The Daily Populous Monday September 9th, 2024 night edition
Authored by businessinsider.com and submitted by Bluerecyclecan

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Former president Donald Trump mistakenly called Elon Musk by the wrong name at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday.

The former president referred to Musk as "Leon" while praising the SpaceX CEO over his plan to bring two stranded astronauts back from the International Space Station.

"Boeing had a little hard time, so they are going to save — Leon's going to send up a rocket," Trump said. "He looks forward to it. That's all he thinks about is things like that."

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Trump says “Leon” Musk is going to have to send a rocket pic.twitter.com/Z4t8PsyJjt — Acyn (@Acyn) September 7, 2024

Musk, who gave Trump his "full endorsement" after the assassination attempt in July, has found a place on Trump's shortlist for a government advisor position should he take back the White House. The details remain murky, but the billionaire is enthusiastic about it.

Musk — whose companies such as SpaceX and Starlink have benefited from government contracts — has embraced the idea of a government role. He wrote on X that he is "willing to serve" and suggested he lead a so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" to cut down on "waste and needless regulation in government."

Trump's slip up over Musk's name comes after a former Trump biographer told the Guardian that the ex-president was "hyper-aware" that people were picking up on his mental slips.

Timothy O'Brien, the author of "TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald," spoke to the newspaper about Trump's rambling speeches and mental agility, which he said were coming under increasing scrutiny.

"The reason he's now offering these convoluted explanations of his speech patterns in his public appearances is because he's hyper-aware that people have noted that he's making even less sense than he used to," O'Brien said.

"What we're seeing now is a reflection of someone who's very troubled and very desperate," he added.

O'Brien was referring to Trump's response to criticism of his meandering speeches, which he said were part of a brilliant strategy he called "the weave."

"I do the weave. You know what the weave is? I'll talk about, like, nine different things that they all come back brilliantly together. And it's like, and friends of mine that are like English professors, they say: 'It's the most brilliant thing I've ever seen,'" he told a crowd in Pennsylvania.

"But the fake news, you know what they say, 'He rambled.' That's not rambling. What you do is you get off a subject, mention another little titbit, then you get back on to the subject, and you go through this and you do it for two hours, and you don't even mispronounce one word," he added.

The 2024 election race has seen both Trump's and President Joe Biden's mental fitness come under intense examination.

While Trump has been challenged over apparent errors such as repeatedly mixing up "Obama" and "Biden" during campaign speeches — something he has claimed he did on purpose — widespread concern following Biden's own mental lapses likely played a part in his decision to drop out of the presidential race.

In the run-up to that historic decision, Trump had sought to capitalize on any mistakes Biden made, and the president's struggles in a disastrous TV debate performance were seen by many as the final nail in the coffin.

At one point in the debate, after Biden seemed to stumble over his words, Trump said calmly: "I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either."

But with Vice President Kamala Harris now running against him, Trump faces a much stiffer rhetorical challenge, with his speeches seeming all the more chaotic. The two candidates will hold their first debate on Tuesday.

BannedAgainDude on September 8th, 2024 at 17:06 UTC »

Poor Leon. Now everyone is going to call him that name

thepartypantser on September 8th, 2024 at 16:49 UTC »

Trump has aphasia, likely from the onset of a form of dementia.

Dianneis on September 8th, 2024 at 16:33 UTC »

This refers to yesterday's rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin. In addition to calling Musk "Leon", Trump also:

> • Suggested that people in their 80s are too old to be able to be held accountable for documents they sign, even though he's 78 and running for a four-year presidential term himself.

> • Failed to pronounce "eliminate the Department of Education", saying instead, "ultimately, will lim– um, and you know what we're doing here, I say it all the time, I'm dying to get back to do this."

> • Referred to Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming as "Briar."

> • Mispronounced the name of the Keystone XL pipeline, calling it the "Keystown"

> • Mispronounced the word "tampon" as "tampom" when trying to insult Harris's running mate.

'Yikes': Critics pounce on Trump's multiple verbal 'misfires' at Wisconsin rally

Trump's rapid mental decline is getting more and more obvious with every passing day. Does anyone really want a senile old fool in charge of our country's nukes? I sure don't.