Swing-state newspaper shames press for ignoring Trump's 'alarming cognitive decline'

The editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday is drawing attention to the latest rambling statements by former President Donald Trump and is demanding to know why the media isn't asking more questions about his mental fitness for the presidency.

In their editorial, the editors acknowledge that they have long believed Trump to be unfit for the presidency – but they nonetheless see the apparent deterioration of his mental state as yet another significant risk in giving him another four years in the Oval Office.

"Donald Trump was always unfit to be president, however his apparent cognitive decline since he last ran for office in 2020 is alarming," they write. "He has long spewed lies and conspiracies, but Trump’s rantings have become more delusional — underscoring how he can’t be trusted with the nation’s nuclear launch codes, let alone to manage budgets, unpredictable crises or delicate matters of foreign affairs."

The editorial then describes some of what it says are the former president's strange ramblings over the last few days.

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"Trump made a number of bizarre claims, including that people were 'dying financially because they can’t buy bacon' and that Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ vice presidential pick, was 'heavy into the transgender world,'" the editors explain. "Trump wrongly said everyone would be forced to buy electric cars, and that would require every bridge in the country to be rebuilt because the weight of the batteries made electric vehicles heavier. He went off on a wild tangent about the time he almost crashed in a helicopter with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, even though Brown says he never flew with Trump."

As if that weren't enough, the editors continue, fact checkers identified more than 160 different false claims made by Trump over the span of a little more than an hour -- and this was before Trump falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign fabricated her rally crowd sizes using artificial intelligence.

"It’s unlikely that the former president would ever feel compelled to release more details about his mental state," the editors conclude. "So it will ultimately be left to voters to determine whether Trump’s outlandish ravings are the product of 'a very stable genius,' or someone who is more dangerous, more delusional, and more unfit to be president with each passing day."