A pair of medical emergencies delayed a Pennsylvania town hall with former President Donald Trump this month and kicked off a round of conspiracies about the Republican nominee’s age.
“Trump Bobs His Head to Music for 30 Minutes in Odd Town Hall Detour,” The New York Times headlined its coverage.
“After multiple interruptions, Donald Trump cut off questions and seemed to decide that it would be more enjoyable for all concerned — and, it appeared, for himself — if he fired up his campaign playlist,” the Times reported.
The delay provoked headlines across mass media uncritically depicting Trump as a senior who is suffering the same cognitive decline that ultimately forced President Joe Biden out of his race for reelection this summer.
“Trump’s Bizarre Turn At Town Hall Has Critics Asking New Questions About His Health,” The Huffington Post titled its coverage.
“Trump sways and bops to music for 39 minutes in bizarre town hall episode,” The Washington Post stated.
“Is Trump okay?” asked The Week. “Former president’s mental health is firmly back in the spotlight after ‘bizarre’ town hall event.”
“This should freak everybody out,” said Whoopi Goldberg on “The View.” “This freaked me out. He’s freaked me out a lot, but this really upset me.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign seized on the moment to characterize the 78-year-old ex-commander-in-chief as cognitively deteriorating in the final moments of his third presidential run.
“Trump appears lost, confused, and frozen on stage as multiple songs play for 30+ minutes,” Harris’ rapid-response campaign account wrote on X.
Former President Barack Obama picked up the fabricated storyline at several recent campaign events for Harris.
“The point of a town meeting is to take questions,” Obama said in Arizona last week. “He just decided, you know what, ‘I’m gonna stop taking questions’ and then he’s swaying to ‘Ave Maria’ and ‘YMCA’ for about half an hour.”
After glossing over the medical emergencies that interrupted Trump’s Pennsylvania proceedings this month, Obama went on to Detroit Tuesday and repeated the same manufactured talking points after the Republican candidate canceled a town hall with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“We do not need to see what an older, loonier version of Donald Trump looks like with no guardrails,” Obama said.
The Trump campaign, however, said the former president’s participation was canceled due to a scheduling conflict.
Conservative podcast host Dan Bongino called out the Harris campaign for peddling the latest narrative about Trump’s cognitive health based on an interview with his program.
“Trump abruptly ends his live interview after it is reported that he is canceling interviews because he is ‘exhausted,’” an official Harris X feed reported with a clip of Trump on Bongino’s podcast.
The host called “BULLSH-T.”
“He stayed LONGER than planned and signed a baseball and other items for charitable hurricane relief for another 10 min[ute]s afterwards,” Bongino said on X.
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