Weird noises, sound effects and bums – Trump seems to be losing it in front of our eyes

If you’re confused, you’re not alone (Picture: AP Photo/Annie Rice) ‘I’d say 90% of the reason I took the governor…EUGH…I took the governor and I put her over at the United Nations, because I wanted this guy to become governor.’ This is a direct quote from US President Donald Trump, as he gave a speech last week at his rally in South Carolina. Instead of saying former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s name, he made this surreal sound. It wasn’t the only time during the speech when he lost his words. He goes on to describe the military strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats with the sound effects ‘pew, pew, pew’ to imitate gunfire. If you’re confused, you’re not alone. I know it may read as though I’ve just thumped my fist on my keyboard to create a series of random sentences, but I’ve not, and that’s the point. Donald Trump’s verbal blunders are becoming increasingly pronounced and increasingly concerning. Want to understand how the Budget will affect your wallet? Metro's Senior Politics Reporter Craig Munro will break down today's Autumn Budget into easy-to-understand explanations in his politics newsletter Alright, Gov? – sign up here. Barely a day goes by without a fresh stumble from the President (Picture: Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images) But it’s not just what he’s saying. Earlier this month, he was seen waving and saluting what looked like absolutely no one in the distance as he boarded his helipad. After a decade and a half in politics, I’ve seen my fair share of slip-ups – but these aren’t one-offs. Barely a day goes by without a fresh stumble from the President. Sentences that fall apart halfway through, names that come out wrong, thoughts that drift away and never come back. During his closing arguments on the campaign trail, Trump discussed Ohio’s Sen. Jon Husted behind in alarming detail. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video ‘His ass was like a big piece of muscle. It’s not like a big piece of muscle. It is literally a big piece of muscle. That is what an ass is’. He paid Nicki Minaj a similar bum-based compliment on Monday. Practically every politician has a moment they look back on and wince at. But this is wild, even by his standards. While arguing that California Governor Gavin Newsom’s dyslexia made him ‘dumb’ and unfit to be president, he inadvertently referred to him as ‘the president of the United States, Gavin Newscum.’ He paid a similar bum-based compliment to Nicki Minaj on Monday (Picture: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) Last week in South Carolina, his get-out-the-vote pitch dissolved into something about ‘a thing called November’, while in Tennessee, he floated renaming the Atlantic or Pacific to ‘Trump Ocean’. Seemingly still sore about the Nobel Peace Prize, he announced that ‘they gave the Pulitzer Prize to a young lady’. He meant Navi Pillay, an 85-year-old South African judge who won the Nobel, not the Pulitzer. ‘I love the meat… ahhh!’ he groaned in Texas on Tuesday, miming a mouthful of sausage and adding to a growing pile of bizarre moments. Americans have been here before. When clips of Joe Biden started piling up in 2024, the instinct was to close ranks. I was part of it, and I defended him until the bitter end. What are your thoughts on Donald Trump's recent behavior? He seems to be losing his composure.Check It's just his unique speaking style.Check I haven't noticed anything unusual.Check Cut through political noise and understand how the Westminster chaos actually affects your life with Metro's award-nominated politics newsletter Alright, Gov?. Voters were told not to believe their eyes. And it cost us, and the country, big time. Now Republicans are making the same mistake. Trump turned 80 in June, having already become the oldest person ever sworn in as president. His White House insists he’s ‘the sharpest and most accessible President in American history’. Last year, his doctor declared him in ‘exceptional health’ in a one-page summary so vague it told us next to nothing. But voters are not buying it. One poll earlier this year found 61% of Americans think Trump has become increasingly erratic with age, including almost a third of Republicans. By summer, half of Americans rated his mental sharpness as poor. Whoever, whatever, wherever, whenever, Trump manages to turn attention to his opponents’ age and ability (Picture: AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Voters aren’t being won over by flashy editing. They trust their own eyes, and even worse for Trump, he wrote the rulebook now being thrown back at him. Last year, he said of Biden, ‘Every day, the guy’s falling down stairs.’ In 2016, he told the world Hillary Clinton lacked ‘the mental and physical stamina’ for the job. He mocked her after she stumbled at a 9/11 memorial she attended while suffering from pneumonia, despite being 16 months older than her. In 2014, he even found a way to criticise the way Barack Obama came down the stairs of Air Force One as ‘so inelegant and unpresidential. Do not fall!’ Whoever, whatever, wherever, whenever, Trump manages to turn attention to his opponents’ age and ability. Last year, however, it’s Trump gripping the handrail. ‘I have to be careful,’ he conceded, ‘because one day I’m gonna probably fall.’ To be fair, he’s never been keen on stairs. When he took Theresa May’s hand on a White House ramp in 2017, Downing Street officials reportedly put it down to a fear of stairs and slopes. May kindly and diplomatically described it as a ‘moment of assistance’. There’s no shame in an 80-year-old taking the stairs slowly. The shame is in spending a decade sneering at everyone else who struggled with them. I wonder what he thinks he looks like to the voters right now (Picture: Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images) America doesn’t have a release valve for any of this – Presidents serve fixed terms. In under a week, Americans will head to the polls in what is arguably the most seismic midterm election in the country’s history. Trump has told voters to pretend he’s on the ballot, despite his approval ratings having hit an all-time low. But he isn’t on the ballot, and his party should be glad, because he doesn’t look okay. Trump has always been about strength and winning, primarily for himself – when up against his once-upon-a-time opponent, Jeb Bush, the worst thing Trump could think to hit him with was ‘low energy’. If that’s what he thinks a loser looks like, I wonder what he thinks he looks like to the voters right now. Whatever it is, it’s not a winner. Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. Share your views in the comments below. Arrow MORE: One thing is holding King Kenny back from being all-time great Celebrity Traitor – Amol Rajan Arrow MORE: Could Nicki Minaj really become Donald Trump’s press secretary? Arrow MORE: Trump goes after heckler after jibe about his buttocks Alright Gov Straight-talking analysis from Westminster, straight to your inbox.