'Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that’: Trump’s remarks again fuel memory questions

27 February

President Donald Trump on Thursday made a series of remarks—perceived as either signs of forgetfulness or deliberate “walk-backs”—once again prompting some critics to question his mental fitness, a concern that frequently shadowed him during the 2024 presidential election.

During a White House press pool event in the Oval Office with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump —speaking to a group of administration-friendly reporters—was asked whether he still considers Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”—a claim he repeatedly made just last week.

“Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,” Trump responded to the reporter.

“Not a good sign of his mental well-being,” observed Jack Torrey, former DC Bureau Chief for the Columbus Dispatch.

“President stumbles and admits to forgetting what he said about Zelenskyy that set back relations with Ukraine and hurt our standing in Europe. Will the press aggressively cover this evidence of cognitive decline?” asked elections data analyst Philip Germain, a former Lincoln Project associate.

“Trump is either lying or suffering from some type of cognitive impairment,” commented Sarah Rumpf, a contributing editor for Mediate. “He did call Zelensky a dictator, it was public, it’s not in dispute in happened, and it wasn’t very long ago. No honest person with a basic level of cognitive function would answer this way.”

Lisa Lyons Wright, a former conservative GOP congressional staff member, asked, “How could President Trump forget that?”

“Short memory, apparently,” mocked the Financial Times’ chief correspondent in Kyiv, Christopher Miller.

“If Biden had done this, the media would be doing wall-to-wall coverage on ‘the mental decline of the president,'” noted former DNC spokesperson Marco Frieri.

“Gaslighting? Memory issues? Classic case of Dictator’s Remorse?” Fox News co-host Jessica Tarlov asked, offering a menu of options.

The MeidasTouch Network asked: “So Trumpers, three options: He’s senile. He’s a liar. Or both.”

When questioned during the same press pool event about his administration’s reported strong, successful push to have Romania release the Tate brothers—accused rapists and human traffickers—Trump insisted, “I know nothing about that.”

On Wednesday, during his first Cabinet meeting, Trump had attacked the European Union, telling his secretaries, that the EU was “formed to screw the United States.”

Again during that Oval Office presser, a reporter told Trump, “You said yesterday, that the EU was constructed to screw the U.S. when it comes to trade. What can our prime minister say to you to get you to not impose tariffs?”

Trump’s response? “Did I use the word that you said? That bad word?”

Meanwhile, The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake offered a different perspective.

“Some [are] taking these comments as Trump literally forgetting what he said before,” Blake wrote, pointing to his “bad word” remark. “Pretty clear that’s not what happened.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

From Your Site Articles