MS NOW host Joe Scarborough has dismissed suggestions that President Donald Trump is suffering from dementia, but he does believe the commander-in-chief is becoming more erratic with age.
Since the onset of the Iran war in particular, questions have been asked by his opponents and in the media about his fitness for office. His wild rhetoric against Tehran, including threats to end Iran’s civilization, and unpredictable social media output have routinely drawn criticism.
In the 11 weeks since the conflict began, the president has called Iran’s theocratic regime “crazy bastards” and threatened the country would be “blown off the face of the Earth” while also posting memes on Truth Social comparing himself to Jesus Christ.
Discussing his co-host Jonathan Lemire’s new article in The Atlantic, “A Different Kind of Fading President,” on Monday’s episode of Morning Joe, Scarborough said: “Any suggestion that Donald Trump has dementia or is losing his mind or whatever, it’s ridiculous.
“I said the same thing about Joe Biden, went and talked to him for three hours and, yes, Biden was moving very slow, very stiff,” he added.
“Donald Trump may be slowing down, but I think what we’re really seeing here, and what I really pulled from your article, is that for the president, who’s about to turn 80 this month, this next month… For a president who has always been erratic, as he turns 80, we are seeing some diminished capacities as with anybody who would turn 80.
“But that erraticism, we are seeing it exaggerated and I wonder if that’s what we see playing out where he’s just not just saying the quiet part out loud, he’s screaming it. He wants to abandon our Polish allies.
“He wants to abandon Ukraine as he continues to do. He wants to abandon our German allies. He wants to do everything he can do to help Vladimir Putin.”
The presenter was alluding to the Department of Defense announcing the withdrawal of 4,000 U.S. troops from Poland, weeks after canceling the deployment of 5,000 to Germany.
Scarborough acknowledged that his mention of Russia’s president would likely “trigger” Trump supporters by reviving memories of the late FBI special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into his alleged ties to the Kremlin during his first term
But, he argued, the president’s recent attacks on Nato allies only stand to benefit Moscow.
“What you actually have is a president doing everything that Vladimir Putin would want him to do,” Scarborough said.
“Just ask anybody that’s been in this field, Vladimir Putin couldn’t call these shots any better himself. And so whatever draws him to Vladimir Putin, whatever drew him to Putin in his 70s, it seems to be even more exaggerated now as he turns 80.”
Lemire argued that Trump has suffered a less obvious physical decline than Biden but was showing greater signs of “disinhibition” with age, becoming less “filtered” in his public statements and saying more directly whatever is on his mind.
Part of that process, the journalist hypothesized, is Trump “reflexively” falling back on his instinct to indulge strongmen leaders like Putin and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping.
Despite recently falling asleep at an Oval Office event on maternity care last week and social media commentators pointing out his swollen ankles during his state visit to China, Trump spent Saturday posting memes on his platform insisting he “gets younger” and “ages in reverse”.
The president is due for his latest checkup at Walter Reed Military Medical Center on May 26, his fourth visit since returning to power in January last year.
