Early Monday the "Morning Joe" panel was alternately amused and concerned by comments Donald Trump made over the weekend in multiple speeches that seem to indicate he is in mental decline.
After showing clips of the former president seemingly not knowing whether he was in Iowa or South Dakota --mistaking Sioux City for Sioux Falls -- and making misstatements about Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whom he called a close friend, the panel speculated the pressures of multiple criminal trials are finally getting to him.
"I'm just speaking a fact, I'm not trying to be -- I'll be accused of being nasty -- but this is just the truth. If this was Joe Biden, what networks would be on a loop right now playing it and then talking about perhaps having a doctor on about his mental acuity?" co-host Mika Brzezinski offered. "There is such a disconnect in reality here in terms of the two frontrunners for president."
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"Look, so we have two candidates running for president who are likely to be the nominees of both the parties, who are older than most Americans are comfortable with," Morning Joe contributor Katty Kay replied. "Joe Biden gets an awful lot of attention for his age and a lot of scrutiny, and it is clearly damaging him in the polls which is why he now has a primary challenger which he probably wouldn't if it weren't for the age question. It's a real concern."
"Donald Trump, over the last month or so, has shown, he too, is a man who is nearing 80," she continued. "Maybe that is his age that is coming into play. At the moment it doesn't seem to be impacting him with his supporters, but age has a way of -- we've seen this, Mika, -- you and me, with our parents, right? It catches up on them."
"Let's see how the stress of a campaign, the stress of multiple, very intense legal suits against him affects his health and mental acuity and stamina over the course of the next year," Kay added. "Just because it is not having an impact on him in the polls at the moment doesn't mean it won't in a year, a year out, a year more of trials, and a year more of age. At that age, it makes a difference."
Panelist Johnathan Lemire chimed in, "To Katty's point, both [Trump and Biden] 77 and above. Yes, polls suggest the age doesn't seem to hurt Trump as much as it hurts Biden, but maybe next year, that does change."
"We have seen a number of his erratic statements, behavior, his mistakes --Trump, that is -- it's really picked up in recent weeks," he elaborated. "Those close to him suggest it is the pressure of the trials. The Biden campaign blasted the clip out of him mixing up the Sioux City and Sioux Falls thing, on Twitter/X. This is not the man you want at the helm."
Watch below or at the link.
MSNBC 10 30 2023 06 38 15youtu.be
