President Donald Trump’s recent interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker may have ended in him walking out, but according to one political analyst, it in fact signifies the beginning of the end of Trump’s credibility as president.
“On Sunday, President Trump quit an interview with Kristen Welker of ‘Meet the Press’ after becoming frustrated as he faced challenging questions,” wrote MS NOW’s Matthew Bartlett on Monday. “Fighting with the media is nothing new for the president, but the notion of giving up midway through when things get tough may be more indicative of Trump’s current mindset and emblematic of his second presidency.”
Bartlett added that, while Trump was given a second chance at being president in the 2024 election, he mistook his victory as a mandate to implement a far right agenda on issues like gutting government infrastructure, deporting immigrants and waging wars against nations like Venezuela and Iran. In the process, Trump has neglected “the stubborn issues of affordability that continue to plague the post-Covid economy. For Americans of all ages, living, eating, breathing and simply going to work is incredibly and increasingly unaffordable, much less doing it all with a family. “
He added, “In a matter of months, attention will soon move from the White House to the campaign trail, and even successful presidents struggle to keep the spotlight off their potential successors. Candidates from both parties will have a chance to define themselves and offer their ideas on everything from artificial intelligence to taxes to war and peace. America’s next act will be written not in the Oval Office or the halls of Congress, but in the town halls and events across America.”
Bartlett concluded, “Meanwhile, the second Trump administration is already a lost cause at home and abroad. He has made himself a lame duck president, and is getting lamer every day.”
Speaking to AlterNet about Trump’s interview with Welker, former Tufts University professor and esteemed psychiatrist Dr. Henry Abraham speculated that Trump’s seeming inability to remember the name of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei also suggests possible cognitive decline.
“We all know politicians bob and weave," Abraham told AlterNet. "This is Trump's version of bobbing and weaving. The problem is that it's bobbing and weaving in a way that is illogical and doesn't make sense. It does not pass muster of a normal mental status exam.”
He continued, “Any patient giving that answer to that question — the answer which is quite clear — would say something like: ‘Yes, I know how he's doing, but it's top secret. I can't talk about it,’ or ‘We're not in touch, and I hope he does well because we'd like to talk to him sometime.’ Those are normal answers. What he gave was a total non-sequitur, not a politician's bob and weave.”
Ultimately Abraham concluded that, regarding Khamenei’s name, “I don't think the president knows it either, which is either extremely poor foreign policy or an inability to retain a complex Arabic name.”