CSotD: The Wide World of Whatever
Ann Telnaes often evokes a mixed reaction — something like “Well, yes, but no.” After much thought, I’ve stopped debating whether President Trump intentionally misleads people or genuinely believes the questionable things he says.
In the past, I’ve compared him to figures such as O.J. Simpson and Jeffrey MacDonald, both of whom strongly denied crimes they were proven to have committed. They seemed to sincerely convince themselves of an alternate version of reality that was easier to live with. I sense a similar impulse at work here.
It’s not my place to psychoanalyze the president, but it’s difficult to accept the idea that he truly believes he graduated from Wharton with top honors. Still, I can imagine he might sincerely think that “asylum seekers” are people once confined to mental hospitals, or that he holds an uncertain view of who actually pays tariffs.
Whether he confuses a dementia screening with an intelligence test doesn’t trouble me much—I know the distinction. What does concern me is seeing footage of him lost and vacant during official visits abroad, and noticing how reporters who scrutinized Biden’s age and coherence now seem surprisingly silent about Trump’s apparent mental decline.
To accuse him of deliberate lies assumes he can tell fact from fiction.
Author’s Summary
The article questions whether President Trump’s controversial statements stem from deceit or delusion, suggesting that self-deception may now guide his perception of reality.