But how senile is he really? The trouble with Trump is he lies all the time. Has been for decades. He mixes up names sometimes. Says stuff that sounds stupid because he is stupid and way over his head in politics.
But is he really senile? He is self-deluded / unbelievably committed to the brand, but because of his narcissism / business. After losing all of his casinos and barely making it out alive, Trump learned that he could make money off of his name simply by the image behind it. And since then, he has fought tooth and nail to protect that image, lying and boasting grandiose claims to propagate that image. And all of the ridiculous claims about his success, follow suit with his self-identity and need to inflate it so everyone else believes it.
I have thought he was in cognitive decline since 2016, which, to be fair, is the first time I ever paid him much attention. I frankly avoided ever watching or listening to him because I don’t have a lot of use for egomaniacal blowhards. During that campaign, NPR played an old interview with him that had to have been 20 years old at that point and frankly what I heard was an egomaniac/blowhard but someone with full use of his ( limited) faculties. Contrasting that with the 2016 version and yeah, I saw or rather heard significant decline between the old Trump and the 2016 version. The old interview displayed someone who cared only about himself and his very narrow range of interests. 2016 showed someone who was steeply declining into what one expects of a doddering self centered individuals: more self interest than anything else, and absolutely zero sincerity about anything. It’s no secret I detest the man but in 2016 I was willing to listen and give him a fair shot at demonstrating something that could appeal or some concern for his country and a vision of what he could bring to improve the lives of other people. This was never his long suit and he’s not much of an actor. There are no hidden depths to the man. His idea of making a deal is that someone gets screwed and he’d prefer it not be him. He’ll lie, cheat and steal to ensure that it’s not him—and usually, it is not because most people do try to do a good job at whatever it is they are doing. But even in 2016, his vocabulary was unusually limited, he spoke almost entirely in hyperbole and self-aggrandizing statements.
But wouldn't one of the differences between old Trump and newish Trump be that he is out of his element. It is probably a lot easier for him to BS in business, but national politics, foreign policy, I see the lack of range and depth being his literal being way over his head and utterly unprepared to discuss these topics. I don't see much difference now than in 2016 when he was debating Clinton. We couldn't go a week in his term without Trump being Trump, sometimes a day! He is still upset over the inauguration estimate!
He is worse now. Even accounting for poor acoustics/microphones and unskilled interviewers ( Musk, FOX) he sounds physically unwell and as though he’s slipped multiple notches, cognitively. Much more limited ability to speak and actually be responsive. It’s all just the same recycled stump speech/rally.
One thing that catches my notice on YouTube are the growing videos of Trump "losing it" or "melting down". But the videos are really the same thing, Trump being Trump. With the videos, I'm often also catching where Trump is coming from. Most likely not legitimate, but it isn't senility either. I would ask how many times you watched an entire rally in 2016 verses 2024 for your comparison, but like myself, I'm assuming you wouldn't have had the stomach, even if paid to do so. Which gives me a feeling of we don't have a viable sample to be comparing his mentality.
I'm not going to say that Trump can't be suffering from issues, after all, he did take some type of competency test. Though it may have been to figure out what type of delusions he suffers from.
