MSNBC's Joe Scarborough suggested that whispers are growing louder about a serious concern over Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
The Wall Street Journal challenged the former president to take part in the second Republican debate, and the "Morning Joe" host said the op-ed gestured toward the elephant in the room that Republicans seem to be ignoring about Trump's 2024 candidacy.
"If you look at what happened last weekend, where you looked at him and he just got lost, he just blanked, he couldn't even remember, one, who he was running against in 2024, and then -- and I know it was almost eight years ago, it was a long time ago if you're -- we've all been around people with dementia, people getting older, forgetting things. Well, it was his history, so if his mind wasn't jumbled at that moment, he would have remembered he ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016. He couldn't remember who he ran against in 2016, so he just slid [Barack] Obama in there, just a catch-all, I guess – if you start your career with a racist conspiracy theory about Obama, he's got that back there somewhere. He is living somewhere in 2011, 'I'll just say Obama's name, people seem to like that.'"
The 77-year-old Trump and his allies frequently say that President Joe Biden, who's 80, is too old to run for president, and many Democrats worry about that, as well, but Scarborough believes the op-ed was expressing concerns on the right that the former president might be slipping due to his age.
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"The Wall Street Journal editorial page actually suggests about as much, that maybe he is afraid he's just too old to do this," Scarborough said. "They write, 'Why is Mr. Trump afraid to confront other Republicans without the aid of a teleprompter. Is he worried he'd look his age at 77 next to younger candidates?' You know what? I know, for Donald, that line hurts, because he's seen the video of how addled he looked and how confused he looked and how shaken he looked last weekend when he couldn't even remember who he was running against."
"Now you've got the Wall Street Journal editorial page saying, 'Hey, I guess this guy is, you know, afraid he can't do this without a teleprompter, and he's too old,' which I guess starts raising questions, like, is this really who the Republicans -- if they don't look at the four indictments and the stealing of the nuclear secrets and the stealing of war plans and the attempt to steal an election – suggesting, and I think they are, 'Hey, there's a reason Donald Trump is afraid to debate," Scarborough added. "Maybe he's getting too old, he may lose his mind like he did on the stage when he thought he was running against Barack Obama. If you're debating and you're not even sure who you're running against, that could cause a problem."
Watch the video segment below or at this link.
09 21 2023 06 04 29youtu.be
