Trump: 'Am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening?' Why is this being ignored? [View all]

[Amaryllis]

https://criticalread.substack.com/p/trump-am-i-watching-things-on-television?

Why is this quote not all over the national media? Because it raises questions about his mental competence.
Dan Froomkin
Sep 29, 2025
Why is one of the most extraordinary, revelatory quotes ever uttered by Donald Trump being ignored by the national media?

I’ll tell you why: Because it raises all sort of questions about his mental functioning and agency that the access-dependent Washington press corps would rather not acknowledge.

It confirms that Trump has no idea what he’s talking about. And it suggests he is either easily deceived, or manipulated, or both.

The quote in question came from a telephone interview Trump held on Sunday morning with NBC News White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.

Alcindor herself ignored it, filing two unrelated stories instead.

Indeed, the quote only saw the light of day thanks to a sharp-eyed investigative reporter at KGW TV in Portland, the NBC affiliate there.

I haven’t been able to reach the reporter, Evan Watson, but clearly affiliates were sent a full transcript of the phone interview. (NBC News could not be reached for comment, either.) This is what Watson wrote:

During a Sunday morning phone interview with NBC White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, though, Trump made some remarks that seemed to indicate he might be backing off his military plan for Portland.

Trump referenced a weekend conversation with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, and he alluded to being told by Kotek that the reality in Portland is different from what’s being portrayed to him.

“I spoke to the governor, she was very nice,” Trump said. “But I said, ‘Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different.’ They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place...it looks like terrible.”

Think about that. Trump -- in a brief moment of lucidity, perhaps -- wonders out loud if maybe he’s been deceived by what he’s seen on television, and what his aides have told him.

It doesn’t last long, of course. But it’s still incredibly telling.

The fact is, of course, that Trump is completely, ludicrously wrong about what’s going on in Portland. He has been for nearly a month, ever since he watched a deceptively edited Fox News segment that depicted the city as a war zone. And his advisers have apparently been complicit in his hoodwinking.

Much more at link