The Daily Populous Saturday May 24th, 2025 day edition
Authored by usatoday.com and submitted by Tuxcali1

For those who spent weeks, months and even years howling about then-President Joe Biden’s “mental decline,” let’s take a quick read over 78-year-old current-President Donald Trump’s answers to recent interview questions.

Time magazine spoke to Trump in the Oval Office and had this exchange.

Time: “Mr. President, you were showing us the new paintings you have behind us. You put all these new portraits. One of them includes John Adams. John Adams said we’re a government ruled by laws, not by men. Do you agree with that?”

Trump: “John Adams said that? Where was the painting?”

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Trump's own words show us he isn't all there

The magazine asked the president about border security, and he said this about the border wall: “I built hundreds of miles of wall, and then (Biden) didn't want to, and we had another, an extra hundred miles that I could have put up because I ordered it as extra. I completed the wall, what I was doing, but we have, I wanted to build additional because it was working so well.”

So he completed the wall but still had more to build. The reality is that during his first term, Trump “built” 458 miles of wall along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, but most of that involved repairing existing barriers.

Trump's memory is not good. Just read these interview transcripts.

And then this, from the same interview:

Trump: "If this were Biden, well, first of all, he wouldn't do an interview because he was grossly incompetent.”

Time: “We spoke to him last year, Mr. President.”

Time: “We spoke to him a year ago.”

Time: “You can read the interview yourself.”

Trump: “Not too good. I did read the interview. He didn't do well.”

Clearly, Trump didn’t read the interview. And even more clearly, Trump isn’t making much sense these days.

So, where did that Moscow car bombing happen?

Aboard Air Force One recently, he had this exchange with reporters.

Reporter: “There was a car bomb in Moscow this morning that killed a Russian general, do you have any reaction to that?”

Reporter: "Russian general killed by a car bomb."

Trump: “Wow, no, I just heard. You’re just telling me that for the first time. Where did this take place?”

It took place in Moscow, grandpa, the guy literally just said it!

If Biden's 'mental decline' was concerning, Trump's should be alarming

Biden’s reported mental decline, coupled with his advanced age, was a relevant issue. But some of those problems stemmed from Biden’s poor oratorical skills and his lifelong stutter, both of which could make his delivery seem addled.

This culminated in his dreadful debate performance against Trump, leading to his decision to step aside in the presidential race.

I applauded that decision, but the reality was that despite Biden showing his age, it was clear more often than not that he remained sharp and had a deep knowledge and understanding of both politics and the world. The 82-year-old even managed to leave us with a growing economy, which Trump has since tanked.

Trump, on the other hand, seems to know little, and he has grown increasingly incoherent and rambling, often wholly detached from reality.

Forgetful Trump doesn't seem to know what's going on around him

Asked about the 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said the Trump administration needs to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the wrongfully deported Maryland man, home from a Salvadoran prison, Trump said: “Well, that’s not what my people told me – they didn’t say it was, they said it was – the nine to nothing was something entirely different.”

It was not, in fact, something entirely different.

Time journalists said to Trump, “You once said you weren't sure how the Civil Rights Act quote ‘worked out.’ Would America be better without it?”

Trump said: “I never heard of that. Nobody’s ever asked me that before.”

To which the interviewer replied: “You said it in a 2020 interview.”

And Trump said: “I don't remember having said that.”

A debate over nonexistent tattoos gets weird

In a recent ABC News interview with Terry Moran, Trump was pressed on the Abrego Garcia case and insisted the man is a gang member and has “MS13” tattooed on his fingers. That is simply not the case. Abrego Garcia has finger tattoos, and the Trump administration released an altered picture of his hand with the “M,” “S,” “1” and “3” added to suggest that each of the four tattoos stands for one of the letters or numbers.

It’s the most obvious doctored photo in the history of doctored photos, but Trump was convinced the superimposed letters and numbers are actually inked on Abrego Garcia’s skin, leading to this staggering exchange:

Moran: “That was Photoshop. So let me just …”

Trump: “That was Photoshop? Terry, you can't do that … he had … he … hey, they're givin' you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you're doin' the interview. I picked you because, frankly, I never heard of you, but that's OK.”

Moran: “This … I knew this would come …”

Trump: “But I picked you, Terry. But you're not being very nice. He had MS-13 tattooed …”

Moran: “Alright. Alright. We'll agree to disagree. I want to move on …”

Trump: “Terry. Do you want me to show the picture?”

Moran: “I saw the picture. We’ll, we’ll, we'll agree to disagree …”

Trump: “Oh, and you think it was Photoshop. Well …”

Moran: “Here we go. Here we go.”

Trump: “… don’t Photoshop it. Go look …”

Trump: “… at his hand. He had MS-13.”

Harvard? Harlem? Trump can't seem to tell the difference.

Again, there’s no MS-13 on this guy’s hand. Period. And no rational person could look at the sloppily doctored photo and think it’s real.

During an April 30 interview with NewsNation, Trump was asked by Stephen A. Smith about his war against Harvard University. The president proceeded to describe imaginary riots in Harlem:

“Well, I say this. We had riots in Harlem, in Harlem, and frankly if you look at what’s gone on – and people from Harlem went up and they protested, Stephen, and they protested very strongly against Harvard. They happened to be on my side.”

Trump continued, bafflingly: “You know I got a very high Black vote. You know that? Very, very high Black vote. It was a very great compliment to me.”

Again, the question was about Harvard, not Harlem. The “riots in Harlem” refers to nothing in our present reality, and nobody asked Trump anything about Black voters.

Happy Easter to 'Murderers' and 'Drug Lords'?

These examples are only scratching the surface. Trump raged against a judge he claimed was overseeing a case in which he had sued a law firm. But the case actually involves a law firm that’s suing him.

His Truth Social posts are unspeakably unhinged, including recent lines like: “Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten!”

The president seems to be losing it. Perhaps we should be concerned.

This man’s brain is filled with spiders. He seems to, at best, have one toe planted in reality.

So where, I ask, is the fury? Where are the hours upon hours of Fox News coverage? Where is the extensive New York Times coverage?

Trump’s brain melt gets a pass, for reasons I’ll never understand.

None of this is in defense of Biden. I’m all for younger, sharper minds leading the country. But Trump isn’t younger or sharper.

If we’re being honest, this aging president is barely making sense at all.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

Jedi_Lazlo on May 24th, 2025 at 00:32 UTC »

Open the DSM description of dementia.

Compare it to Trump's day to day behavior.

And the answer is obvious.

4ivE on May 24th, 2025 at 00:31 UTC »

Despite the White House's attempts to erase all transcripts of Trump's ignorant word salad, Roll Call has them preserved for anyone to marvel at.

BukkitCrab on May 24th, 2025 at 00:29 UTC »

Besides his dozens of felony convictions and insurrection attempt that should have excluded him from taking office in the first place, Trump can't even remember if he's supposed to uphold the Constitution, so yeah he's too demented and unfit to be president.