put him in and extended him."
Every news story will include both clips, right?
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter.bsky.social) July 16, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Not in the mainstream media.
Rachel Maddow (who is not mainstream news) had that one. So did New York magazine. (They’re not mainstream news media, either.)
The news story from the Pennsylvania ramble about his uncle teaching the Unabomber? Crickets across the board. From The (London) Independent:
Trump claimed that his uncle, a noted physicist who helped develop radar systems during the Second World War, taught notorious future terrorist Theodore Kaczynski at MIT, despite none of it having actually happened. The 79-year-old president also forgot names and who was with him on the trip.
“I want to introduce Dan Meuser. Dan Meuser is here,” Trump said. “Where’s Dan?”
“They all stayed in Washington,” McCormick told the president.
Trump’s Uncle John died in 1985. Trump claimed that Theodore Kaczynski, perhaps better known as the Unabomber, was one of his uncle’s students. Kaczynski did not attend MIT. Moreover, Kaczynski was arrested in 1996, 11 years after Uncle John died.
There is very little difference between a madman and a genius. But Kaczynski … I said, ‘What kind of a student was he Uncle John?’ He said, ‘Seriously? Good. He would go around correcting everybody.’ But it didn’t work out too well,” Trump said.
Also in that talk (it’s an insult to others to call it a “speech”), Trump claimed he secured $16 trillion in investment in the U.S. economy. That’s more than one-half of the total economy, which is less than $30 trillion.
President Trump opens meeting with Bahraini Crown Prince: "I think we have over $16 trillion of investment coming in, which is a record, and we're only a little bit into the year." pic.twitter.com/pHqz2Djoof
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 16, 2025
Had this been President Joe Biden, it would have been on the front page of the New York Times and the Washington Post. But the grey lady has been silent on these disturbing signs of cognitive decline.
"Trump, 79, forgets who is with him on Pittsburgh trip as rambling talk includes unlikely Unabomber story." – headline from the Independent
"Trump Hails $90 Billion in A.I. Infrastructure Investments at Pennsylvania Summit." – headline from NYT
They're talking about the same speech on Tuesday.
— this corrosion (@roguesecunit.bsky.social) July 16, 2025 at 10:13 PM
The NYT did, however, report on Thursday that someone else — late night comedians — had “fact checked” the speech. The WaPo? Nadda.
CNN, also, “fact checked” the speech. That’s better than nothing, I guess, but fact checks that are not in real time are a form of journalistic masturbation, a substitute for hard reporting. Besides, the uncle story isn’t the kind of thing you fact check. That’s for Trump’s claim of a $16,000,000,000,000,000 investment.
That was it for timely TV news. ABC posted a short about the uncle/Unabomber on its website on Thursday, two days later.
The White House ignored a request for clarification in Thursday’s press gaggle. From The Independent (of course):
When told it would have been impossible for Dr Trump to have ever discussed the Unabomber with the now-president, Ms Leavitt told White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg on Thursday (17 July): “I’m a little bit surprised you would ask such a question.
“The president’s uncle did in fact teach at MIT. He was a very intelligent professor. The president’s very proud of his family.”
We all remember the front page headlines and days (weeks?) of news organization handwringing after the 2024 debate between Biden and Trump, when Biden was under the weather. And the continued flailing that the NYT gives Biden’s mental health. But Trump? Silence.
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Featured image is edited screenshot.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com