Donald Trump appears to be in cognitive decline, and this is not just my opinion. It is also the opinion of author Ramin Setoodeh, who interviewed Donald Trump numerous times for his new book about Donald Trump, called "Apprentice In Wonderland."
The book was just released this week and, of course, the author went on a media tour. The biggest topic was not Trump, but rather his apparent cognitive and mental decline. From forgetting who the interviewer was - just ONE month after last sitting down with him, to insisting that Joan Rivers voted for him in 2016, even though she died in 2014...it is clear that something is short circuiting in Trump's noggin.
Setoodeh joined Kaitlin Collins on CNN to discuss his observations, and it was illuminating. He interviewed Trump a total of six times, more than any other journalist, following his removal from office in 2021.
SETOODEH: Meandering and confusing is right. He goes from one story to the next. He struggles with the chronology of events. He seems very upset that he wasn't respected by certain celebrities in the White House...But there was some cognitive questions about where he was, and what he was thinking. And he would -- he would, from time to time become confused.
COLLINS: Because you wrote, at one point, about Joan Rivers, him telling you that she voted for him, in 2016, I believe, even though.
SETOODEH: He confidently told me and declared that Joan Rivers voted for him, when he ran for president. And Joan Rivers died in 2014 -- Joan Rivers died in 2014. So, she would not have been able to vote for Donald Trump.
COLLINS: Yes. And you, because you talked about his memory. You wrote that, on some days, I had the feeling he has no idea who is even talking to that he actually forgot, or didn't remember that the two of you had spoken at your first sit-down interview.
SETOODEH: Right. So, my first interview down was in May. He wasn't doing a lot of interviews. And then, we sat down again towards the end of the summer. And when I sat down, I, you know, there was a very blank expression on his face. So I asked, do you remember when we spoke recently? And he said, no, I have no memory of that. And he couldn't recall. He said it was a long time ago. And then we had to start from scratch.
So, the interview started from square one, where he was started telling me the same exact stories that we -- that we -- I heard in our first interview. So, from there, then we did more interviews, so that we could cover more ground. But it was a little bit like Groundhog Day.
COLLINS: Yes. And the Trump campaign, responded saying that Trump was aware of this individual was throughout the interview. But this writer -- this is their words, not mine "Is a nobody and insignificant so of course he never made an impression."
Of course, blame the interviewer for not making a stronger impression on the subject. That makes sense. I mean, he is only *interviewing Trump for the sole purpose of writing a book about him*, so why would he remember him. Derp.
Ok, interview went on and wrapped with this pretty stark picture of Donald Trump, a deflated, sad, confused man who still thinks he needs to deal with foreign policy issues from his apartment.:
COLLINS: What were your biggest takeaways from sitting down with him? Right after he left the White House, when his political power was probably the lowest it's been since 2015, and how he reflected on when he was hosting "The Apprentice," and the ratings were soaring in that first season, and just kind of what that looked like for him.
SETOODEH: He was very deflated. He was conflicted. He was angry about the way in which the press had treated him. He still believed that he won the election. And he was happiest, when he talked to me about hosting "The Apprentice." It was the thing that brought him the most joy. We watched clips of the show, together. We watched the theme song. And he really lit up. He watched firing -- his firing of Omarosa.
And then he would talk about what he did at the White House, and he would become gloomy, and resentful, and unhappy, and refer to Afghanistan and Joe Biden. But he also seemed to think that he still had some foreign policy powers. And there was one day, where he told me he needed to go upstairs to deal with Afghanistan, even though he clearly didn't.
COLLINS: He told you that? He -- while you were interviewing him, at Trump Tower, he told you he needed to go upstairs to deal with Afghanistan?
SETOODEH: With the, quote, the Afghanistan, is how he referred to it.
Trump, a man in clear cognitive decline who wants to play President to "deal with the Afghanistan", thinks dead celebrities voted for him and can't remember people who spent hours with him just the month before in a one-on-one interview where the topic was HIM.
This man cannot be trusted with the nuclear codes, nor can the bozos he's surrounded himself with and intends to place in his "administration" should such an abomination come to pass. We already know he can't be trusted with classified information, and his cognitive decline combined with his desire for retribution means he can be nowhere near the codes or power ever again.
