'Delusional': Critics say new Fox interview proves Trump is 'detached from reality'

11 February

On Monday, February 10, Fox News aired Bret Baier's sit-down interview with President Donald Trump (which was taped a day earlier). The interview came almost three weeks into Trump's second presidency, which, many critics say, is proving to be even more chaotic than his first.

The Bulwark's Will Saletan analyzes that interview in an article published on February 11, arguing that it supports one of two competing theories often voiced by Trump critics.

"Among the reality-based community — those of us who acknowledge Donald Trump’s prodigious history of false statements — there's a longstanding debate," Saletan explains. "Some think Trump knows better and is simply lying. Others think he's sincerely delusional."

Saletan believes that Trump's interview with Baier "strongly supports the delusionality theory," which, he laments, is "bad news for America and the world."

"For years," Saletan notes, "the lie/delusion debate has centered on the 2020 election: Does Trump really think he won it, or does he know his tales of massive fraud are bogus? In the Fox interview, Trump seethed as he repeated his debunked allegations."

Trump told Baier that the 2020 president election was "rigged" — a claim there is zero evidence to support.

Trump, Saletan argues, also sounded "delusional" when he told Baird, without offering evidence, that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is guilty of "fraud, a lot of it."

"Trump didn't just claim that Elon Musk's DOGE bros were finding wasteful spending," Saletan observes. "He suggested, again without evidence, that they were finding vast hidden corruption. 'Nobody thought this would be caught,' he told Baier."

Saletan continues, "If Trump were just cynically spreading conspiracy theories — first about the 2020 election, then about USAID and other parts of the government — then he might be able, apart from these deceptions, to govern rationally. But the interview showed that on fundamental policy questions, Trump is similarly detached from reality."

You can watch part of the interview below or at this link:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Will Saletan's first article for The Bulwark is available at this link.

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