Lately, Donald Trump's brain seems to be in need of a nap. He's slurring his words, blanking on the names of foreign leaders, forgetting what he wanted to say, and mixing up the names of his friends and enemies. If you are concerned about his cognitive fitness, however, Newsmax's Greg Kelly wants to reassure you that the former President is just as brilliant as ever. He doesn't have a serious case of dementia. He just wants the world to think he does.
According to Kelly, Donald Trump's recent mix-up of Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi wasn't a senior moment but a stroke of genius. All of Trump's linguistic fumbles and name-dropping blunders are designed to trick the fake news. After all, who wouldn't want to project an image of declining cognitive abilities, especially when you've branded yourself a "very stable genius"? It's the new political 3-D chess.
In this video clip from his show, Kelly says that Trump intentionally uses the wrong words to shift the media narrative and focus, akin to a magician waving a shiny object. He argues that the correction of Trump's "mistake" by the media inadvertently amplified his true message about Pelosi's role in the security failings of January 6.
The fake news … all had to say later in their reports that it was Nancy Pelosi who was offered the 10,000 troops. It was Nancy Pelosi who was actually charged with security. So that, in a way, affected the message that he wanted out there. Because when he says Nancy Pelosi was in charge of security, nobody pays any attention. But when he says Nikki Haley is, and he said Nikki Haley three times, I don't know, what do you think? It's kinda like when he said "We're gonna build a wall and Mexico is gonna pay for it." So he repeated that, as you know, all throughout the country. And when he said Mexico is going to pay for it, suddenly that became the debatable part. Is Mexico, how could that ever work? People weren't debating the wall part. He's actually advancing his argument. And guess what, he got a lot of the wall done*. And if they didn't try to sabotage his administration, I think he could have finished it and he'll finish it next time. Look, he could have been just confusing the names, but I have a feeling it was up to something else, something a lot more sophisticated.
But considering Trump's known sensitivity to any suggestion of mental or verbal inadequacy, Kelly's theory seems less like a page from Sun Tzu and more like an Adderall indications and usages sheet.
But now I get it. Trump's plan is to lie and deceive and appear mentally unfit as a way to win the presidency. As they say, a masterful gambit, sir!
*Kelly's definition of "a lot" is questionable. The BBC reports "Various types of fencing totaling 654 miles (just over 1,000 km) were already in place before Mr Trump became president in 2017," and that during the Trump administration, "80 miles of new barriers have been built where there were none before – that includes 47 miles of primary wall, and 33 miles of secondary wall built to reinforce the initial barrier."
