President Donald Trump was photographed clutching a briefing “cheat sheet” that Republicans once called irrefutable proof of Joe Biden’s dementia.
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During a Tuesday podcast episode, progressive commentator David Pakman seized on the image and hammered at what he framed as a bottomless well of Republican hypocrisy over presidential fitness. The photo was taken on Monday in the Oval Office, where Trump honored a sixteen-year-old lifeguard from California and the ten-year-old he rescued.
“There are legitimate reasons to examine Donald Trump’s fitness,” Pakman said. “60 percent of voters don’t think he has the mental sharpness to be president.”
Pakman pointed out what appeared to be “staff-prepared cards” with “photos of the two guests” and “scheduling instructions” that suggested Trump needed help remembering the details of the people he was meeting.
“It tells Trump what to do and what to say,” Pakman explained. “Can Donald Trump not even remember who two people are?”
Pakman said the way he questioned the use of the cards mimicked the tone conservative media reserved for Biden.
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“This is exactly the type of thing that Republicans used to say Biden had dementia,” Pakman said. “The pictures would be circled in red. ‘Biden needs pictures to know who he’s with.’ Fox News would be running it continuously, and right-wing influencers would be saying, ‘Did Biden know where he was? Did Biden know who he was with?'”
Pakman recalled how the right treated Biden’s note cards as medical emergencies and how “some disgraced TV doctor would diagnose advanced dementia from 3,000 miles away.”
The GOP feels no shame in the contradiction, Pakman stressed, adding, “If it did prove it about Joe Biden, according to these people, it must also prove it about Donald Trump.”
He ran through parallel reversals, including Biden’s gas prices, teleprompter use, falling asleep in public and Barack Obama’s golfing.
“What this proves is these Republicans don’t believe their own stupid standards,” Pakman said. “Because when Biden held a card, it was a national emergency. And when Trump holds one, he’s a very busy guy.”
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