Finally, Trump’s Derangement Is Breaking Through in the Media
It took a reference to Arnold Palmer’s penis to get more mainstream reporters to tell it like it is. That’s progress.
Former president Donald Trump at a town hall at the convention center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on October 20.
(Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images)
Joe Biden’s departing the race and passing the torch to Kamala Harris accomplished two good things for Democrats: It energized crucial blocks of voters, especially Black women and young women, and also forced the media to drop its despicable obsession with Biden’s alleged mental and physical infirmities and concentrate on the only deranged person in the race, Donald Trump. It’s taken almost three months to accomplish that, but this last week, Trump gave them no choice.
It’s possible that the least important thing got the most attention, as is often the case: Trump talking about the size of the late golf great Arnold Palmer’s… let’s say “equipment.” “He took showers with the other pros. They came out of there and said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable,’” he said. Palmer, the pride of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where Trump held his rally, was “all man,” he said.
What got less attention, at the same rally, were his profane insults to Harris. “You have to tell Kamala Harris.… We can’t stand you. You’re a shit vice president.” He added:“Kamala, you’re fired, get the hell out of here, you’re fired.” The crowd roared.
But this capped a week of bizarre behavior: At a supposed town hall on Monday, after an audience member had a medical incident, Trump told his music masters (whose choices are always bizarre) to play songs—instead of his taking any questions. For 39 minutes, Trump danced and swayed to a medley that included “Ave Maria,” James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s World,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and “Memory” from the musical Cats. Saturday Night Live said that if you liked those songs, you could buy them in a compilation called Now That’s What I Call Dementia, Volume 1. For the kids, that spoofs a series of cheesy CDs from the late 1990s called Now That’s What I Call Music, featuring various years and genres.
Dementia isn’t funny, of course. That’s SNL’s joke, not mine. But the weekend brought the most serious coverage of Trump’s obvious mental decline we’ve seen in the major media all year. On Friday Politico reported that advisors described Trump as “exhausted,” explaining why he was declining or backing out of interviews (the campaign denied that). It was also widely reported that in exhorting a crowd to get out and vote, he insulted them: “Jill, get your fat husband off the couch,” he said. “Get that fat pig off the couch. Tell him to go and vote for Trump, he’s going to save our country. Get that guy the hell off our—get him up, Jill, slap him around. Get him up. Get him up, Jill. We want him off the couch to get out and vote.” (Observers are divided over whether, by using the name “Jill,” he was referring to the Bidens. I don’t think so. Joe Biden is neither a “fat pig” nor likely to vote for Trump.)
Mainstream news organizations suddenly became more blunt about Trump’s decline—and derangement. “Trump’s age finally catches up with him,” The Washington Post wrote Saturday. “Trump kicks off Pennsylvania rally by talking about Arnold Palmer’s genitalia,” AP headlined its coverage of the Latrobe debacle. “Donald Trump’s vulgar rally ramble fuels questions about his state of mind,” the Financial Times wrote.
As always, The New York Times immediately “sane-washed” the story. On its breaking-news politics page, a short report said Trump told “golf stories” about Palmer without mentioning his lewd remark. But shockingly, after wide social-media outcry, reporter Michael Gold told a critic to direct his questions to [email protected], because “I filed something that included the thing you mention as omitted, but I’m not given the power to publish what I say.”
Maybe the pressure worked. Later in the day, the Times ran a longer piece by Gold, headlined “At a Pennsylvania Rally, Trump Descends to New Levels of Vulgarity,” which included the Palmer story verbatim, and warned that Trump’s crude talk could alienate “swing voters.”
To be fair, The New York Times reported on Trump’s earlier evidence of cognitive decline on October 7, in a piece headlined “Trump’s Speeches, Increasingly Angry and Rambling, Reignite the Question of Age.” But the paper continues to use euphemisms about Trump’s sick behavior instead of calling it what it is, while also playing down his extreme policies. “Harris Has Championed Family Policies. Now Trump Likes Them Too,” read a Saturday headline.
But overall, the major media seems more ready to tell the truth about Trump. All of the Sunday shows covered his Palmer remarks and the other evidence of not just vulgarity but potential mental decline. Reporters were quick to pounce on the fact that Trump’s alleged stint at a McDonald’s occurred at a location that was closed to regular customers and featured supporters pretending to drive through and pick up orders from Trump; in fact, they got prepackaged food. Harris has also seized on the week of insanity by using clips of Trump’s bizarre remarks (not the Palmer story; her rallies include kids) at her public appearances. Trump is giving Harris a real chance to spotlight his unfitness for office, and she is taking it.
The greatest danger here is not just Trump’s unbelievable shot at another term; polls show the pair essentially tied. It’s that if elected, Trump could quickly wind up ceding the presidency—whether because he knows his infirmity is disabling, or he’s forced to—to vice presidential nominee JD Vance. That might be more disastrous than a Trump second term. Vance is the friendly face of fascism, elevated by tech megamillionaires and democracy foes Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. Trump doesn’t understand the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025; Vance would know how to make it reality. Just the way Republicans argued that a vote for the 81-year-old Biden was a vote for Harris—which seemed to be fine with voters, as Harris is running stronger than Biden was among almost all demographics—Democrats should stress that a vote for Trump is a vote for Vance. Vance repels many voters, especially young women.
At any rate, it was a terrible week for Trump. Harris is nimbly highlighting his many stumbles, but so are reporters. Both developments bode well for democracy.
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Onwards,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation
