Grandpa Puddin’ Brains free-associates at captive House Republicans
Convicted felon and apparent frontotemporal dementia sufferer Donald Trump took the podium before House Republicans and delivered what can generously be described as a stream of consciousness
Convicted felon and apparent frontotemporal dementia sufferer Donald Trump took the podium before House Republicans and delivered what can generously be described as a stream of consciousness about France, voting by mail, and Gym Jordan’s ears. His audience stared back in the tight, obedient silence of people waiting for it to end.
Trump’s speech wandered without supervision, hopping from grievance to boast to half-formed aside, often mid-sentence. There was no arc, no argument, and no apparent awareness of where he had just been or where he was going next. House Republicans, meanwhile, remained still and quiet, the way you do when the family elder is talking, and interrupting would only make you the target.
For years, Trump’s supporters have insisted that his rambling style is evidence of authenticity, a refusal to be constrained by scripts or norms. But there is a difference between improvisation and disintegration. Rambling about a congressperson’s ears firmly belongs to the latter category. The quiet in the room was not reverence.