Is Donald Trump losing it?
I’m not referring to the former president’s current presidential race.
I’m talking about the former president’s mind. Or maybe, better stated, his bearings.
Things seemed to go south for him after what one might have thought he would call happy news: President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
Even before Biden’s exit, which many senior Democrats wanted and which the Trump at various points said he expected, allies of Trump, including the conservative Heritage Foundation, floated the possibility of suing to block Democrats from putting anyone other than Biden on the ballot in November.
Amid all the rest of his many grievances, Trump felt he was owed a contest against Biden. But election officials and legal experts said the timing of Biden’s withdrawal made it highly unlikely that any Republican ballot access challenges would have a prayer of success.
And that’s just as well. If a political party has any power in this day and age, it should include their ability to choose their own presidential candidates. Vice President Kamala Harris already is the nominee, and delegates will meet in Chicago next week to hear her accept the nomination.
For Trump, the loss of his familiar nemesis appeared to rattle him despite his predictions Biden would withdraw. A Trump campaign that during most of the Republican convention in July appeared to be becoming more disciplined now has devolved into what voters have become accustomed to — Trump depending on his “instincts,” rather than his advisers, to win the day.
Worse for Trump, the famously fractious Democrats managed to do what many thought was not possible: They held together throughout the process of naming a new presidential ticket without splintering into fights, feuds and factions.
With remarkable smoothness, Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz hit the trail as the most visibly optimistic Democrats to emerge since the days when another Minnesota Democrat, Hubert Humphrey, was called the “Happy Warrior.” You’ve got to be about Trump’s age to remember, since that was in the 1960s.
Picking up on that theme, Walz told Harris in his first speech as her running mate, “Thank you for bringing back the joy.”
The happy talk was more than just a sweet sentiment. It was an apt description of the new mood sweeping across Democratic circles as polls in recent days showed Harris to be doing much better than Biden was when he left the race.
And the ironies just keep on coming, it seems. After the 81-year-old Biden reluctantly bowed out, amid urgent pleas from fellow Democrats, the 78-year-old Trump replaced him as both the oldest candidate in the race and the oldest-ever nominee for president.
As one who is almost Trump’s age, I sympathize. Still, fair is fair, and if age and all that comes with it was the main issue forcing Biden out, Trump should have to face the same questions. Trump’s age-related issues took center stage with the bizarre narrative around whether he and former California Speaker Willie Brown ever took a helicopter ride together.
Nearly a week ago, Trump relayed a dramatic tale of nearly dying in the supposed copter ride he and Brown took together, during which Brown had (unspecified) unflattering things to say about Harris, whom Brown had dated three decades ago.
The story quickly unraveled, as Brown said he’d never been in a helicopter with Trump. Did Trump dream it? Trump in typical form accused his adversaries of lying. But a few days later, the public got an explanation that made more sense.
Another Black California politician, Nate Holden, now 95 years old, recounted a harrowing helicopter ride with Trump around 1990. Then a California state senator from Los Angeles, Holden was in New York to meet with Trump over the latter’s interest in a California real estate deal, and they were flying to nearby Atlantic City to tour the casino Trump owned at the time.
“I guess we all look alike,” Holden told Politico, laughing.
Those familiar with Trump’s tendency to be fast and loose with facts may not be too shocked by such memory slips. But with Trump flailing around the way he is these days to cope with the Dems’ Harris switcheroo, it isn’t reassuring even his own supporters that he’ll right the ship if he keeps telling tales as tall as that one.
