I think Donald Trump’s critics are right. They say his flip-flopping illustrates the trouble he’s in. Over the weekend, he couldn’t decide where to stand on Florida’s upcoming abortion referendum. His critics say he couldn’t decide, because there’s nowhere safe for him to stand.
Here’s Lisa Needham writing in Public Notice:
Trump’s problem is the same as the one the GOP writ large faces: the party wildly miscalculated what would happen after they succeeded in their decades-long goal of reversing Roe v. Wade, destroying the constitutional right to abortion. Due to the echo chamber that is the hallmark of the modern right, they got high on their own supply and convinced themselves the nation wanted Roe gone as badly as they did.
Like I said, I think this is right. But I also think it presumes too much. His critics, including myself, presume Trump is of sound mind.
He isn’t.
As I said yesterday, it’s time to talk about his dementia.
So to say he’s flip-flopping actually gives him too much credit. He can’t decide where to stand on abortion, or any complicated issue, because making any kind of decision is getting more and more difficult for him.
His critics, including myself, really hate it when the Washington press corps treats him like a normal politician. But we ourselves do a fair amount of normalizing when we presume what we should not.
Once we stop, serious questions suddenly have obvious answers.
Why does he repeat himself so often? Some critics would say that’s what authoritarians do. But mindless repetition is also what people with dementia do. They forget what they have said. They forget who they’re talking to and why. And to them, if they can repeat themselves hard enough, it feels like they’re proving they don’t have dementia.
Why are his statements getting more delusional? Last week, Trump said schools are operating on trans kids. They leave home as girls and come back as boys. Some critics would say that’s what transphobes do. But that’s also what people with dementia do. Their perception of reality becomes increasingly fantastical. If he were of sound mind, this might sound like a lie. He’s not, though, so it sounds like a delusion.
Why can’t he stay on message? Some critics, especially concerned Republicans, would say he lacks discipline. But messaging means very little when you have lost the capacity to imagine how your message is being received. That’s why Trump can talk about sharks and batteries, not to mention wind and bacon, and it only makes sense to him.
Finally, it’s the first week of the fall season: Why isn’t Trump doing any serious campaigning? His campaign has scheduled just one rally on Saturday. Some critics, including myself, would say that’s what you do when you plan to declare victory, instead of earning it. But staying out of sight, and restricting your public appearances to interviews with friendly media, is what you do when you are no longer of sound mind.
Why didn’t we see it?
I think it’s partly because the press corps makes him seem normal simply by doing journalism. But the bigger reason is Trump himself. Most people reveal their dementia by suddenly telling whoppers after a lifetime of trying to be honest. The former president, however, has never tried to be honest. So it’s been hard to tell the difference between the Trump of sound mind and the Trump who’s lost it.
But good intentions also mask the truth.
That brings me back to Trump’s critics.
They say his flip-flopping over the weekend exposes not only how desperate he is politically, but also his level of trustworthiness. If he can’t decide where to stand on Florida’s abortion referendum, how can his own supporters trust him to stand by his word once in office?
I get it, but flip-flopping, whatever you think of it, is a choice.
Trump may not be capable of making decisions anymore.
He thinks windmills make people eat less bacon. He thinks Hillary Clinton used “basically acid” to destroy her email server. He thinks presidents have the right to interfere with presidential elections.
At this point in his life, choosing whether to be for or against a state ballot initiative might be the least of his worries.
