One of Donald Trump's former staffers is joining the chorus of voices saying the ex-president is in cognitive decline.
Trump in recent days has tried to scramble to explain away some of his mistaken references during speeches and interviews over the past several months, including repeated instances where he seems to think that former President Barack Obama is still in the Oval Office.
The co-hosts of "The View," including his former press aide Alyssa Farah Griffin, agreed on Tuesday Trump is slowing down.
"I mean, remember, at one point, he talked about Frederick Douglass still being alive?" asked Whoopi Goldberg.
Sunny Hostin turned to Farah Griffin: "I'm going to go to the expert..."
"Look, he's lost speed on his fastball, to botch baseball metaphors," the former Republican strategist said. "He's not as sharp as he was in 2016, and he wasn't that sharp then, many would argue. You see a decline. It is a fact that you can't get past. But what is remarkable to me is this: Our country is so polarized that Trump supporters see that, and they don't think a thing about it. It doesn't really affect them. 'He's my tough guy. He's my fighter!' But see any gaffe of Joe Biden and 'Joe Biden is aging, he's too old.'"
Hostin pointed out a recent letter from "Trump's doctor" about his health.
"He's not a medical doctor, but a D.O., a doctor of osteopathic medicine," she said. The Mayo Clinic classifies a D.O. as a "real" doctor, but one who went to an osteopathic medical school over a traditional one.
"There is a difference between the two — said he is in great shape, right? ... But did not include the following information: his height, his weight, his cholesterol level or his blood pressure, which he lied about in his mug shot," Griffin continued.
The group then debated whether Trump was trying to use a racist dog whistle when he claimed former President Barack Obama was the president. Some speculate he can't remember who the president is, while others say it's an intentional mistake to claim the former Black president is controlling Biden.
"That is a dog whistle to the white supremacists of the country saying I don't want a black man in charge again," said Hostin.
"You can't undo that," Goldberg cut in. "It already happened."
ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl offered that it isn't an intentional error but an attempt to save face.
"Trump has become also increasingly confused about things. He sometimes he thinks that he lost to [Barack] Obama in the last election," Karl told ABC's "This Week" roundtable panel. "He confuses basic facts and says some rather strange things, but there isn't much attention paid. As we get closer to these primaries, we'll see where not just Trump is based on these criminal cases, but where he is now as a human being."
Meanwhile, Trump's pointing to Biden's cognition is being seen by political analysts as a projection.
See the debate in the video below or at the link here.
