A historian who has studied presidential speeches says Donald Trump’s rallies are unmistakable evidence of his decline.
Ted Widmer, a former White House speechwriter and editor of the Library of America’s collection American Speeches, wrote in The Guardian on Tuesday that Trump’s rallies, at their worst, offer evidence of “a president whose faculties are failing him.”
Widmer argued that over the past two months, Americans have sat through the worst speeches ever delivered by a sitting president. Presidents have delivered plenty of bombs, he noted, but Trump’s are in a category of their own, “they are routinely overflowing with vitriol against perceived enemies, groundless predictions of victory and delusions of grandeur.”
Many of the speeches barely hold together, Widmer wrote, and the president often loses his way during his extended rants. He gave a rally in North Carolina as an example in which Trump told the same story about Michael Dukakis and Willie Horton twice. Widmer also says the evidence is in his threats to rename oceans, bragging about oil profits as Americans suffer and issuing pardons to polluters who are violating the federal Clean Air Act.
Widmer notes that the 80-year-old has increased his use of profanity, giving examples such as Trump declaring that “Norway sucks,” calling Robert De Niro “a moron” and using his juvenile nicknames for his rivals. He has also boasted about acing his cognitive tests, insisting, “I’m a freaking genius.”
Widmer also flagged a telling break from tradition. Past administrations routinely posted every presidential speech on the White House website. Trump’s team won’t post his rally speeches, which Widmer suggested reflects an awareness that they drag down the dignity of the office.
To show how far the bar has dropped, Widmer reached back through history of bad presidential speeches. William Henry Harrison’s marathon 1841 inaugural address, James Buchanan’s embrace of the Dred Scott decision, and even Barry Goldwater’s fiery 1964 convention speech look restrained by comparison to Trump, he argued.
He also compared Trump to Richard Nixon for what he calls their “well-known problems with the truth” and hatred of enemies, but made the distinction with campaign speeches, noting Nixon’s 1970 campaign stops featured dry talk of budgets and tax relief, rather than critical language.
The White House has rejected claims that Trump has slipped, and his physician has pointed to a perfect score on a cognitive screening test. Widmer conceded that his two-hour speeches take energy, and that the rallies still entertain the MAGA faithful, though their numbers are dwindling.
But he questioned whether any of it serves the country, or even the Republican Party. The Trump brand may now be so toxic, he suggested, that sharing a stage with him does candidates more harm than good.
As voters head to the polls Tuesday, Widmer wrote that early signs point to a more balanced Washington, which he called a beginning.
