It has been noted that New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman told an interviewer that former President Donald Trump was never the clearest orator, but his recent miscues are “pretty striking” even by that standard via Mediaite.
President Joe Biden’s campaign has been highlighting a raft of Trump gaffes recently — mixing up Biden and former President Barack Obama, misidentifying countries, not knowing what town he’s in to name a few — and pushing for the media to cover them like they do concerns about Biden’s age.
Haberman — whose reporting Trump is known to pore over — was the guest on an episode of Jamie Weinstein’s The Dispatch Podcast this week, and roasted Trump over those gaffes, while noting he was already not regarded highly as a public speaker:
JAMIE WEINSTEIN: Has he changed? In what ways has he changed, personality wise, health wise, demeanor wise? Is there changes in any of those areas that are very noticeable?
MAGGIE HABERMAN: It’s a good question. Look, health wise, I don’t really know how to answer that. He’s obviously a much older man. The job takes a toll on every president. And he’s an older man who was already not a young man when he was president.
But it doesn’t he doesn’t appear noticeably different physically from what I’ve seen. But I will note that we are seeing him publicly less.
He is doing fewer rallies, which his team generally attributes to trying to conceive because those rallies are very expensive to put on.
But I would also know that it’s energy-saving, right? I mean, you’re less likely to wear out a 77-year-old man with several rallies a week than you are doing them a few times a month or even once a month.
He doesn’t need to do a ton of them right now. He’s so far ahead in the polls that I don’t think they see a huge advantage to it.
I have noticed that lately, and my colleagues Michael Gold and Michael Bender wrote about this.
He is making a bunch of verbal miscues that have been pretty striking! He’s not exactly ever been the clearest of of articulators, but, or of speakers or orators.
But he you know, he keeps appearing to believe Obama is still president. He confused Orban and Erdogan.
So I don’t know if it’s fatigue. I don’t know if it’s distraction. I don’t know what it is. But but that’s been a little, a little notable.
