U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement about lowering the cost of drug prices, at the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 19, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
When Donald Trump realized that Project 2025 was a liability for his 2024 presidential campaign, he claimed to not know anything about it. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and others aggressively campaigned against Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for a second Trump presidency. Trump, however, distanced himself from it during his campaign, although Russell Vought — a key Project 2025 architect — is now director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
In an article published on December 22, Salon's Amanda Marcotte stresses that President Trump is using the words "I don't know" a lot these days. And she argues that Trump's "deflection" could hurt the MAGA movement at some point.
"Trump loves to brag about how he passed — or so he says — the test doctors use to screen for dementia," Marcotte explains. "But when he is asked about anything harder and more politically fraught than 'can you draw a clock?' or 'is this a picture of a duck?,' the president is always quick with his favorite go-to answer: 'I don't know.' When asked why he pardoned a January 6 rioter who attacked a police officer with a stun gun, Trump replied, 'I don't know, was it a pardon?' It was, which is why the reporter asked."
Marcotte continues, "When asked why he got an MRI and what part of the body they scanned, he responded: 'No idea.' When asked about a recently released batch of photos showing him partying with Jeffrey Epstein — who called Trump 'my closest friend for 10 years' and referred to himself as 'Don's best friend' — the president said, 'I know nothing about it.' Variations of 'I don't know' — including 'I don't understand' and 'I don't know anything' — have become Trump's favorite response throughout the year when asked about the deceased sex offender, who spoke to him multiple times a week, the New York Times reported."
The "purpose" of Trump's "gambit," according to Marcotte, is "to deflect accountability for his growing pile of failures, corruption and scandals." But that approach, the Salon journalist says, could be problematic for MAGA in the long run.
"It's frustrating that he gets away with this," the Salon journalist writes, "but there's a silver lining. Even Trump himself seems to be getting tired of his own tactics. He can't manage to work up the energy for a more convincing deflection. He's bored and tired, his polls are falling and, with three years left, his second term already feels like it's running on fumes."
Marcotte adds, "'I don't know' is the deflection of a man who has run out of more interesting lies to tell. It's a small thing, but one of the many green shoots suggesting that, while this is not the end of MAGA, it may very well be the end's beginning."
Amanda Marcotte's full article for Salon is available at this link.
