After months of questions raised from the liberal left about Donald Trump’s cognitive abilities, the New York Times wrote a thoughtful and measured piece on the topic on Sunday.
You should read the whole thing here. But here’s the key bit:
With Mr. Biden out, Mr. Trump, at 78, is now the oldest major party nominee for president in history and would be the oldest president ever if he wins and finishes another term at 82. A review of Mr. Trump’s rallies, interviews, statements and social media posts finds signs of change since he first took the political stage in 2015. He has always been discursive and has often been untethered to truth, but with the passage of time his speeches have grown darker, harsher, longer, angrier, less focused, more profane and increasingly fixated on the past.
According to a computer analysis by The New York Times, Mr. Trump’s rally speeches now last an average of 82 minutes, compared with 45 minutes in 2016. Proportionately, he uses 13 percent more all-or-nothing terms like “always” and “never” than he did eight years ago, which some experts consider a sign of advancing age.
Similarly, he uses 32 percent more negative words than positive words now, compared with 21 percent in 2016, which can be another indicator of cognitive change. And he uses swearwords 69 percent more often than he did when he first ran, a trend that could reflect what experts call disinhibition. (A study by Stat, a health care news outlet, produced similar findings.)
Not great! But, also: Not the same thing as evidence that he is in the midst of significant cognitive decline!
Look. I have spent years reading Trump’s speeches. Watching his interviews. And what is clear to me is this: He has slowed — verbally and mentally — since he emerged on the political scene in 2015.
You can see it with your own eyes. Watch Trump during the first 2016 debate with Hillary Clinton:
And then watch him in his debate with Kamala Harris last month:
He’s clearly more limited verbally. He’s less able to call up words he wants to use. He is slower.
All of these things are true.
And, based on what I have read, all of these things are consistent with the effects of age. They are not evidence, as some on the left like to suggest, that Trump has dementia or some other major cognitive ailment.
My take: Trump is old. He would be the oldest person ever to serve as president if he makes it through four years in a 2nd term. That is a fact. He is also showing signs of his age and, even if he remains healthy overall in the next four years, we can assume he will continue to age — and grow less cognitively sharp (at best) — over that time.
Will it matter to voters? Especially those who remain undecided? We’ll know in a month!
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The Morning: Donald Trump's mental health