Politics · United States · 4 hrs ago
Trump Repeated a Rally Story; Times Analysis Found More Rambling Speech
At a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, Trump told the same story twice in less than 30 minutes.
The story concerned Willie Horton, who was featured in a 1988 campaign ad attacking Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis over crime.
CNN host Jake Tapper discussed the clips with Dylan Freedman, a co-author of a New York Times analysis that used AI-assisted methods to examine Trump’s remarks dating back to 2015.
The analysis found Trump goes into rambling, digressive passages about two and a half times more often than he used to.
It also found he uses swear words almost three times as often as in 2016, while his rally speeches have grown longer.
The analysis describes changes in his speech, not a medical diagnosis; Freedman said the researchers were not doctors.
The White House rejected claims that Trump has lost a step, and his physician cited a perfect score on a cognitive assessment and described his performance as excellent.
CNN host Jake Tapper showed clips of Donald Trump telling the same Willie Horton story twice at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina.
The New York Times reported that an AI-assisted analysis found Trump gives rambling, digressive passages about two and a half times more often than before.
The analysis also found that Trump uses swear words almost three times as often as in 2016.
The White House rejected claims that Trump has lost a step, citing his sharpness, energy and work ethic.
The Times report said Trump’s rally speeches now average 85 minutes, up from 42 minutes in 2016.
- Who
- President Donald Trump repeated the story; CNN host Jake Tapper and Times co-author Dylan Freedman discussed it.
- What
- Trump told the same story about Willie Horton twice at a rally less than 30 minutes apart.
- When
- At an Oct. 20 rally; CNN discussed the clips on Monday.
- Where
- A rally in Greenville, North Carolina.
- Why
- Not stated.
The New York Times analysis and CNN
The White House
Speech patterns
The New York Times analysis and CNN
The Times analysis found Trump’s speeches have become more rambling, profane and less coherent than in 2016.
The White House
The White House rejected claims that Trump has lost a step.
Health concerns
The New York Times analysis and CNN
Freedman said some medical experts view increased swearing as a possible sign of age-related disinhibition, while noting the researchers were not doctors.
The White House
The White House cited Trump’s sharpness, energy, work ethic and accessibility; his physician cited a 30/30 cognitive assessment score.
Trump told the Willie Horton story twice at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, less than 30 minutes apart.
The New York Times published a report on changes in Trump’s speech, according to The Daily Beast.
Jake Tapper discussed the repeated story and the Times analysis with co-author Dylan Freedman on CNN.
- Rally location
- Greenville, North Carolina
- Story repeated
- Willie Horton and a 1988 presidential-election ad
- Time between tellings
- Less than 30 minutes
- Rambling passages
- About 2.5 times more often than before, according to Freedman
- Rally speech length
- 85 minutes, compared with 42 minutes in 2016
- Swear words at rallies
- Nearly 15 per 10,000 words, up from six a decade ago
2 sources
What people are saying
President Trump is sort of going into these rambling, digressive passages about two and a half times more often than he used to.
If you listen to Trump 10 years ago, it’s amazing how much more sort of normal, less coarse, he sounds.
I mean, he got his facts wrong, but even more bizarre than getting the facts wrong is that fewer than 30 minutes later, he told the exact same crowd the exact same story.
sharpness, unmatched energy, relentless work ethic and historic accessibility.