Former President Donald Trump’s recent activity on his social media platform, Truth Social, has sparked discussions regarding his mental acuity and the implications of his statements. His posts often mix political perspective with storytelling, drawing on personal experience. Their increasingly irrational nature casts doubt on his overall cognition and communication prowess.
Earlier this fall, during a campaign swing through Iowa, Trump appeared disoriented as he rambled on about his policies and what policy announcements he had made. Around the same time, he warned about not being able to tell real videos from AI-generated ones. This misinterpretation is deeply alarming. His announcements on Truth Social don’t give enough context or detail to provide a clear picture, making it difficult to distinguish key details.
What we do know is that this is not the first time that Trump has posted such random videos and images without any context. He just recently shared a mesmerizing 10-second clip. It’s got a music video of a dance track playing over a still photo of three men dressed in formal military uniforms. None of this content provides significant context and all of it begs the question, what is Trump trying to say with this? He often posts photos of himself, unaccompanied by any explanation. This can undercut the effectiveness of his remarks and ultimately leave his supporters confused as to why they matter.
The predictably performative nature of Trump’s Truth Social engagement means that this serves to insulate him from a proper mental state inquiry. According to Emmitt Riley III, a media analyst, Trump’s output is “amplified by mainstream media and recirculated across various other platforms,” allowing him to maintain a presence in public discourse despite the limited reach of Truth Social itself. Right now, only a very small slice—roughly 3% of U.S. adults—are exposed to Trump’s incoherent, Redditt-esque hot takes.
Amidst this backdrop of confusion, Trump has used Truth Social to announce various policies ranging from economic measures to travel bans. His truth-telling successes are not without blemish. On December 1, in the middle of the Thanksgiving holiday, Trump referred to Somali Americans living in Minnesota as a “disgrace.” He referred to them as “inbred savages” who were attempting to “impose their Sharia bullshit.” As anticipated, such inflammatory language has received swift and severe condemnation and has called his better decision-making into serious doubt.
The very same day that announcement was made, Trump took to social media with an unprovoked response to the death of filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner. His rant got all of that media attention. This response was criticized for its callousness and added to fears about Trump’s capacity to handle complex, sensitive issues in a serious manner.
Trump’s engagement with the current events has been just as haphazard. For example, he announced on Truth Social that “the suspect” in a shooting incident at Brown University “is in custody” at 5:44 p.m. on a Saturday. Fewer than twenty minutes later, he was forced to walk back the information he reported. This served to underscore how abrasive and disorderly his public statements often were.
Here’s the thing, though—back in early December, Trump was posting at an enviable rate. Or so he claimed when he uploaded 158 shares on Truth Social in three hours! This flurry of activity raises new questions on how he’ll manage his time. Are his actions all pieces of a larger strategy or simply a knee jerk reaction to the news of the day?
Now, a year in, he’s using Truth Social as his primary communication go-to. The campaign’s focus is shifting to how his behavior is shaping the public’s perception. In the absence of context in his posts, it’s hard to determine what exactly is driving his viewpoints. Many of his claims cast doubt on his ability to communicate effectively about what constitutes good policy.