Trump admits ‘I have some very severe problems’ in Biden-like ramble at White House

Trump admits ‘I have some very severe problems’ in Biden-like ramble at White House Trump’s latest lengthy soliloquy in the Rose Garden evoked memories of the last octogenarian to occupy the Oval Office. Andrew Feinberg explains why - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in Nine hours after he’d landed at the new helipad on the South Lawn that he can’t stop gushing about —after a multi-day campaign swing through mostly safe Republican states that he should not have to rally support in — Donald Trump told a hand-picked group of first responders gathered in the Rose Garden that he was “supposed to be sleeping now.” The attendees had come to the luncheon with the expectation of seeing Trump speak, but both they and he might have been better off if he’d decided to shut his eyes and stay in bed. Instead of a cogent, topical set of remarks from the leader of the free world (at least that's what the POTUS is supposed to be anyway), what they got was nearly an hour of rambling from an exhausted octogenarian rushing headlong towards a midterm election his party is on course to lose. “If my voice holds out, we’re going to be in great shape,” Trump said early on, after listing the states still on his schedule at his pace of a rally-and-a-half a day. “You know, it is one voice after all. You could maybe get one of those beautiful robots that they make nowadays and make them look just like me, and you wouldn’t know the difference. Send them out on the trail. I can sit home and watch them on television.” For those of us who covered the last year of Joe Biden’s presidency, the 80-year-old’s demeanor elicited a sharp sense of deja vu — watching a past-his-prime, soon-to-be lame duck shrug off dismal polling and rising unaffordability while pivoting to talking about what happens after he is gone. The bravado that led him to spend months trolling the press and public about a third term appeared to be completely gone, leading him to tacitly acknowledge the limitations of his time in office — in the middle of a boast about the $22 trillion in investment he claims his unpopular tariffs have brought in. “You’re going to have a president someday that’s not me, and they’re going to be standing right here, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to report the greatest growth in the history of our country. I’ve done such a good job,” Trump said, sounding more defeatedly wistful than boastful. Trump then turned to the head of the Border Patrol union at a nearby table. “Remember, I did it. They didn’t do it. So just remember that,” he said. He claimed to be the victim of a similar phenomenon when he remarked that drug-pricing reforms from his first term “kicked in in Biden’s second year,” leading his successor (and predecessor, given his split terms) to announce the results as his own. “I remember Biden standing up and saying, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I want to announce some great numbers here or there.’ And I’d say, ‘I did that.’” Trump said the same thing a different way when he talked about the brass plaques of the “presidential walk of fame” now mounted along the colonnade. The entries get “a little bit more personal as we get closer to my year,” he said, “about what we’ve had to put up with. So who knows? They’ll probably change that as soon as they get in. But all I do is write the truth.” With less than a month until voters cast their ballots in the midterms, Trump appears caught in the same polling bubble that trapped Biden until a come-to-Jesus meeting with then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) convinced him that he no longer had enough support from his party to continue as the Democratic presidential nominee. For most of that summer leading up to his shockingly bad debate performance against Trump, Biden told anyone who asked that the polls were wrong, that his crowds proved it and that the press would not report it. Trump’s refrain in the paved-over space that was once the Rose Garden was similar: “The Democrats are saying there’s something bad happening, and the fake news doesn’t want to talk about it. But these are rallies that nobody’s ever seen.” It was unclear what he was talking about, though Trump has remarked multiple times in recent days that he has boosted GOP candidates simply by appearing in their states for a 2024-style rally. He was more candid about individual races than about the national picture. The Montana congressman he flew out to help is in “a little bit of a tight race.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Trump allowed is “a little bit controversial,” has “pulled pretty even now” with James Talarico in Texas — yes, let it sink in, the Trump backed Republican in ruby-red Texas has pulled even with a trans-rights supporting, left-leaning Democrat, and the president is noting that as a plus. Oh, and Trump said he’d “go back if it’s necessary because “we got to win these races.” On Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed leads Mike Rogers, he said, “I can’t imagine he won.” He called El-Sayed, a physician born in Michigan to Egyptian parents, “a Muslim Brotherhood guy, 100 percent,” and said, “I call him Mohammed Abdul Al-Sayyed.” The admission (as in the headline above) came while Trump was explaining why fentanyl has never tempted him: he does not drink, smoke or take drugs. “I have other problems. I have some very severe problems, but those are not one of them. I don’t want to add them to the list. Do you understand that, Todd?” he strangely said to Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is also his former personal lawyer. “Because if I did, I guarantee I wouldn’t be here right now.” He caught it immediately. “Now the press is going to say, ‘What problem does he have? Let’s figure it out.’ I probably set myself up for that one, Todd. Todd’s going to have to try and defend me because they’re going to say, he said he’s got some serious problems. What are they? Which I actually don’t know. I was just having fun.” Also, Todd is not your lawyer anymore, he is the American people’s, so why would he be defending you, Mr. President? The bizarre remark was reminiscent of the madcap stories and gaffes that came from Biden at this point in his term, from the uncle supposedly eaten by cannibals to talk about “President Putin” of Ukraine and “Vice President Trump” at that year’s NATO summit. Trump does his own explaining, on the spot, and did here. But in 2024, the clips were the news and they were widely and regularly promoted by conservative outlets and Trump’s social media allies. This year, they share the page with gasoline at $4.40, a war in its eighth month, and an approval rating Pew measured at 30 percent this month, the lowest of either of Trump’s divisive terms. Democrats lead the generic ballot by nine points and are ahead in 10 of the 12 competitive Senate races. He still got laughs. Navy missile strikes on drug boats, Trump said, have “killed the fishing industry,” because “nobody wants to go boating anymore.” He wants the death penalty for anyone who shoots a firefighter on a ladder. When a volunteer fire chief handed him a helmet and said he hoped God would use it to protect him, Trump said, “I could have used this in Butler.” Everyone would get a challenge coin, he said, and “they have a choice of the coin or meeting Trump. They say, ‘We’ll take the coin, please.’” He told the guests to eat, suggested some music because “some of you don’t like each other,” and went inside. Michigan, Iowa and Kansas are still on the list. Trump has just one voice to get through them with. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments