Thoughts on the Trump presidency

[ainsworth74]

While some accounts suggest cognitive decline, they’re politically charged and often contested. Some argue that Biden’s age-related challenges were exaggerated for partisan gain. While Biden’s missteps often center around memory lapses or verbal stumbles, Trump’s tend to veer into confusion, misstatements, or off-the-cuff remarks that defy logic. Trump urged voters to “go vote November 27,” but the general election was on November 5. He referred to Argentina as a person: “You know, Argentina, great guy. He’s a big Trump guy. He claimed credit for a law passed under Obama in 2014. He mixed up the date of the September 11 attacks and called them 7/11.

I think the reality is that both Trump and Biden were showing signs of mental degradation. We can argue about how much Biden's was hidden during his campaign and then covered for by his staff but it's clear he wasn't fit. But Trump is in the same boat, he's clearly suffering mental decline it's just because so much of his support is cultish (and it seems that few in the media are willing to call it out) he can get away with it.

On Trump check this out. This is the press conference in 2017 after the Charlottesville attack (when a rightwing nut job drove a car into a group of liberal/left wing counter protestors killing one and injuring dozens).

Yeah I disagree with a lot of what he's saying but he's punchy, he's speaking clearly, he's thinking on his feet and he's staying on topic for the whole four minutes. Yeah, he's doing some whataboutism but it's still on topic.

Watch any press conference he's given recently (not that he has recently, hence the "he's dead" rumours) and it's a very different person. Still punchy sure (though much meaner ironically) but he's speaking less clearly, his thoughts are clearly not being formed as quickly and he wanders way off-topic at the drop of a hat. The idea that Trump could stay on one topic for nearly four minutes now in 2025? I reckon that's neigh on impossible for him now.

The first time I went back and watched some videos from earlier in his first Presidency to when he was campaigning in late-2024 it was shocking quite how clearly he's suffered serious mental decline.

 

[bahnause]

I think the reality is that both Trump and Biden were showing signs of mental degradation. We can argue about how much Biden's was hidden during his campaign and then covered for by his staff but it's clear he wasn't fit. But Trump is in the same boat, he's clearly suffering mental decline it's just because so much of his support is cultish (and it seems that few in the media are willing to call it out) he can get away with it.

I don't think it's appropriate for outsiders to judge the mental health of others. There are specialists who carry out assessments using recognised criteria. Or do we want to go back to the days when stuttering was considered a sign of low intelligence? Biden has suffered from stuttering since childhood, which, according to him, has improved since his early twenties. That is an achievement.

However, Trump's statements suggest otherwise. The fact that Argentina is not a person cannot be explained away as a slip of the tongue. Nor can the fact that his statements and actions often defy logic. Donald Trump is uneducated and/or stupid. He does not have the mental capacity to independently identify and evaluate problems and solutions. Even worse, he is vindictive, egocentric and repulsive. A civil court has found that Trump sexually abused a woman.

The fact that Christian voters nevertheless remain loyal to him is repeatedly noted with astonishment.

 

[Annetts key]

Trump’s tend to veer into confusion, misstatements, or off-the-cuff remarks that defy logic. Trump urged voters to “go vote November 27,” but the general election was on November 5. He referred to Argentina as a person: “You know, Argentina, great guy. He’s a big Trump guy. He claimed credit for a law passed under Obama in 2014. He mixed up the date of the September 11 attacks and called them 7/11.

I think the reality is that both Trump and Biden were showing signs of mental degradation. We can argue about how much Biden's was hidden during his campaign and then covered for by his staff but it's clear he wasn't fit. But Trump is in the same boat, he's clearly suffering mental decline it's just because so much of his support is cultish (and it seems that few in the media are willing to call it out) he can get away with it.

On Trump check this out. This is the press conference in 2017 after the Charlottesville attack (when a rightwing nut job drove a car into a group of liberal/left wing counter protestors killing one and injuring dozens).

Yeah I disagree with a lot of what he's saying but he's punchy, he's speaking clearly, he's thinking on his feet and he's staying on topic for the whole four minutes. Yeah, he's doing some whataboutism but it's still on topic.

Watch any press conference he's given recently (not that he has recently, hence the "he's dead" rumours) and it's a very different person. Still punchy sure (though much meaner ironically) but he's speaking less clearly, his thoughts are clearly not being formed as quickly and he wanders way off-topic at the drop of a hat. The idea that Trump could stay on one topic for nearly four minutes now in 2025? I reckon that's neigh on impossible for him now.

The first time I went back and watched some videos from earlier in his first Presidency to when he was campaigning in late-2024 it was shocking quite how clearly he's suffered serious mental decline.

This is why I think he has Dementia. And if you have this, you get worse every day. Although some days may be better than others. Overall, the mental decline continues.

Every case may have slightly different symptoms. But short term memory problems, confusion, unable to maintain concentration, being more easily distracted by himself or others, slower in his thinking and refusing to believe what others say when they try to correct him. All these point strongly to Dementia.

People with Dementia also tend to go back to old ideas and memories. Although with a conservative like him, that's far more difficult to separate from what he would be like without Dementia.

No, I'm not a medical expert. But a member of my family had Dementia. So I have seen it first hand.

 

[Pete_uk]

It wouldn't surprise me if Trump doesn't survive his term...

...or until next year

 

[nlogax]

What sort of rambling bilge can we expect from Trump's Oval Office announcement at 7pm today? My money would be on him sending ICE to some more Democrat-run cities to pick litter or make felony arrests of people who throw sandwiches.

 

[Pete_uk]

Chicago?

 

[SuspectUsual]

What sort of rambling bilge can we expect from Trump's Oval Office announcement at 7pm today? My money would be on him sending ICE to some more Democrat-run cities to pick litter or make felony arrests of people who throw sandwiches.

According to the radio news, the Department of Defense’s name is “too defensive” so he’s renaming it the Department of War

 

[brad465]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, that announcement was a damp squib about moving Space Command HQ.

Trump ends turf war and will move Space Command HQ to Alabama from Colorado

Location of Space Command has been issue since end of first Trump term

www.independent.co.uk

The final frontier may be 62 miles above Earth's surface, but after years of political bickering, the U.S. Space Command headquarters will be firmly grounded in the Deep South.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is authorizing the Space Force HQ to move from Colorado to Alabama, ending years of partisan fighting over the fate of the hub for the military’s space-related operations and effectively punishing the Centennial State for electing Democrats while rewarding deep-red Alabama for supporting him and his party.

Speaking in the Oval Office flanked by Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and members of the Yellowhammer State’s congressional delegation, Trump noted that he was surrounded by “great Republicans” and boasted of having won Alabama’s electoral votes by “about 47 percent” in last year’s election.


Trump also admitted he was punishing Colorado for the state’s political decisions by openly declaring that its use of postal balloting weighed heavily into his decision.

“The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems, they do mail-in voting. They went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections. And we can't have that when a state is for mail-in voting. That means they want dishonest elections, because that's what that means. So that played a big factor,” he baselessly claimed.

Hegseth, the former Fox News personality turned defense boss, contradicted Trump’s claim of political motivations just moments later when he said the decision was informed by a Pentagon inspector general report that assessed the proper location for Space Command as Huntsville, Alabama, at the historic Redstone Arsenal facility.

 

[Gloster]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, that announcement was a damp squib about moving Space Command HQ.

Or maybe he intended to say something different when he said that he was going to make an announcement, but by the time he did make it his mind had wandered off in another direction. (Unfortunately, this is not a joke.)

 

[edwin_m]

According to the radio news, the Department of Defense’s name is “too defensive” so he’s renaming it the Department of War

Don't MAGA dislike the way America is "dragged into forever wars"?

 

[OhNoAPacer]

Don't MAGA dislike the way America is "dragged into forever wars"?

They do seem to like the culture ones.

 

[styles]

The guy's 79, I'm surprised he's managed to live this long given his regular McDonald's order is 4 burgers and a chocolate milkshake.

Physically I suspect he's diabetic and on track for a heart attack. He'll probably survive these with the extraordinary medical care afforded to a serving US president though.

Mentally he's clear not as quick with the quips and public speaking as he used to be. This might kill his support with the electorate, but there's almost no chance he'll step down. I'd put money on him powering through 3 years with dementia given the chance. Eventually his staff would reduce his public speaking and put Vance up for more of the work to see the term through.

 

[ainsworth74]

This might kill his support with the electorate, but there's almost no chance he'll step down. I'd put money on him powering through 3 years with dementia given the chance. Eventually his staff would reduce his public speaking and put Vance up for more of the work to see the term through.

I reckon the moment of maximum danger for Trump, assuming he doesn't suffer a permanent end via his health, is probably after the 2026 mid-term election (assuming they're vaguely free and fair which cannot be taken for granted). Those are, on current numbers, not looking great for the Republicans so they could get a shellacking (hence the desperate attempts to shore up the vote via any means necessary) and after January 2027 if Vance took over it wouldn't count as one of his two terms for President anymore.

Terrible midterms coupled with Vance being able to step in without using up one of his Presidential terms? Reckon that's the moment of maximum danger for Trump getting deposed via the 25th Amendment.

 

[Gloster]

I reckon the moment of maximum danger for Trump, assuming he doesn't suffer a permanent end via his health, is probably after the 2026 mid-term election (assuming they're vaguely free and fair which cannot be taken for granted). Those are, on current numbers, not looking great for the Republicans so they could get a shellacking (hence the desperate attempts to shore up the vote via any means necessary) and after January 2027 if Vance took over it wouldn't count as one of his two terms for President anymore.

Terrible midterms coupled with Vance being able to step in without using up one of his Presidential terms? Reckon that's the moment of maximum danger for Trump getting deposed via the 25th Amendment.

My feeling, as I have said before, is that they want to keep Trump in the Whitehouse until after the mid-terms in order to use his popularity in those elections. He is still popular with the MAGA faithful and many will vote for the Republicans as long as he is president; Vance does not have that popularity and the GOP could lose a lot of MAGA votes if he had replaced Trump. After that Trump can be jettisoned: much as Vance hopes that Trump won’t go until after January 2027 so that he can get two full terms and a bit, those working in the background are unlikely to care about Vance either.

 

[Annetts key]

Some of this does depend on what happens in the mid-term elections. All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be elected. Plenty of scope for the Replication party to loose control. And in the Senate, 35 of the 100 seats will be contested. If the Republicans loose control in the Senate as well, Trump could be neutralised.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I reckon the moment of maximum danger for Trump, assuming he doesn't suffer a permanent end via his health, is probably after the 2026 mid-term election (assuming they're vaguely free and fair which cannot be taken for granted). Those are, on current numbers, not looking great for the Republicans so they could get a shellacking (hence the desperate attempts to shore up the vote via any means necessary) and after January 2027 if Vance took over it wouldn't count as one of his two terms for President anymore.

It will be very, very interesting to see what happens if they do lose both the House and the Senate. I suspect that it might be a tough call for the Democrats to win four out of the 22 that they need, but even winning three would put the Republicans in full panic mode. On the other hand, I'll be very surprised if they don't deliver a big win in the House, especially as there's strong evidence that some Republicans won't vote if they can't vote for Trump.

The question is: if Trump does lose Congress, would Vance really want to take over?

 

[brad465]

Alleged Trump birthday note for Epstein's 50th birthday has been released:

White House denies Trump's alleged birthday message to Epstein is authentic

The message purportedly written by Trump is inside a 238-page book released by a House committee.

www.bbc.co.uk

Democrats in Congress have released a note allegedly signed by US President Donald Trump and sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003.
Lawyers for Epstein's estate sent documents to the House Oversight Committee after they were subpoenaed last month.
Democratic members of the committee posted a copy of the alleged letter, which features a drawing of a woman's body, on X on Monday.
"President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it," the White House said.
When the Wall Street Journal published details of the alleged note in July, Trump said it was "a fake thing" and denied writing it.
"These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures," he said, before launching legal action against the newspaper.
The president filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's reporters, publisher and executives, including News Corp's owner Rupert Murdoch, seeking $10bn (£7.4bn) in damages.

After Democrats released the note on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "President Trump's legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation".
"As I have said all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it," Leavitt added.
The signed note posted on X features several lines of text, with the final line reading: "Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret."
In the post with the image, the Democrats on the Oversight Committee wrote: "Trump talks about a 'wonderful secret' the two of them shared. What is he hiding? Release the files!"

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Sep 2025 ==

Trump ally Charlie Kirk has been shot at and suspect arrested:

Charlie Kirk's widow gives tearful address after shooting: 'I will never let your legacy die'

Erika Kirk thanks first responders and President Donald Trump for his support, after her husband's death.

www.bbc.co.uk

Police confirm shots fired at Charlie Kirk eventpublished at 19:50​

19:50BREAKING​

Campus police have told the BBC that shots were fired at an event with US conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

Kirk, a Trump ally, runs the conservative student group Turning Point USA.

We’re closely following the situation and will bring you the latest updates as soon as we have them.

There is also a video doing the rounds showing the impact, with a direct hit on his neck, which is too graphic to share. I don't think his prospects are good based on this.

 

[jon0844]

I saw the clip and cannot see any way he survives that.

He wasn't a very nice person but didn't deserve that, and the repercussions are going to potentially be severe.

 

[Omnidekkalover]

I wouldn’t be surprised if trump declares martial law using a made up excuse such as “protecting America from woke liberal terrorists” or some nonsense like that

 

[gg1]

Gives a certain irony to this speech he gave in 2023:

I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights

 

[brad465]

Trump now saying Kirk has died from the shooting:

Charlie Kirk's widow gives tearful address after shooting: 'I will never let your legacy die'

Erika Kirk thanks first responders and President Donald Trump for his support, after her husband's death.

www.bbc.co.uk

Charlie Kirk has died - Trump
​

"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead", President Donald Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform.

The 31-year-old was shot at a campus event in Utah on Wednesday afternoon.

 

[Purple Train]

I saw the clip and cannot see any way he survives that.

He wasn't a very nice person but didn't deserve that, and the repercussions are going to potentially be severe.

Agreed. I'm praying he pulls through - much as I profoundly disagree with him on most things - but it does look very grim indeed, both for his poor family, and for the repercussions.

(EDIT: posted about ten seconds after @brad465 shared the tragic news above. Sincere condolences to his loved ones.)

 

[Cowley]

Trump now saying Kirk has died from the shooting:

Charlie Kirk's widow gives tearful address after shooting: 'I will never let your legacy die'

Erika Kirk thanks first responders and President Donald Trump for his support, after her husband's death.

www.bbc.co.uk

I dread to think how this is going to play out now.

 

[Gloster]

If it isn’t this it will be something else that sets off the fire: it was going to happen sometime. Perhaps Trump will cancel next week’s visit to the UK as he thinks up ways to use this to send the National Guard into…somewhere. His problem is that the university is in a pretty red part of a red state.

 

[Cowley]

If it isn’t this it will be something else that sets off the fire: it was going to happen sometime. Perhaps Trump will cancel next week’s visit to the UK.

Well this story and the visit to the UK will keep the Epstein stuff at bay to a point, so I’d imagine that he’ll make the most of using them for misdirecting the media I’d have thought?

As to what’s happened to Charlie Kirk. I didn’t like the guy, but this is pretty appalling and I hope they catch and bring to justice whoever did it.

 

[Darandio]

Perhaps Trump will cancel next week’s visit to the UK

Not a chance.

 

[Cowley]

Not a chance.

Absolutely

 

[Carlisle]

Well Trump’s love of the death penalty doesn’t appear particularly successful in preventing these idiots committing these crazy murders.

 

[jon0844]

Well this story and the visit to the UK will keep the Epstein stuff at bay to a point, so I’d imagine that he’ll make the most of using them for misdirecting the media I’d have thought?

As to what’s happened to Charlie Kirk. I didn’t like the guy, but this is pretty appalling and I hope they catch and bring to justice whoever did it.

I thought finding a rock on Mars was a good diversion but couldn't have expected this.

The Government will definitely react to this (and not in a good and measured way) and conspiracy theories are going to run wild.

 

[LUYMun]

Alleged Trump birthday note for Epstein's 50th birthday has been released:

The birthday card was part of a much bigger series of books written for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. Trump’s letter depicts the outline of a naked (probably underaged) woman with Trump's first name signed in the pubic area. The note lays out a conversation between Trump and Epstein:

Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything
Donald: Yes, there is, but I won't tell you what it is.
Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I also know what it is.
Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: Yes, we do, come to think of it.
Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?
Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.
Trump: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.

Trump's lawyers arguing his signature is forged but anyone reading that letter would know it's obviously his. And knowing his relation with Epstein, it's not going to look good. At least Kirk's untimely death will divert attention from this for a while.