Long-form analysis revels why attacking Trump for 'sounding crazy' doesn’t work with MAGA

16 February 2024

Many frustrated supporters of President Joe Biden, now 81, have complained that they are sick of hearing so much discussion of his age and his mental acuity when his likely rival in the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump, is 77 and has had more than his share of verbal stumbles.

Biden's gaffes, they argue, are overreported — especially in light of Trump's rambling speeches. During a recent campaign speech, Trump confused former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (the only Republican other than Trump left in the 2024 GOP presidential primary) with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California).

But The Atlantic's McKay Coppins, in an article published on February 16, lays out some reasons why Trump often gets a pass while Biden doesn't.

Coppins makes his point by describing an interview he conducted with Trump for BuzzFeed in 2014 — an interview in which Trump, the journalist stresses, sounded a lot like he does now.

Trump, according to Coppins, hated the article (which BuzzFeed published on February 13, 2014) and, true to form, railed against him on social media.

"On social media and in the press," Coppins observes, "countless detractors have speculated that Trump is losing touch with reality, or sliding into dementia, or growing intoxicated by his own conspiracy theories. The sense of progression is what unites all these claims — the idea that Trump is not just bad, but getting worse."

The reporter continues, "To test this theory, I went back and listened to the recording of my hour-long interview with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2014. Half-convinced by the narrative of the former president's worsening mental health, I expected to find in that audio file a more lucid, cogent Trump — one who hadn't yet been unraveled by the stresses and travails of power. What I found instead illustrates both the risks of returning him to the Oval Office and the futility of trying to prevent that outcome by focusing on his mental decline: He sounded almost exactly the same as he does now."

Trump, according to Coppins, "sounded crazy" in 2014 and still sounds "crazy" now. And the journalist lays out some reasons why Biden and Trump are unfairly held to different standards.

"Biden ran for president on a platform of stability and competence, and that image is undermined by suggestions of mental decline," Coppins argues. "Accusing Trump of going crazy doesn't work because, well, he has sounded crazy for a long time. The people who voted for him don't seem to mind — in fact, it's part of the appeal."

Read The Atlantic's full report at this link (subscription required).

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