During a campaign event in Milwaukee, Donald Trump had a bewildering moment, confusing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with Iran’s president, claiming the former is “trying to kill” him.
Former President Donald Trump had a bewildering moment during a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this week, mistakenly asserting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is “trying to kill” him, apparently confusing the dictator with the president of Iran.
In a rambling and disjointed statement, Trump declared, “Washington would not get us… They said that we have to guard the United Nations, which meant the president of North Korea, who’s basically trying to kill me. So they want to guard him, but they don’t want to guard me. We’re going to start having it out with them because we sort of have it.”
This gaffe sparked an immediate wave of mockery on social media, with users quick to poke fun at the former president’s confusion.
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“For the good of the country, it’s time for this old man to step aside,” one user commented.
“Grandpa is making all kinds of mistakes lately. How does he confuse that one?” another user chimed in.
“He’s completely lost it. He was already off his rocker, but now he seriously needs to go to a home, a hospital, or prison—his choice,” one reply stated.
“Imagine this happening in the Situation Room,” another user mused.
Watch Trump’s remarks below:
a very confused Trump confuses Kim Jong Un with the president of Iran and claims Kim Jong Un "is trying to kill me" pic.twitter.com/yWdEuxLsok
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 1, 2024
Leading mental health experts have expressed alarm over Trump’s mental faculties, suggesting he’s showing signs of “cognitive decline.”
Earlier this month, Dr. Richard A. Friedman, a professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, said he was “alarmed” by Trump’s debate performance on September 10, noting that Trump “displayed some striking, if familiar, patterns that are commonly seen among people in cognitive decline.”
Dr. Ben Michaelis, a clinical psychologist who has conducted cognitive assessments for the New York Supreme Court, echoed these concerns. He referenced a phenomenon called “sundowning,” which makes it harder for individuals with dementia to focus as the day goes on.
“It’s very difficult for them to maintain focus on a topic,” he explained. “The idea of being able to maintain that level of focus for that amount of time, that late in the day… you wouldn’t think twice about it if that was your grandfather. It just happens to be that he’s running for president.”
Regarding Trump’s often rambling speeches, Michaelis described them as “logorrhoea,” a Greek term meaning excessive talking, which can be associated with dementia.
Former White House physician Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who has cared for Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton, stressed that presidential candidates should undergo objective cognitive assessments.
“We don’t let you be an airline pilot because of public safety past the age of 65, we don’t let you be an FBI agent past the age of 57,” he noted. “[The President] has the most powerful position in the free world.”
Kuhlman argued that an independent cognitive test would provide a “much better objective picture” of whether a candidate has cognitive decline, which he pointed out is common to some degree after the age of 60, or if there is a presence of progressive dementia. He highlighted that dementia is more common among those in their eighties, “which Donald Trump will be in about a year and a half,” Kuhlman observed.
