Believe it or not, there was a time during the 2016 presidential campaign when Donald Trump could stick to a message and make a point. I recently went back and looked at some of his speeches and rallies from a decade ago, and many of them, while still full of lies and misstatements, were in the 30-minute range. Trump appealed to people because he offered simple answers, which were not based in reality, to complicated problems.
PoliticusUSA is 100% independent news and opinion. No political party or special interest will ever tell us what to say. Support us by becoming a subscriber.
Looking back on it, Trump’s decline started to show itself by 2018, and since then it has been like an avalanche down a mountainside.
In July of 2026, the United States has a president for whom the purpose of events and people in attendance is meaningless. His fractured mind is going to talk about whatever it wants.
No president has ever looked more uncomfortable around children in the television era than Donald Trump.
The event was supposed to be about new savings accounts for kids called Trump Accounts, but here was Donald Trump positioned beside children:
Trump is standing there rigid like Frankenstein’s monster and doesn’t look at or acknowledge the kids. When his head turns in their direction, the president looks above them, like they aren’t there.
The White House messaging was already off to a bad start, and then Trump spoke.