As he opened his speech at a recent campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina, US President Donald Trump told the story of the Willie Horton crime case that helped sink the presidential campaign of Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988.
asserted
that → open → 1988
And then, 30 minutes later, still speaking at the same rally to the same audience from the same lectern, Trump told the same Willie Horton story all over again, using some of the same language (and getting the facts wrong both times).
asserted
facts → speak → language
Trump, who last year became the oldest person ever inaugurated as president and turned 80 in June, has demonstrated physical stamina as he barnstorms the country in advance of midterm elections.
asserted
he → become → elections
But his performances on the road and at the White House of late have produced many head-scratching moments that have revived questions about his age and stability.
asserted
that → produce → age
He is more long-winded, more profane and more absolutist than when he ran for president a decade ago.
asserted
he → run → president
His rambling speeches seem even more garbled at times.
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speeches → seem → times
He makes comments that leave people wondering what he is talking about or that sound like he is saying something he is not.
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he → make → something
And even for a president who has never fully observed the norms of the office, he seems more willing to say things no other president would say.
asserted
president → observe → things
He declared that at an unfenced construction site, “only a Hispanic could survive that fall”.
uncertain
Hispanic → declare → fall
He wants to ban immigrants from Norway “because I didn’t get the Nobel Prize”.
asserted
I → want → Prize
He says, “I don’t give a damn” if he is seen as caring more about oil company profits than struggling workers.
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he → say → workers
He mispronounces the Strait of Hormuz as the “Hormone Strait”.
asserted
He → mispronounce → Strait
He has told supporters to “cheat like hell” in this week’s elections.
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He → tell → elections
He says military leakers “should be shot”.
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leakers → say → ?
Even Trump seems astonished at times by what comes out of his mouth – and by how much his supporters embrace him nonetheless.
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supporters → astonish → him
“I could say the stupidest things and you’d clap.
uncertain
you → say → things
‘Oh, I love you so’,” he marvelled at a recent rally in Clarksville, Tennessee.
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he → love → Clarksville
“But we don’t say the stupidest things,” he quickly added.
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he → say → things
“We say things of common sense.
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We → say → sense
We say things that make sense.”
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that → say → sense
For Trump, making sense often places second to having fun at rallies, and some outrageous remarks appear aimed at generating a laugh.
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remarks → make → laugh
His allies say too much is made of comments that are really just jokes.
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that → say → comments
He has always been a provocative speaker, willing to outrage for the sake of outrage.
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He → outrage → outrage
Trump defends his stream-of-consciousness rambling as a “brilliant” speaking style that he calls “the weave”.
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he → defend → that
But the weave seems to be getting weavier.
asserted
weave → seem → ?
An artificial intelligence-assisted New York Times review of Trump’s comments from speeches, rallies, social media, interviews and public meetings found significant changes since he began a run for president at age 69 in 2015, although not as notable a shift since 2024 when a similar review was conducted.
asserted
review → assist → 2024
Broadly speaking, the review concluded, Trump’s public communication is more vulgar, more uninhibited and less coherent than it was a decade ago.
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it → speak → ?
“He’s saying so many stupid things, even for him, so many outrageous and aggressive things,” said former Republican congressman Francis Rooney.
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Rooney → say → things
“This aggressive kind of attack language, that’s something I’ve never heard from a president.”
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I → ’ → president
The White House denied that Trump has lost a step.
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Trump → deny → step
Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson, hailed his “sharpness, unmatched energy, relentless work ethic and historic accessibility” and dismissed concerns about his provocative comments.
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Ingle → hail → comments
“The president doesn’t care about being politically correct; he cares about making America great again,” Ingle said.
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Ingle → care → ?
“The American people love how authentic, transparent and effective the president is.”
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president → love → ?
The ‘freaking genius’
Measuring the effects of age can be difficult without a medical examination, although that has not stopped many physicians, political commentators and everyday Americans from drawing conclusions about Trump based on what they see on television.
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they → measure → television
The Times review from 2015 up until last Thursday (US time) found that the president in his second term has used 19 per cent more all-or-nothing words such as “always”, “never”, “everything” and “totally” at rallies than he did a decade ago and 5 per cent more than in 2024, a sign of black-and-white thinking that experts say often accompanies advancing age or cognitive decline.
asserted
experts → find → age
He is cruder than he used to be, using nearly 15 swear words per 10,000 words compared with 14 two years ago and six a decade ago, a change consistent with age-related disinhibition.
asserted
he → use → disinhibition
The review, relying on an AI-assisted metric, found that he makes rambling or confusing digressions in his rallies and speeches 2½ times as often in his second term as in the 2016 campaign, although roughly the same as in 2024.
asserted
he → rely → 2024
His vocabulary remains about the same, as does the reading level of his speaking, which hovers between fourth and fifth grade.
asserted
which → remain → grade
(The average modern president speaks at an eighth-grade level.)
asserted
president → speak → level
But he is posting online an average of 21 times a day, up from 13 a day in 2016, although down from 34 a day two years ago.
asserted
he → post → 34
…and 108 more, not listed.
The Aporia
