Haley Questions if Trump Is ‘Mentally Fit’ After He Confused Her With Pelosi

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org to News@lemmy.world – 491 points –
Haley Questions if Trump Is ‘Mentally Fit’ After He Confused Her With Pelosi
thedailybeast.com
79

It's so strange how the press covers Nikki Haley like she actually matters.

I’m so glad young people no longer watch cable news. I hope it continues

I'm not sure that getting your "news" from random TikToks is any better...

It definitely is, seeing as TikTok viewers are more likely to oppose the genocide in Gaza than any other news viewers.

Before you downvote this comment, look at the data about how this genocide is covered. Mainstream news is providing misinformation about Gaza at this point: see

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If Trump is unable to be president because of Court cases that should rule that way (will they? Flip a coin...), then Haley has a pretty good chance of beating DeSantis. So yeah, she does matter.

I'd rather her over the others because she's not so MAGA and far-right.

I'll be voting for Biden either way.

None of those cases is going to be decided by November, or even January. He may have a 'convicted pending appeal' or two, but those appeals will be postponed until 2028. Hell, even if he loses, I doubt he'll exhaust his appeals before 2030.

I’d agree with this if you were saying there’s a clear possibility of this, rather than treating it as a foregone conclusion. Because we don’t know for sure how it’s going to go at this point. But yeah, I don’t feel comfortable counting on these court cases taking Trump out of the equation at all.

She is easy on the eyes and can generally make coherent points. That makes her a very small minority within the GOP.

"The Civil War was about state rights."

Coherent.

Pick one.

You understand what she is trying to communicate, it's s shitty hateful lying message but you understand it. Compare it to the rambling insanity we have all had to deal with since 2016.

By the way to be clear I am not going to vote for her.

She’s been backed by a few mega donors who are able to push media coverage if I recall correctly

It's not even New Hampshire yet and the Republican primary race is effectively down to only two people and she's the option that's not Trump.

She'll probably win every state that has an open primary at very least.

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330 million people in the US and both parties are going to run a candidate who should, by rights, be considered medically unfit for office.

I hate it here.

“The President in particular is very much a figurehead — he wields no real power whatsoever. He is apparently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it. On those criteria Zaphod Beeblebrox is one of the most successful Presidents the Galaxy has ever had — he has already spent two of his ten presidential years in prison for fraud.”

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

One of my favorite books, but depressing people were pointing shit out 50 years ago and society at large is still ignoring it today.

It's obvious from this excerpt that Adams was mostly talking about British Prime Ministers, who are elected by the government and do not wield much (if any) power beyond that of being a figurehead. Of perhaps the Royalty, who aren't elected but hold even less power and are even more of a distraction.

The US president, by contrast, is not elected by the government and has a shit-ton of power, and increasingly so as the US congress is less and less able to govern due to Republican infighting. The US president can start and win a foreign war in less time than it takes congress to even form an opinion on the matter.

Zaphod spent two years in prison for fraud, meanwhile the US president is protected by more military firepower than literal nukes and has a chain of succession longer than most Kings because the US government literally cannot function without a President.

Adams was mostly talking about British Prime Ministers, who are elected by the government and do not wield much (if any) power beyond that of being a figurehead

That's not true though.

I'm not British so I might be off-base, but my understanding is that like other European parliamentary monarchies, the PM is the effective head-of-state but their title rests entirely on the good graces of the MPs who can (and often do) replace the PM.

Furthermore the Executive branch of government isn't particularly powerful, unlike the US. Maybe I'm fundamentally misunderstanding things but I don't often hear about a British PM spending billions or starting wars without parliamentary involvement, which US presidents regularly do even if they don't enjoy a majority in Congress (which is not a situation that British PMs can find themselves in by definition).

Of course the UK has the problem of FPTP voting which leads to (quasi) bipartism which means the PM has a rather symbiotic relationship with over half of parliament, but it's still a very different dynamic.

No, that's the monarch (where it still exists) or the president in parliamentary democracies (not presidential democracies).

The PM is in fact the leader of government and relies on the good graces of the governing party or parties, not unlike the US president candidate effectively needs to unite his party behind him.

The difference is mostly the ability to get removed/replaced hy his party but usually no term limits, where presidents are term-limited and there are explicit regulations how the parliament can remove them (something that is already inhently given in parliamental systems where the government leader is selected via parliamental majority in the first place).

But then several books later we see the person who's really in charge and he was great

Do you have any proof at all that Biden is mentally unfit, or are you just repeating what TikTok says?

All I see is that he's old, his stutter has gotten worse, and he tripped over a sandbag once.

his stutter has gotten worse,

He was a favorite in the 1988 presidential primary because he was such a a great public speaker...

He got over his stutter when he was a child, and a stutter doesn't make someone say something completely different than what they meant to. Hell, he wasn't even doing it while Obama's VP, and he was in his 70s then.

Stop pretending he just has a stutter, he's 80 years old and he gets confused sometimes. It'll happen to all of us if we're lucky to live that long.

That doesn't mean he's still fit to be presidet, and he sure as shit isn't the best option for a Dem candidate even if he is mentally fit for office.

He was a favorite in the 1988 presidential primary because he was such a a great public speaker

Were you alive back then? As I remember it, he was a perennial also-ran because he couldn't help but stay stupid shit now and then. It's as if the word "Gaffe" in politics was invented to describe stupid things Joe Biden said. And saying stuff like that stopped campaigns cold back then. (remember when Howard Dean's campaign got killed over screaming the wrong way?)

But then Trump happened, and all of a sudden saying stupid shit all the time was no longer a liability.

I was alive and eligible to vote in 88 but I was a dumb kid that voted but didn't pay attention to the primaries so I don't remember him at all.

And he wasn't a "great public speaker" in that he was known for saying dumb shit as you say. (If anything gaffe was a term that applied earlier to Dan Quayle, former VP).

I don't recall for sure if the stutter was present then or to what degree.

I also don't see a lot of evidence that he is mentally unfit (for his age) as far as I am aware.

I also don't see a lot of evidence that he is mentally unfit (for his age) as far as I am aware.

Curious, have you even heard of his gaffes and other funny stuff (Corn Pop, pony soldier, trueananashabadapressure, falling, not knowing where to go after a speech)? There are so many funny moments from his speeches. People put together "best of" compilations on every video site. They don't get reported on CNN and stuff, you do have to look for them.

The mental fitness stuff is exaggerated for the most part, but he does lose track of his line of thinking when speaking off the cuff, without a teleprompter. He will start reciting a story he's told 1000x, then he just sighs and says, "anyways..."

I would say, as with Trump, to go to as original of a source as you can. Watch an hour long campaign really or whatever to hear the whole speech in context. Don't just read a headline or synopsis from the media.

In 2020, his campaign had to stop scheduling evening events with Buden because he would start sundowning. He's an 80 year old man who is clearly starting to show signs of his age.

Source?

Edit: 1 day later. There is no source. Consensus wins. They pulled it from their ass.

My favorite part about all this is both sides just kind of ignoring that their candidate can't string together a coherent sentence, gets confused a lot, and mistakes people for others all the time as if those aren't signs of cognitive decline.

Cheers. Thank you for doing your part to ensure this never changes.

Here's an excerpt from the very beginning of Biden's speech two weeks ago:

In the winter of 1777, it was harsh and cold as the Continental Army marched to Valley Forge. General George Washington knew he faced the most daunting of tasks: to fight and win a war against the most powerful empire that existed in the world at the time.

His mission was clear. Liberty, not conquest. Freedom, not domination. National independence, not individual glory.

America made a vow. Never again would we bow down to a king.

And here's an except from Trump's speech from his most recent rally just a few days ago:

By the way, they never report the crowd on January 6. You know, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley … did you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it? All of it, because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley is in charge of security, we offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, national guards, whatever they want. They turned it down.

Biden is old, just like Trump. Nobody denies that. But surely you aren't trying to "both sides" this one by equating the two mentally or physically, right?

In the winter of 1777, it was harsh and cold as the Continental Army marched to Valley Forge. General George Washington knew he faced the most daunting of tasks: to fight and win a war against the most powerful empire that existed in the world at the time.

Wtf, is this gibberish even English?? /s

Sure feels like astroturfing going on around the campaign with all the people making completely bullshit claims like "both sides can't string words together". But maybe far more people talk out their asses than I realized lol.

Biden is playing the game and reading off a teleprompter, Trump is riffing

Therefore Trump sounds like the actual idiot that he is, and Biden is performing as expected of a president.

Not sure what your point is here beyond just playing yourself and shutting down your own argument.

Then maybe Trump should quit "riffing" until he can string a coherent sentence together.

Because Biden is over here giving solid speeches on how this moment reflects American history, while Trump is so completely confused (and, let's face it, that's being fucking generous) that he doesn't even know that Nicky Haley (who worked in his cabinet and who is running against him as a Republican) isn't Nancy Pelosi.

Am I cherry-picking? Has Trump said anything coherent in the last 12 months? On prompter or off. That's a serious question by the way.

Time to face the facts, Biden may be a bit old and doddering, but Trump is now straight-up demented.

It's no wonder he's afraid to debate, because he seems to have barely any idea what's even going on anymore. Why else do you think his handlers have him taking cognitive tests?

I don't see anyone ignoring it. In fact, it appears to be all some folks can talk about.

Judging by the lack of a primary on the Democratic side and Trump winning in Iowa, I think it's perfectly fair to say that people are ignoring it.

Judging by the fact you are commenting on a national article on the topic, I'd say you're wrong, and people are doing the opposite of ignoring it.

I've already demonstrated why it's silly that you think that way. Thank you for the discussion.

They're ignoring it by writing every other article on it? Right. You sure "demonstrated my silliness."

🙄

There's always a pedant who's willing to throw out straw men.

Have fun with that.

I'm not being pedantic nor using straw men. You are, however, being dismissive and reductive (and dense). I am simply observing, as a consumer of media, that, no, in fact, everyone is talking about their fucking ages. Your statement of "... both sides just kind of ignoring..." is false.

Whatever, really. She's probably 6-8 weeks from turning around and endorsing him anyway.

She'll bend the knee like the rest.

Knees.

Haha cuz she's a woman I get it good joke dude

DeSantis dropped out of the race today and is already slobbering all over Trump's knob and she'll be doing the same thing in a few weeks.

Pretty sure being a Trump fellator is gender neutral, but you think what you want.

A mental aptitude test for all politicians is a great idea actually

I mean... Trump did take a mental fitness test, and failed so miserably he genuinely thought he had passed it. Person-woman-man-camera-tv, anyone? And that was years ago, he's certainly lost even more of his faculties since then.

There's basically 3 rules to be president:

  • Born in the US
  • Over the age of 35
  • Never lead an intersection against the United States

If Trump can't be barred from running for his role in Jan 6, there's no way adding more requirements will somehow fix things.

Man, woman, person, camera, TV

The doctors were so impressed with how well I did on that intelligent test.

Fwiw, he passed a cognitive stroke exam 4 years ago.

This could be weaponized as a tool of discrimination to keep minority groups or the impoverished out of office by constructing purposefully confusing questions. Just like the Jim Crow Era laws requiring people pass literacy tests to vote.

This could be weaponized

COULD, not WOULD.

If you don't make any rules that the fascists might want to abuse, you don't make any rules.

Your slippery slope fallacy does not invalidate the need to make sure that public officials are fit to carry out their duties.

Haley needed to be saying this stuff 2 years ago.

She's clearly just a spineless flip flopping politician.

Just look at loser Ronny. He waited far too long to be negative about Trump and his dreams ended in kissing Donnie’s ass and walking away with nothing. Best case scenario he gets to be the wannabe mango Mussolini’s puppet VP

Narrator: of course he’s not fit.

But neither are his voters, who would rather burn the world down out of hatred and spite than accept defeat.

Haley waited too long to go in for the kill, and that just shows she isn't the right material. She's going to pander to Trump's base who believe his obvious lies. They will vote for Trump. These clowns don't have the first idea about strategy or commanding power or assessing the electorate.

The kill-shot should've been to point out that he's a loser who lost the election... but they can't get his base if they do that because his base doesn't think he lost.

Who could've known casting doubt on the veracity of the election would lead to such inconvenience?

What is with america and demented old fools as presidents? You guys have some kinda fetish or what

In his defense, I see the resemblance. Plus, they both enjoy policymaking as a medium for enriching themselves and their friends!

She's going to be his VP pick and then she'll stop all the criticisms

None of those three people are mentally fit for office

I wish they'd stop calling these gaffes...

A Gaffe is when you mix something up or make a mistake and immediately realize it and feel embarrassed.

trump and Biden are just rambling and saying factually incorrect things, then later an aide has to explain it to them, and issue a correction.

If no one corrected them, they wouldn't know they fucked up.

Theyre both so old that they literally need aides around them 24/7 to make sure this shit isn't happening.

Why?

Why are these the only two choices Americans have?

It was bad enough 4 years ago, but now we have to repeat it again, and pray next year it's not another 80 year who's turn is up.

It's like we have the same requirements for President today as in Hitchhikers Guide:

The most important thing for a president is to stand around and say crazy things to distract from the people with real power doing terrible shit.

There is a minimum age on presidency, and there should be a maximum age.

And I think it should be the life expectancy of the country minus 4 years.

73 and want a second term? You'd better be damn good at raising the life expectancy, and fast!

It's not just the presidency, it's American law in general.

If you're 39 years old, your employer can flat out say you're too young for a position so they won't hire you for the promotion/position solely because of your age.

If you're over 40, then they legally can't say you're too old for anything. But they can still just say you "don't have enough experience"

Our laws about "age related discrimination" only legalized age related discrimination for anyone not elderly. For them we have to pretend science isn't real and a 80 year old is just as capable as a 30 year old.

Which makes old people feel good about themselves, but obviously isn't true.

It's just elderly people make our laws, and they think anyone under retirement age is too inexperienced to do anything. So they had no issues making age related discrimination against literally half of Americans 100% legal

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/us/millennials-outnumber-boomers-trnd/index.html

I don't think they care if they fuck up...

They don't. I'm sure they have handlers just like Dianne Feinstein did and Mitch McConnell does now. They're getting Weekend at Bernies'd.