As Scott Dworkin notes, while the media have been complaining that Kamala Harris is avoiding them as she gets her campaign underway, they've been ignoring Trump's absence:
"Why aren’t they questioning his obvious cognitive decline or putting a microscope on every word he says like they did with Biden? Instead, we see coverage of JD Vance pulling weird PR stunts, and how he’s attacking Walz’s 24 years of exemplary military service."
https://www.dworkinsubstack.com/p/mainstream-media-must-ask-where-is
Well, Trump gave a press conference today at Mar-a-Lago, and it was a doozy. Edith Olmsted sums it up with the following headline:
"Old Man Trump Cites Made-Up Polls to Excuse Low-Energy Campaign"
https://newrepublic.com/post/184701/donald-trump-made-up-polls-kamala-harris
"Now in his third presidential campaign and facing Harris, the cracks are showing in Trump’s foundation. Not that he was running that great of a campaign against Biden, but against Harris, the tiredness of his effort is on blast."
~ Oliver Willis
https://www.oliverexplains.com/p/trump-is-losing-but-its-far-from
"Right now. Donald Trump is losing. He looks like a loser. He acts like a loser. He sounds like a loser. Everyone, including his own party and even the media (who can see a Trump-fueled payday slipping down the drain), sees it and feels it. Loser Don has entered the chat yet again.
Now it is on the voters to once again ratify what we all see standing before us."
David Badash quotes conservative political strategist Mary Anna Mancuso, who said yesterday, “Trump is quiet quitting his own campaign," and who said after today's press conference, "Trump is not okay."
He also quotes Susan Glasser, who stated today, "Trump looks ill."
Some of us are old enough to remember when the media were all over Biden with questions about age and illness….
Lucian K. Truscott trolls Trump's performance today:
"A press conference was held in Palm Beach this afternoon where a piece of ancient history was put on display: Apparently unearthed by storm surges caused by Hurricane Debby, a bacterium from the Boguszoic age was shown to reporters who gathered in an ornately decorated ballroom in a garish mansion near the beach to witness the big reveal."
https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/ancient-bacterium-exhumed-near-florida
Lawrence O'Donnell is unsparing and scathing — and right on point — in his take-down of the corporate media, which sent oodles of journalists to Mar-a-Lago yesterday allow Trump to lie and lie and lie unchecked, as he displayed his vast ignorance and mental instability to the world.
"And to make a bad news coverage situation worse, none of the networks — none of them — carried Kamala Harris' speech live after the Trump appearance…, which all of the networks knew was coming. They knew what time it was coming; they knew how to cover it live, and they didn't, after giving Donald Trump more than an hour of live coverage on all of their networks."
Corporate media rush to hang on Trump's lies, broadcast them for 1 hour, and ignore Harris.
"The event—complete with softball questions answered with a non-stop parade of lies—was a tired and tedious affair hosted by a malignant narcissist who still imagines his repetitive insults, racism and sexism can still hypnotize a breathless, bedazzled public.
But in his sad attempt to appear calm and together, his anger, fear and madness were lurking close to the surface and not hard to see."
~ Steven Beschloss
"It appears that Trump — with a family history of dementia — is increasingly unhinged. …
If Biden’s difficulties were fair game, why isn’t Trump’s apparent mental decline front and center?
The growing evidence of Trump’s dementia and paranoia poses a clear potential danger to the future of America — if he’s reelected.
At the least, the media should be investigating and reporting on it. Right?
~ Robert Reich
#KamalaHarris #Trump #media
/10
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-isnt-the-media-reporting-on-trumps
Gadolinium contrast. It is administered during some MRIs to improve image definition. It's really toxic. Definitely something you only want to use when necessary.
I don't see anything wrong with forcing officeholders to get an intense yearly physical that includes a neurological workup provided that it doesn't harm them, but I doubt that they'd agree as failure would check their political ambitions. Not wanting to be exposed to contrast would be the most valid objection.
Iodine. Barium. Gadolinium. Differing agents for differing applications. This looks like a pretty good reference: