Have you noticed there are a lot more media stories about Trump's perceived mental decline? Trump is "incoherent." He "rambles." His "cognitive decline" is becoming obvious.
And the radical left is accusing the media of (wait for it) "covering for Trump" and his mental decline.
They call it "sanewashing," which eerily echoes criticism of the media from the right.
"If it feels like half the electorate has gone mad, that’s in part because the press continues to fail to present Trump as he truly is," writes Stephen Robinson of Public Notice.
"The average voter probably doesn’t spend much time watching clips of Trump’s rants or reading his unhinged screeds on social media. But they might consume reporting that consistently 'sanewashes' his derangement," Robinson adds. There's a lot more from Mr. Robinson, but you get the picture.
"As he truly is" is code for the media not reporting on Trump the way the left wants. And that includes the left's desire for the media to "Bidenize" Trump by portraying him as a senile, crazy old man.
Trump's answer on the question of how to pay for his childcare proposal is exhibit #1 in the effort to tag Trump as mentally unfit. It was, indeed, a smash-up.
“It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that – because, look, child care is child care. It’s – couldn’t – you know, it’s something – you have to have it. In this country, you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to, but they’ll get used to it very quickly..."
Not Trump's finest hour. But where Harris's word salads are stream-of-consciousness bull crap, Trump is afflicted with word tsunamis. It certainly doesn't indicate anything relating to mental health. It's an idiosyncrasy Trump has had for as long as he's been speaking off the cuff in public.
That said, the media didn't print the full transcript of the answer, and that angered many on the left.
But The New York Times' initial report on Trump’s babble said this: “In a jumbled answer, he said he would prioritize legislation on the issue but offered no specifics and insisted that his other economic policies, including tariffs, would ‘take care’ of child care.”
Oh, c’mon. A 78-year-old convicted felon running for president rants nonsensically, demonstrating an inability to hold a thought or understand an important issue, and it’s deemed “a jumbled answer”?
The USA Today columnist, Rex Huppken, once called himself “America’s most-beloved columnist” when he worked for the Chicago Tribune. So maybe his piece is all a big joke.
No doubt every little slip by Trump, every hesitation, every stumble, every pause will have left-wing pundits screaming that Trump is just like Biden, so why not call on him to step down? If Biden was in mental decline, then Trump belongs in an institution, they will claim.
This will be especially true if Harris, as expected, gives her own stumbling, bumbling debate performance. It will be the commentariat's way of covering for the vice president.
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