Trump's bizarre antics aren't flying anymore — and there's a reason for that: analysis

The downside to spending a year attacking an opponent for his cognition and mental capacity is that your own cognition and mental capacity falls under the microscope. Such is the case with President Donald Trump, who has noticeably slowed as his 80th birthday in June approaches, wrote CNN's Aaron Blake on Wednesday.

In his first year in office, President Donald Trump has appeared to doze off over a dozen times, and there have been multiple questions about it occurring in April and May. The most recent came just this week during a May 11 photo op on maternal healthcare in the Oval Office event. Reuters and other reputable outlets reported video showing the president appearing to doze or repeatedly closing his eyes. It has prompted renewed coverage and White House rebuttals.

Blake recalled Trump blasting the White House a “s— house.” After invading and capturing Nicolás Maduro months previously, Trump openly thought about making Venezuela the 51st state. In another incident, Blake pointed out, Trump couldn't identify Indiana University football coach Curt Cignetti. The coach was standing right next to him and Trump looked directly at him just moments earlier.

Then there's the latest overnight-night social media posting spree.

Blake explained that it "stood out even by his often-outlandish standards: posting and reposting more than 50 times in less than an hour. Those included long-debunked theories about Dominion voting machines deleting millions of votes in the 2020 election, posts about the decade-old Hillary Clinton email server controversy, a made-up claim about a GOP senator from a hoax website."

It only adds to his proliferation of AI images, trashing people of color, including one saying they're “Always scheming…” and two separate posts demanding the arrest of ex-President Barack Obama, wrote Blake.

Trump has always used crude language and deployed rude attacks. He has a long history of racist remarks, has been obsessed with the Obamas, and has shouted bizarre statements that make little sense. He has also spent a decade inoculating himself against such questions by acting irritable and citing false information. Lately, things have seemed different, however.

He seemed to forget what Iran told him about a ceasefire or a deal and had to be corrected by Iran itself on social media. Particularly when it comes to the war, Blake said, Trump's "rhetoric about the war has been consistently, remarkably detached from reality."

In one incident, Trump appeared not to know where his own vice president was, saying JD Vance was negotiating a deal in Pakistan. Vance hadn't left, and Trump ultimately canceled the meeting altogether, and Vance never went.

"It’s the kind of behavior that undeniably prompts concern," Blake continued. He noted that Trump "has so far avoided a true reckoning about it. And that’s in large part because he’s spent more than a decade doing bizarre things in public, long before he was considered elderly."

He complained that anyone who questions his health or mental faculties simply suffers from Trump Derrangement Syndrome, a made-up disease used by Trump to attack his critics.

Blake noted that it's clear Americans are starting to ask more questions.

"People can only suspend their disbelief for so long," he wrote. "When the flubs become more obvious and frequent, observers often start to wonder what’s going on and whether age is playing a role."

As people grow angrier about the economy and Trump's presidency, Blake thinks they may have less interest in overlooking Trump's confusion.

A poll from Reuters and Ipsos Blake cited, showed 61 percent of Americans and even 30 percent of Republicans agree Trump has become “more erratic with age.” Meanwhile, a Pew Research Survey showed 62 percent agree with the same statement. After his fight with the Pope in April, another Reuters poll showed 71 percent of Americans don't think Trump is “even-tempered." A whopping 74 percent of independents said the same. Even Republican numbers were low, with only 53 percent agreeing.

Blake closed by noting, "It’s not that people never noticed these things — they’re just getting more difficult to ignore."

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