Trump is only bringing attention to his rapid decline

From his mental cognition and physical health to his lack of coherent policy, he keeps loudly reminding Americans.

Donald Trump went out to give a rally for the first time in months, speaking this week in a swing district in Pennsylvania. The White House hyped it to be a speech on affordability, but he instead attacked “affordability” as a “hoax” and veered into his usual viciously racist attacks.

Democrats couldn’t wish for a better scenario.

Trump is reminding everyone, every day, that his presidency is a disaster. And Tuesday after Tuesday, in elections all across the country, people have been responding by voting against him and the GOP. This past Tuesday Eileen Higgins became the first Democrat to win the Miami mayor’s race in 28 years.

She won by 19 points, while Kamala Harris won Miami only by a point in 2024, as Trump made inroad with Latinos, who make up a majority of registered voters in Miami. The Republican running against Higgins for the open office was Latino himself, former city manager Emilio González, and was endorsed by Trump. But Trump’s support has crashed in the Latino community, driven by his economic chaos and his mass deportations.

Trump, who said in the Pennsylvania speech that “tariff” is his favorite word, just keeps giving people reasons to vote against him even if they previously supported him.

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And as he stumbles, he’s bringing more attention to his mental decline and his physical health. The media haven’t nearly covered Trump’s health in the way they covered President Biden’s mental and physical competency.

But not to worry, Trump will remind you of it himself. He’s the one who blurted out on Air Force One that he’d had an MRI in his second physical in the summer, claiming it all was great. But that just raised a thousand questions, as no one gets an MRI as a routine screening. The speculation hasn’t died down, even as the White House has put out further very vague information. And it raises more questions about his swollen angles and bruised hands, which are there for all to see.

When The New York Times finally did a story on how Trump has slowed down, not doing rallies on the road and not having many events inside the White House—and raised his health—Trump went ballistic. He could have just let it be, but no, he had to write a massive Truth Social post that accused the paper of being “seditious” and “treasonous” because no one should be questioning Dear Leader.

Those are his favorite lines of attack, which only once again highlight his aspirations to be a dictator or a king. It’s outrageous and dangerous, but it also is yet another example of Trump bringing attention to the very thing he doesn’t want anyone paying attention to. We always hear about Trump trying to distract—and that’s true—but he also has a habit of making sure everyone’s laser-focused on the thing he’s most afraid of. The rest of the media covered it for the next day, and the Times responded, getting more attention to the issue.

Trump couldn’t resist though because being seen as frail and weak is horrifying to him—and that’s because it’s true. For all the reasons I’ve written here about in recent weeks, Republicans are pushing back on him as MAGA is cracking up. So he can’t help but go on the attack, but then only brings more attention to the story rather than distracting from it.

And that’s what happened with his “affordability” speech, as he only underscored that he doesn’t understand the issue, couldn’t care less about people’s pain and has actually caused that pain with his tariffs.

Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, said in an interview a few days ago that they’d be putting Trump on the road in mega-rallies next year—though Trump, who seems exhausted, hasn’t been told yet.

“I haven’t quite broken it to him yet, but he’s going to campaign like it’s 2024 again,” Wiles told The Mom VIEW, a MAGA show produced by the group Moms for America.

Then she literally said they’re going to “put him on the ballot” in the midterm elections for Congress all across the country:

Typically, in the midterms, it’s not about who’s sitting at the White House; you localize the election. And you keep the federal officials out of it. We’re actually going to turn that on its head and put him on the ballot.

Bring it on! Again, Democrats could not ask for more.