Brooks and Capehart on Trump’s mental acuity and unpredictability

[0:00] The fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appears to be holding after threats from President [0:06] Trump to wipe out Iran earlier this week. Meantime, two prominent Democrats said today [0:11] they're considering running for president in 2028. To discuss that and more, we turn now [0:16] to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart. That's The Atlantic's David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart [0:21] of MSNOW. Good evening to you both. Good to see you as always. So, David, the president this week [0:26] threatened to wipe out an entire civilization and then he took a ceasefire deal 88 minutes [0:31] before his own deadline. Is this maximum pressure or maximum chaos? Maximum malevolence. We shouldn't [0:38] let that comment about the wiping out a civilization go by without saying what an antithesis it is [0:45] of American history. That we started the first war America ever fought was to keep sea lanes [0:49] open. We've always prided ourselves, whether whatever stupid stuff we do, on not being a [0:55] rapacious European-style imperial dominating power. After World War II, we didn't try to take over [1:01] Germany and Japan. We gave them money so they could recover. And even George W. Bush, whatever [1:06] you think of the war, the intentions were OK. But to threaten to wipe out a civilization is pure [1:12] malevolence. It's an assertion of true evil. And it didn't work. And so, if you want to know how the war [1:20] is going, look at who's moving. The U.S. used to have regime change. Now, today, Trump said, [1:27] just if we can stop the nuclear program, and the nuclear material have been unaffected by this war, [1:32] by the way. So, we're pulling back our goals. The Iranians, when they put forth their negotiating [1:36] position, they're sticking with the goals they had. And then they're adding more. We want to control the [1:41] Straits of Hormuz. We want reparations. We want you to release all our money. So, they're clearly [1:46] on the offensive. And so, if you think America's winning, why are we going backwards and why are [1:52] we retreating? The only final thing I'll say is that someday the Iranian regime will fall. And I [2:00] don't know when it will be, but someday a failing regime will fall. And will that happen within a year [2:04] with some benefit from this war? Possibly. But right now, it doesn't look great. [2:08] And Jonathan, what does it mean for American foreign policy when the distance between the [2:14] president saying on social media, a whole civilization will die tonight, and a ceasefire [2:19] announcement is roughly eight hours? It speaks to the chaos that is, that characterizes the [2:29] president himself, that characterizes how he is running his administration. It was, I was on air [2:37] Sunday morning when his, the tweet before that, where he was demanding, you know, expletively to [2:45] open the Strait of Hormuz, you crazy bastards, from a president of the United States on Easter Sunday. [2:53] I mean, to your point, this is not the America that we know. The American president is supposed to be [3:01] a statesman, supposed to be someone who is a reflection of our better selves, or who we hope [3:07] to be, who we project our image to be. And right now, our image is so bad that we not only have the [3:14] French, the French leader calling out the American president, but the British prime minister called [3:20] out the American president, basically lumping him with Vladimir Putin of Russia in terms of malevolent [3:27] force on the world stage. I, this gets to the bigger question for me about, in terms of chaos, [3:36] is the president all right? Because no American president ever has written the things, said the [3:45] things, threatened the things that he did in the span of what, 72 hours. Let's talk more about that, [3:51] because last night, President Trump shared this graphic video of a woman being beaten to death. [3:56] We're not going to show that video, but you can see the, you can see the screenshot of the social [4:01] media message there on the screen. And he used this video to attack former President Biden, [4:06] Democrats, federal judges, a sitting president posting footage of a murder as political content. [4:13] Is there no line left? Apparently not. Apparently not. You know, I think he is spiraling out of control. [4:21] And, and I say that in part, and a little psychologically, narcissists tend to disinhibit [4:27] as they age. And so they get, they just get more of themselves, which is not a good thing. [4:32] But, you know, last January, as I, we watched this spiral of psychologically, I did because I'm me, [4:38] I read Roman histories. And so you get Tacitus and Salus and those old guys, because they had a front row [4:43] seat to tyranny. And they watched authoritarians one after another, Caligula, all these guys. [4:49] And the one thing they all said was that they deteriorate. They create a situation around them [4:56] when the sycophants get, have to get more sycophantic. Anybody who's reasonable is either [5:01] dead or gone. And then the urge to dominate, the, the lust for power becomes drunk. They become [5:07] drunk on that. And they get more and more daring, more and more out of control. And then you get [5:12] this spiral. And our founding fathers, they understood this so well. They read Tacitus. [5:17] They loved these guys. And John Adams said, if we get a leader like that, he will run through our [5:23] converse, our constitution, the way a whale goes through a net. And so they completely understood [5:29] and their worst nightmare is now happening. [5:32] Jonathan, 61% of Americans, including 30% of Republicans now say that President Trump has become [5:39] erratic with age. That's according to a recent Reuters Ipsos poll. The press corps, I guess we [5:45] should hold up a mirror to ourselves. The press corps spent two years making President Biden's [5:49] mental fitness, his acuity, the story. Why isn't that same scrutiny now being applied to President [5:55] Trump broadly? [5:56] Yes, exactly. That has been my question since, excuse me, since January 20th of last year. [6:02] Um, we, the press, spent a lot of time talking about President Biden and his age because he [6:11] looked old. He moved slowly. He wasn't as vigorous and agile, supposedly, as the guy he, he pushed [6:21] out of office and then the guy who was running against him. And even little slips of the tongue [6:26] were used to show, see, aha, he's not all there. He's losing his mind. How does that compare to what [6:34] we're going through right now? Um, I wish people who have written books, people who have gone on air [6:43] talking about President Biden nonstop, where are they now? Where are those books now that we have a [6:49] president who has given ample evidence, ample evidence that something is not right? Where are the [6:56] people who are standing up and saying, you know what, Ms., something needs to be done? And that gets, goes [7:04] back to some, you were talking about the, the founders. They were prepared for something like this. What [7:11] they weren't prepared for was the Article I branch just ceding all authority. What they weren't prepared [7:16] for were people from the president's own party willing to either turn a blind eye or enable him to run roughshod [7:25] over the, over the Constitution. Even when you've got him out there threatening annihilation of a [7:32] civilization, even when he's started a war for no reason and the enemy is in a stronger position now [7:41] than it was before he started this war of his own choosing. Um, at some point, Republicans writ large [7:50] and those on Capitol Hill have to start standing up for their Article I prerogatives, but also start [7:56] standing up for the country. I don't know how much longer, um, we as a nation can withstand this. And I [8:04] know the world is, um, beyond done with us, but they're, I think they're also frightened of us. [8:10] I shouldn't say that we in the mainstream media have been exactly pro-Trump cheering section. I mean, [8:15] our business model is bashing Trump. We know we can get clicks and ratings if we bash Trump enough, [8:20] so we do it over and over and over and again without having anything interesting to say half [8:23] the time. And, and by the way, um, if we did do everything we could, it wouldn't have, it wouldn't [8:30] make a difference. The people who need to be persuaded are not persuaded by us. We've been [8:34] doing this since 2015. Uh, and so I'm, I'm not totally persuaded that it would make a huge difference [8:39] if we challenged his age and mental acuity because we've been doing it morally for 10 years. [8:44] We should do more of it. [8:46] Well, in the time that remains, I want to focus on all of the news really coming out of the [8:50] Reverend Al Sharpton's national action network convention today. You have vice president, [8:54] former vice president Kamala Harris and a former transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg saying [8:59] that they're considering a run for the democratic nomination in 2028. Here's VP Harris. [9:06] Are you going to run again in 2028? [9:15] Okay. No, I, you know, I tried to be subtle, but I just figured I'd go right. [9:19] Well, that's as subtle as Reverend Al Sharpton could ever be. [9:23] We, we love you for many things, but not being subtle. [9:29] Um, listen, I might, I might. I'm thinking about it. [9:37] What do you think? [9:38] Yeah, she's thinking about it. Um, and why shouldn't she? She was the former vice president [9:42] of the United States. Um, you know, Secretary Pete Buttigieg, of course, he's thinking about it. [9:48] Any, anyone who's been mentioned as a potential 28, um, candidate, none of them is going to take [9:53] that option off the table. Least of all, the former vice president, whether she does it or not, [9:59] that's up to her. [10:00] Is president Trump so polarizing that he could resurrect candidacies that voters already said [10:06] no to? [10:07] Possibly. I think this is going to be one of the biggest change elections speaking about 2028, [10:11] uh, in American history. There are certain moments where people not only decide to change [10:14] candidates, they decide to change cultures. And so John F. Kennedy was a change of culture from the [10:19] 1950s, a more audacious culture. Jimmy Carter was a change of culture from the corruption of Watergate. [10:25] Ronald Reagan was a change of culture. So it's not only a change of policies. I don't think it's that. [10:29] People are going to be tired of corruption, of negativity, of rage, of American carnage. [10:35] And they're going to want somebody who practices idealism, somebody who can make you feel good about [10:40] America again. And so I'm, I don't know who that candidate is going to be, but I would bet on somebody [10:46] who says different from Donald Trump says it's humanly possible to be. David Brooks, Jonathan Capehart. [10:51] Thanks to you both as always. Thanks. [10:53] Support journalism you trust. Support PBS News. Donate now or even better, start a monthly contribution today.