During a luncheon with Republican senators in the Rose Garden, the president appeared to struggle with his speech, losing his train of thought several times while praising Senator Tim Scott.
He said, “I put him on the stage, and he RIPPED the HEART out of everybody. He was so brutal! He turned out to be one of my best surrogates.” Then Trump added, “I said, Tim, when you fought for yourself, you were different. But for me? You’re a TIGER.”
People in the room smiled politely, but it soon became clear that Trump’s thoughts were scattered. His tone jumped from one topic to another, as if he were fighting to keep his own words straight.
At one point, he said, “He was good, just because he was good,” a line that sounded almost nonsensical.
WATCH🚨: President Trump on Sen. Tim Scott: “I put him on the stage, and he ripped the heart out of everybody. He was brutal! He became one of my best surrogates [in 2024].”
“I told him, ‘Tim, when you fought for yourself, you were different. But for me? You’re a tiger.'” pic.twitter.com/JWHxjKW7pE
— Officer Lew (@officer_Lew) October 21, 2025
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Trump’s public speeches have long drawn attention for their strange turns and offbeat remarks. Over time, analysts say his language has become less structured and more circular, often looping back on itself.
Experts who reviewed his past speeches found that his vocabulary has also shrunk compared to his first campaign in 2016. According to The Independent, specialists say his thoughts now drift more easily, and he often loses track of where his sentences begin or end, a sign some describe as “cognitive fatigue.”
A 2024 analysis by STAT News reported that Trump’s speaking style now shows a noticeable decline in verbal complexity, a pattern researchers often associate with cognitive decline in older adults.
The issue is not new. During his first term, Trump made several public blunders, mixing up names of world leaders, getting dates wrong, and even inventing words such as covfefe. In 2019, he claimed the Revolutionary Army took over the airports in 1775, a remark that still baffles historians.
In 2023, he confused Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban with the president of Turkey. In another speech, he called his former White House doctor Ronny Jackson Ronny Johnson, then quickly corrected himself after the crowd went quiet.
Featured image via X screengrab
