Trump: 'Am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening?' Why is this being ignored?

[Amaryllis]

https://criticalread.substack.com/p/trump-am-i-watching-things-on-television?

Why is this quote not all over the national media? Because it raises questions about his mental competence.
Dan Froomkin
Sep 29, 2025
Why is one of the most extraordinary, revelatory quotes ever uttered by Donald Trump being ignored by the national media?

I’ll tell you why: Because it raises all sort of questions about his mental functioning and agency that the access-dependent Washington press corps would rather not acknowledge.

It confirms that Trump has no idea what he’s talking about. And it suggests he is either easily deceived, or manipulated, or both.

The quote in question came from a telephone interview Trump held on Sunday morning with NBC News White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.

Alcindor herself ignored it, filing two unrelated stories instead.

Indeed, the quote only saw the light of day thanks to a sharp-eyed investigative reporter at KGW TV in Portland, the NBC affiliate there.

I haven’t been able to reach the reporter, Evan Watson, but clearly affiliates were sent a full transcript of the phone interview. (NBC News could not be reached for comment, either.) This is what Watson wrote:

During a Sunday morning phone interview with NBC White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, though, Trump made some remarks that seemed to indicate he might be backing off his military plan for Portland.

Trump referenced a weekend conversation with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, and he alluded to being told by Kotek that the reality in Portland is different from what’s being portrayed to him.

“I spoke to the governor, she was very nice,” Trump said. “But I said, ‘Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different.’ They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place...it looks like terrible.”

Think about that. Trump -- in a brief moment of lucidity, perhaps -- wonders out loud if maybe he’s been deceived by what he’s seen on television, and what his aides have told him.

It doesn’t last long, of course. But it’s still incredibly telling.

The fact is, of course, that Trump is completely, ludicrously wrong about what’s going on in Portland. He has been for nearly a month, ever since he watched a deceptively edited Fox News segment that depicted the city as a war zone. And his advisers have apparently been complicit in his hoodwinking.

Much more at link

[thomski64]

1. Perhaps Krasnov was show news clips from the reaction to extra judicial murder of George Floyd

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. He's hallucinating

Like most dementia patients, he's simply seeing things and remembering things that aren't there and didn't happen. I've been around enough of them, both in my life and in a 30- year career as a nurse, to know that.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Yes it is possible he was shown pictures of Gaza or Ukraine.

And is conflating them with Portland.

And it is quite possible he is lying out his ass.

So we don't know if it is the dementia or psychopath talking.

He has so many disorders it is hard to determine which
pathology is behind which behavior.

[GoCubsGo]

7. Nah, he was shown photos of Portland from a while back.

There was a stretch of time when there were protests for I forget what turned violent, fomented by the pocket of anarchists that reside in the city. It might have been related to George Floyd's death, but don't quote me on that. The violence occurred only within a few blocks of the downtown, but the right-wing media has been constantly trying to claim this is an ongoing thing, and that Portland is just bombed-out crater now. The Propaganda Channel is one of the worst culprits, and that's pretty much all Cankles watches. It's no surprise that he thinks Portland is a war zone. Ditto for L.A., Chicago and DC. He believes it, because that's all he has been fed.

[Irish_Dem]

9. He is either lying or allowing himself to be manipulated.

Any way we slice it, not good news for a POTUS.

[GoCubsGo]

10. He's both.

He's a pathological liar, and the most easily-manipulated person on the planet. All you have to do is flatter him, and tell him what he wants to hear. Or, in the case of the propaganda networks, what you think he wants to hear. And, yes. Not good news, at all.

[Amaryllis]

18. It was after GEorge Floyd and Trump sent his storm troopers in which of course made it much worse.

[maxsolomon]

28. Yeah, you're misremembering the violence.

There were nightly protests at Federal facilities throughout Portland during the Floyd protests, and yes, Black Bloc was involved. There was property damage and fires almost every night. Not so much looting; that mostly took place in other cities.

The worst violence was fomented not by "a pocket of anarchists", but by RW militia types (Patriot Prayer, based in Vancouver WA) deliberately seeking confrontations, which they then filmed and distributed online, which they had been doing for years prior to the Floyd protests.

The confrontations devolved into roving street fights, where, on 8/29/2020, Michael Reinoehl shot and killed Aaron Danielson, claiming imminent danger and self-defense.

4 days later, US Marshals tracked him to Lacey WA (near Olympia) and shot him down in the street - on Trump's orders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killings_of_Aaron_Danielson_and_Michael_Reinoehl

[Amaryllis]

45. It was, however, only a few blocks downtown and not citiwide as they liked to paint it.

[Warpy]

39. It's called "confabulation"

He gets started on an idea, can't finish it, fils in the gaps with any horse shit he canthrow out there.

I doubt they'll pull the plug--they're a bunch of craven cowards--but they might relegate him to spokesmodel.

Edit: It's called "dystypia."

[Raven123]

3. Absolutely correct. Trump does not know what is going on

Notice he reads more from prepared texts than he used to. When he deviates he is incoherent, not just rambling.

I have noticed his frequent, but brief travels. A afternoon in Alaska? Not sure about the two day visit to England. Makes no sense. The people running the administration are just push in him out front while they do the work of destroying the country.

[Grammy23]

16. I noticed today (for the very brief amount of time I could stand to watch/listen to him)

That he had his eyes glued to the written text. He barely looked up or around. When he does that, it tends to distract him so much he can’t stay focused on the topic at hand. I’m sure they strongly suggested he stick to the script. Not that he listens to anybody …except maybe the extra voices in his punkin head. 🙄

[Raven123]

19. Yep. It's a pattern. Markedly different from his first term.

I too saw today’s appearance briefly. Looked like he was half asleep. The problem is world leaders see it too, and it influences their behavior.

[Hassler]

5. If we're being generous, he's so delusional

He thinks it's summer 2020.

[AZJonnie]

6. I dunno Dipshit, are you watching Faux, OAN, and Newsmax on the reg? Then the answer is unequivocally YES.

Can you imagine if Biden ever said something to so clearly indicated he's both 1) losing his faculties, and 2) watching fucking TV instead of doing his ACTUAL JOB?

It would be on a nonstop reel for days, with dozens of interviews of people 'being concerned', and talking heads blathering about the subject, while openly saying it may be time for a 25A remedy.

Trump OTOH is such a cash cow for them, producing stories that bring in eyeballs and clicks without their having to spend a fucking DIME on actual journalism (well, I mean, they SHOULD be researching all of his bullshit and exposing it, but that takes time and energy, plus Mango Mussolini will sue them or revoke their licenses for fact-checking him).

[Walleye]

23. Trump should watch local Portland station newscasts a few nights instead of Fox

[spanone]

8. Miller is filling him with shit.

[Walleye]

24. Yep. Every time I see Miller, I see him with his lips to Trump's ear, whispering in that fascist voice.

[travelingthrulife]

42. Rasputin.

[AZJonnie]

50. He's Grima Wormtongue (nt)

[IcyPeas]

38. Definitely Miller. Kristi "puppy killer" Noem too

There's something deeply wrong with that woman.

She would've been one of the guards at Ravensbrook women's concentration camp.

Ravensbrück (German: [ˌʁaːvn̩sˈbʁʏk]) was a Nazi Germany concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, 90 km (56 mi) north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 132,000 women who were in the camp during the war includes about 48,500 from Poland, 28,000 from the Soviet Union, almost 24,000 from Germany and Austria, nearly 8,000 from France, almost 2,000 from Belgium, and thousands from other countries including a few from the United Kingdom and the United States. More than 20,000 (15 percent) of the total were Jewish.[4] More than 80 percent were political prisoners. Many prisoners were employed as slave laborers by Siemens & Halske. From 1942 to 1945, the Nazis undertook medical experiments on Ravensbrück prisoners to test the effectiveness of sulfonamides.[5]

Ravensbrück concentration camp - Wikipedia https://share.google/Se1EBZUObKQsYswVa

Ravensbrück concentration camp - Wikipedia https://share.google/i2ZX6fIYK2IXhLxUE

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. For one thing, he avoids the Daily Intelligence Briefing. . . . . nt

[Amaryllis]

15. That may not matter if they are only telling him what he wants to hear.

[bucolic_frolic]

12. Perhaps he's getting the MillerTV feed /nt

[Hope22]

30. That's what I think.

They are manipulating his feeble mind.

[Skittles]

40. yup

showing him riots and claiming they're against ICE in Portland

[questionseverything]

13. It's like he doesn't understand, the news shows the worst thing happening, over and over

[progressoid]

14. You can add a few million americans to that list of questionable mental competence

[Bristlecone]

17. He gets his info and knowledge in the exact same way MAGA Morons do

Fox or their lesser OAN-type outlets.

[Walleye]

26. Exactly. They are creating their own reality which they have to be inside of to talk to others. We are on the outside Un

Can’t understand what the hell they’re talking about

[BaronChocula]

20. Give him the Biden test

Let's see if the child molester can recognize Kevin Sorbo or Chachi at a fundraiser.

[3Hotdogs]

36. Da fuck are you talking? He already passed a test I couldn''t pass..

Man, Giraffe, Television and I can't even remember the last ones.

[BaronChocula]

44. I think it was

"Big Mac, schoolgirl, gold."

[3Hotdogs]

46. Thanks. Now I can write 'em down and call my kids and recite 'em.

Then I won't get laughed at by 'em anymore.

[BradBo]

21. Two words....Steven Miller.

[sprinkleeninow]

22. Orange Krasnov: "Someone please remind me what planet I'm on?" nt

[vanlassie]

25. I assume without reservation that Miller

is feeding him godknowswhat on a daily basis. Too bad his family won’t look out for him.

[BurnDoubt]

27. Anybody out there remember... the caveat about computing from back in the mist?

"GIGO"... Garbage In... Garbage Out...?????
That Is All.
.

[maxsolomon]

29. He is inside the RW Propaganda bubble, and his staff are Propagandists.

It would be funny if it weren't infuriating.

One could argue he's been in that bubble of BS his entire life as he believes the NY Post.

[wcmagumba]

31. What exactly are these t-rump forces going to be doing in Portland? YouTube porn sites will be busy...

[LittleGirl]

32. All he does is watch tv

Somebody needs to change the channel to show him reality.

[gordianot]

33. Whe watching or listening to Trump my first question is "Why?"

Even though I know the answer.

[Bev54]

34. I do remember a couple of weeks ago, a reporter pointed out that Trump's descriptions of

what was going on in Portland was referring to events of a few years ago and they wondered if he was being shown old videos. I suspect Miller and perhaps others may well be showing him either old videos or some from other places, including outside the US, knowing how many times these incompetents put things on social media that are totally inaccurate. He is too stupid to know the difference.

[maxsolomon]

47. Old videos from FIVE YEARS AGO.

Any "Antifa" types know that now is the time to vanish into the ether.

I haven't seen a posting on Rose City Antifa's FB page in years.

[intheflow]

35. I think it raises questions about who's feeding him this bullshit?

Miller & Lutnick probably ran some clips from 2020 demonstrations and told him it was happening again. I want them to ask where he gets his news from, where did he see Portland rioting in real time in 2025?

[Evolve Dammit]

37. Wake up and smell the fucking coffee

[iemanja]

41. I saw that in a few places yesterday.

Not on TV though. It was print journalism. I don't watch TV news except for the occasional clip on YouTube.

[jgmiller]

43. I saw this yesterday and had the same thoughts

Obviously he's still a sick, evil person but this is really pretty clear evidence of his dementia. He was clear headed in the morning when Kotek spoke with him and then when he did the interview. 2 hours after this came out though he signed the orders for Portland, likely because Miller saw what happened and got the order in front of him.

[Botany]

48. Krasnov has been crazy for years

Anybody who makes themselves look like
he does and looks into the mirror and thinks now that's a good look is completely
bat crap crazy.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

49. Plenty of people in Portland were posting

video of the city showing a peaceful city with people just going about their lives. Why doesn't he seek out alternatives to the TV shows that are lying to him & all their other viewers. Anyone with any intelligence would do so.

[LyfeTimeDem]

51. they are feeding him fake newz

broadcasts instead of the PDB's.... because he likes to watch news all day.....so Bannon and Miller are feeding it to him like pablum.