To many observers, both in the US and abroad, Donald Trump has been behaving strangely recently. Especially online.
As a government shutdown loomed in the US last week, the president posted an AI video which depicted Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black House minority leader, wearing a sombrero and exaggerated moustache, with mariachi music playing in the background.
Hispanic groups criticized Trump’s posts as “racist”, “dangerous” and “reprehensible”, but Trump doubled down, posting a new video which showed himself wearing a sombrero and playing the guitar behind a rendering of Jeffries.
It wasn’t the only situation where Trump’s behavior has seemed unusual. Last weekend Trump reposted to Truth Social an AI-generated fake video which promoted “med bed hospitals”. Trump has reposted AI content before, but the difference was that this video showed an AI version of himself speaking.
“Every American will soon receive their own med bed card,” the AI rendering of Trump, apparently seated in the Oval Office, said. “With it, you’ll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals led by the top doctors in the nation, equipped with the most advanced technology in the world.”
Setting aside the fact that the idea of “med beds” is a rightwing conspiracy theory – one version of the theory posits that the government and/or a group of wealthy Americans have access to medical bed-like devices that can cure almost every illness, but are withholding the technology – Trump’s post prompted a number of questions.
Did Trump, 79, believe that the video really showed him announcing med bed hospitals? Does the president think he gave a speech about med beds at the White House? Does he believe that his government is about to send “med bed cards” to every US citizen?
The post was ultimately deleted, but it remains baffling, and the White House’s response did little to allay the confusion.
“I think the president saw the video and posted it, and then took it down,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said when asked about the video on Wednesday.
“And he has the right to do that. It’s his social media. He’s incredibly transparent, as you all know. You hear from him directly on social media. He likes to share memes, he likes to share videos, he likes to repost things that he sees other people post on social media as well and I think it’s quite refreshing that we have a president who is so open and honest.”
Leavitt’s words did little to explain Trump’s thinking as to why he might have posted the fake video. But, in truth, it was only the most recent example of increasingly odd behavior from Trump, who has – like his predecessor Joe Biden – been subject to questions over his mental acuity in recent months.
In a recent speech at the White House where Trump claimed – against most existing evidence – that Tylenol could contribute to autism if women take it during pregnancy, Trump confusingly spoke of “certain elements of genius that can be given to a baby”.
Announcing that 13 grants would be awarded to investigate autism, Trump added: “They have to move quickly. They, they – when the alternative is that nothing bad can happen, let’s do it now. I was just saying to Bobby [health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr] and the group, let’s do it now. Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen.”
A week earlier, during a press conference with British prime minister Keir Starmer, Trump confused Albania with Armenia when discussing a peace deal struck between Armenia and Azerbaijan – a mistake Trump also made during an appearance on Fox News.
Back in the social media world, on Sunday Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had “been briefed” on a shooting at a Mormon church in Michigan which killed four people. “The Trump Administration will keep the Public posted, as we always do,” Trump wrote.
He did indeed post again. But it was not an update on the still unfolding tragedy in Michigan. Instead, three hours later, he shared a video which showed an array of gold fixtures and fittings.
“Some of the highest quality 24 Karat Gold used in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room of the White House. Foreign Leaders, and everyone else, ‘freak out’ when they see the quality and beauty. Best Oval Office ever, in terms of success and look!!! President DJT,” he wrote.
He did not comment again that day on the Michigan shooting, although he did complain about the new NFL kickoff rule.
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Setting aside Trump’s confusing online behavior, the president’s in-person appearances have also become odd.
On Tuesday, Trump summoned the country’s top military commanders to a meeting in Virginia. Addressing the top military brass, Trump, sounding drained, touted his alleged successes and lauded the US bombing of an Iran nuclear facility – something which may have violated international law – before saying:
“America is respected again as a country. We were not respected with Biden. They looked at him falling down stairs every day. Every day, the guy’s falling down stairs.”
Trump continued: “I said: ‘It’s not our president. We can’t have it.’ I’m very careful, you know, when I walk downstairs for – like I’m on stairs, like these stairs, I’m very – I walk very slowly. Nobody has to set a record, just try not to fall because it doesn’t work out well. A few of our presidents have fallen and it became a part of their legacy.
“We don’t want that. Need to walk nice and easy. You not have – you don’t have to set any record. Be cool, be cool when you walk down, but don’t, don’t bop down the stairs. That’s the one thing with Obama, I had zero respect for him as a president, but he would bop down those stairs, I’ve never seen – da da da da da da, bop, bop, bop, he’d go down the stairs, wouldn’t hold on. I said, it’s great, I don’t want to do it. I guess I could do it, but eventually bad things are going to happen and it only takes once, but he did a lousy job as president.”
In the same speech, Trump claimed that cities including San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles are “very unsafe places and we’re going to straighten them out one by one”. The president then casually mentioned that he had told Pete Hegseth, the newly-annointed secretary of war, that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military”.
The address prompted immediate concern, including from former military members. Barry McCaffrey, a retired general, told MSNBC that Trump’s performance was “one of the most bizarre, unsettling events I’ve ever encountered”.
“The president sounded incoherent, exhausted, rabidly partisan, at times stupid, meandering, couldn’t hold a thought together,” McCaffrey said.
Trump’s speech was enough for Madeleine Dean, a Democratic congresswoman from Pennsylvania, to confront the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, in Washington on Wednesday, although Johnson appeared unconcerned.
“The president is unhinged. He is unwell,” Dean told Johnson, in an encounter filmed by journalists.
“Well a lot of folks on your side are too,” Johnson responded.
