Trump Reports Reaction of Nonexistent 'Audience'

@#12 ... The problem with Trump is he's been acting demented as part of his schtick for years, ...

Oh, I agree with everything except the "acting" part.

... everyone knows that. ...

Really?

My (non-medical) view is that, yeah, fmr Pres Trump has shown symptoms of mental degradation for a few years now. And it seems to be getting worse, the rate of degradation seems to be increasing of late.

In Flint, Michigan he was speaking to the autoworkers, and was asked about what he thought the big challenges were to the auto workers and what would he do to resolve those challenges.

Fmr Pres Trump, in response went into a 9 minute babble about nuclear weapons, nuclear war and other ~stuff.~.

www.freep.com

... When one audience member asked Trump what needed to be done to protect the auto industry, Trump veered into a dire warning about the threat of nuclear war and downplayed the threat of climate change, saying the world is cooling.

"It (a nuclear attack) is the single biggest threat to the world, not only Michigan to the world, and you're not going to care so much about making cars, if that stuff starts happening." While some leaders say the threat of nuclear war is higher than in the recent past, it's also true that the world has been warming, not getting cooler, for decades.

Trump also said he would start his first day back in office by responding to increases in recent years in illegal immigration by closing the southern border, despite a current policy that has substantially reduced the number of people being allowed into the U.S. and a move if attempted which is certain to spark lawsuits to block him, and increasing oil production as a way to lower gas prices and transportation costs overall. In 2023, the U.S. produced more oil than in any year when Trump was president.

Trump continued to blast the U.S. economy, saying it was "not good," but the job creation has been up throughout President Joe Biden's term in office, as has the stock market. Inflation rates were high, however, for years following the COVID shutdowns, though they have been coming down in recent months.

The former president also had kind words for Elon Musk, a supporter and founder of electric car maker Tesla, saying Musk "loves your state," even though Tesla has no Michigan operations despite its connection with the auto industry and has been accused by the UAW of trying to intimidate workers' efforts to unionize. ...