Watching Trump address local officials in Lake Charles, Louisiana where temperatures are in the 90’s and humidity is legendary, particularly post-Hurricane Laura, and I have a few questions.
Most everyone in the crowd is in polo shirts. All men. One fellow is in official county shirt, a light colored cotton. Senator John Kennedy is there: his arms are bare and he’s got a patina on his face.
They are seated at a makeshift U-shaped conference table indoors. There is only one person wearing a hat. Trump.
Oddly, he’s dressed for late Fall, wearing a dark-colored long sleeved jacket over a white dress shirt and a large duck-billed red cap emblazoned with USA. The cap covers the back of his head, sitting as low as the bottom of his ears. It entirely masks his forehead and casts deep shadows over his eyes and the top of his nose. He is sweating profusely.
A wide shot at the beginning, setting the scene and giving the viewer some idea of who is there and the distancing between participants, perhaps evidenced more than intended. Trump sits awkwardly in the chair, hunched forward; his legs are spread apart and splayed unevenly beneath him.
Trump does his usual table talk, consulting his notes for participants’ names and making small talk: how are you doing, he repeatedly asks. He doesn't respond to their reports, just nods and moves on to the next one. Empathy play. Fail.
In brief prepared remarks he falsely states that Hurricane Laura was a Cat 5 storm before it hit: it wasn’t. Is he lying or exaggerating? Only his neurologist knows for sure.
Trump seems entirely unaware of the fact that today, the day he is there, is the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Waterloo of New Orleans and the GOP administration that failed it. It defies reason and belief that his staff didn't remind him about this. Was it in a briefing he didn't read, or did he forget?
Here’s another clue, for those of you sleeping in the back row.
Last evening Trump nearly fell as he approached the podium in Londonderry, NH to address his first post-Convention rally. The only thing that stopped the topple were his sharply waving arms. The mishap was captured on video shown, internationally and repeatedly, on Asian media today.
There’s no obvious reason for this breath-catching loss of balance. It wasn’t an obstacle course: advance people had cleared the path and Secret Service procedures would have been to check for anything that might impede his safety.
He hadn’t ambulated very far. It happened shortly after he landed, just steps away from Air Force One, now the backdrop of every presidential appearance when it isn’t the White House. He’d debarked for the sole reason of this appearance.
Trump was originally expected to appear at a larger venue, a hangar in adjacent Manchester. He was expected at 2: the Trump show landed around 6:30 pm. Reasons for the 4 plus hour delay and last minute change of locale are unknown.
Although there is a mask mandate in NH for large gatherings, Trump didn't wear a mask and most in the crowd didn’t either.
He should start. Wearing a mask would help him further cover up whatever it is he’s hiding. Bruises? Body brace? Adult diaper?
This is only going to worsen. Dementia does.
