Last week, we talked about Ramin Setoodeh’s new book about Donald Trump, Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass. Setoodeh is Variety’s editor-in-chief, meaning he’s not a political journalist or part of the beltway culture. He spends most of his time interviewing celebrities and talking about movies. His interest was on the entertainment/pop-cultural influence of Trump, which is probably why Trump and his team agreed to give Setoodeh six interviews over the course of one or two years. What Setoodeh reveals is something beltway hacks refuse to notice or note in any way: Trump’s cognitive decline has been steep over the past six years or so. We saw it when he was in office, but it’s gotten dramatically worse post-insurrection.
Donald Trump’s cognitive health is making headlines for the second time in a matter of days. This time, the issue was raised by an author who interviewed him extensively for a new book. Variety editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh — who wrote Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass — claims that Trump had trouble remembering him, despite the long conversations they shared.
During a June 17 appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Setoodeh said he began interviewing the former president for his book in 2021. He added that he spoke with Trump, now 78, six times.
“Donald Trump had severe memory issues,” Setoodeh claimed. “As the journalist who spent the most time with him, I have to say, he couldn’t remember things. He couldn’t even remember me.”
Setoodeh said that they spoke for an hour in May 2021, and when they reunited a few months later for a follow-up conversation, Trump had a “vacant look on his face” and seemingly didn’t recall the first interview. Setoodeh noted that the former president wasn’t doing many other interviews around that time. The author emphasized the importance of voters knowing where Trump’s mental state might be.
“I think that the American public really needs to see this portrait of Donald Trump,” Setoodeh continued, “because this shows what he is like and who he is and who he has always been.”
Responding to Setoodeh’s claims, Trump 2024 communications director Steven Cheung went on the offensive, denying that his boss has memory problems. “President Trump was aware of who this individual was throughout the interview process, but this ‘writer’ is a nobody and insignificant so of course he never made an impression,” Cheung told PEOPLE in a statement. “After recognizing the importance of The Apprentice and its significant cultural impact on a global scale, this ‘writer’ has now chosen to allow Trump Derangement Syndrome to rot his brain like so many other losers whose entire existence revolves around President Trump.”
“This ‘writer’ is a nobody and insignificant so of course he never made an impression.” Yeah, Ramin Setoodeh is an important entertainment journalist who came at Trump from a different angle, which is what got him access to Trump and he got to see what Trump is really like, up close and personal. The issue is not that Setoodeh is drawing attention to Trump’s very obvious cognitive decline, the issue is: why aren’t political reporters talking about it constantly?
Ramin Setoodeh, who interviewed Donald Trump six times for his new book on “The Apprentice,” says the former president told him Joan Rivers voted for him in 2016, despite how she died two years earlier. pic.twitter.com/Xa1h468vqK
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 19, 2024
Setoodeh: Trump seemed to think he still had some foreign policy powers. There was one day where he told me he needed to go upstairs to deal with Afghanistan even though he clearly didn’t pic.twitter.com/e17xnz3okg
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 19, 2024
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- New York, NY – Former U.S. President Donald Trump enters Civil Court and against him, his sons for grossly inflating asset valuations on financial statements, begins his civil fraud trial brought by New York State Attorney General in New York City. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 2 OCTOBER 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY – Former President Donald Trump speaks again briefly to the media before exiting the courtroom on his fraud charges related to his NY State properties at 60 Centre Street in Manhattan. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 2 OCTOBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY – Former President Donald Trump stepping out of the courtroom from his testimony in his civil fraud case at the State Supreme Court of New York. He has no statement for the press at this time. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 6 NOVEMBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY – Former President Donald Trump stepping out of the courtroom from his testimony in his civil fraud case at the State Supreme Court of New York. He has no statement for the press at this time. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 6 NOVEMBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Massapequa Park, NY – Donald Trump attends wake for fallen NYPD officer as he ramps up rhetoric on crime. Jonathan Diller was killed Monday when he was shot in Queens after approaching an illegally parked vehicle. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 28 MARCH 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Donald Trump Addresses the Media During Financial Fraud Trial Featuring: Donald Trump Where: New York, New York, United States When: 04 Oct 2023 Credit: Janet Mayer/startraksphoto.com
That may be, but when one is standing on a matchbox, the “decline” to step down to the ground is negligible.
He’s a dummy, and always has been. Losing some or most of his stupidity is no great loss.
True, but people have been obsessively focused on Biden’s age (as if he’s the only elderly person running) so I think this story needs to be amplified for the people in the back…
Exactly. Biden may be getting slow in his gait, but mentally he’s sharp as a tack. Which is fine. I don’t need Biden to drive a car or operate heavy machinery. Give me his years of experience and genuine concern for the health of our Democracy any day.
All the focus on Biden feels like projection. It’s trump with the issues and it’s a choice for media outlets to not cover trumps clear mental issues. It’s a choice.
HillaryIsAlwaysRight said it perfectly here. Biden’s mind is there and that’s all we need. I don’t need the President to be able to run a marathon (although aren’t Joe and Jill big Peleton users? Chances are they’re pretty fit, even for their age). John Paul Stevens sat on the Supreme Court until he was 90, I think. That’s a long time for a sitting Justice but at the same time, I don’t remember a lot of people bitching about his age. From what I recall in various law classes back in college, when the Supreme Court and it’s Justices would come up in class, my professors (lawyers and judges) often commented about how even at his age, he was still sharp as a tack. Old doesn’t automatically mean senile. Joe knows what he’s doing. he knows the law, he knows how government works, he knows the job. That’s more than enough for me.
Exactly , Biden’s almost 50 years of experience and genuine concern for the health of our Democracy is good enough for me too, Trump on the other hand maybe doesn’t even know where the elevator is in the White House 🙄🙄🙄
It is a big deal because this massive buffoon with little cognitive skills left may be president again. And the media is just letting it happen. I’m not a conspiracy theorist but I’m really becoming concerned at the lack of critical media. This should be an every day all day ALARM bells ringing type of story.
Like his father, who had Alzheimer’s… so has Trump.
Trump supporters don’t care…he can be a felon, he can have dementia, etc…he is still getting their votes. What is scary as well is that whoever he has has as running mate may well up taking over if he wins and doesn’t last four years…this election is really terrifying all the way around.
He’s a puppet for the GOP machine, or so they think. Except this puppet has a tendency to go way off script.
Man, Steven Cheung’s response is really…something. I realize he’s working for Trump but my god, he sounds so f-ing unprofessional. His words and responses will live forever on the internet. Wonder if he’s even considered what his job prospects might be post Trump?
They problem is they don’t think, they just go all in because it becomes tribal, their lust for power and control. Their desire to succeed at something, anything, no matter what it does for anyone.
I’m always sad when I see non-white folks go full MAGA. They’ll deluding themselves that the MAGA won’t go after them as soon as they are in power.
He sounds like a screaming, butt-hurt baby.
You know, I’ve been a government employee for 25 years. The way he spoke is absolutely unacceptable & should have gotten him at the very least–and I mean VERY least–a written reprimand. You can’t speak like this on the job, let alone when making a public statement! I’m just so thoroughly disgusted with the whole trump train wreck.
The obvious make up line in the top photo kills me. 🙂
Right!?! It is just inexplicably bad. I can’t imagine getting a line that sharp and obvious by accident. And it’s a consistent issue, not one bad day
These news organizations are run by/owned by right wing Trump supporters so I’m not surprised that they are not talking about this. The GOP finally has a useful idiot who will do their bidding. His supporters don’t care because he hates who they hate.
His makeup is getting awfully close to blackface territory
I see a lot of overlap in the ROTA and WH press corps. It’s the same access issue. Politicians no longer rely on journalists for messaging so the balance of power has shifted further in favor of politicians. That’s not to mention the concentration of ownership by people more concerned with business than integrity.
Magat is a cult that doesn’t care about anything except causing chaos. Can you imagine voting for someone with make-up and hair that looks like that? He can’t speak coherently anymore, either. The audacity of that man to make fun of heavy people or unattractive people is stunning. He looks how a soiled depends smells.
Former Rep Adam Kinzinger says Trump – smells- how a soiled Depends smells, too.
I wish Trump would forget he wants to run for POTUS again. Putin keeps reminding him.
I recently saw a part of an interview w Trump from the 90’s, and the difference was shocking. He actually used to speak in complete sentences and was coherent. Now it’s just phrases and he seldom forms a complete thought. He is not capable of anything other than being a puppet.
I saw one of those comparisons maybe back when he was still in office and it was bad enough back then. I can only imagine how much worse he is now.
I am not going to pretend to be sympathetic or hypocritical. Donald Trump is a horrible human being from way back. He is narcissistic, selfish, disingenuous, sociopathic, devoid of any redeeming quality that a person can possess. Now that he clearly has dementia, we are supposed to feel pity for him? No, I don’t. I know this article is not about us feeling bad for Trump being demented, but hey it couldn’t be happening to a more disgraceful man. I don’t care if his brain turns to mush, he should be so lucky. I don’t care if he spends the rest of his miserable life in a jail cell either.
We know Trump has squirrelled away more documents than those recovered in Maralago so I can’t help but wonder if the need to go ‘work on Afghanistan’ is Trump selling info about Afghanistan. Or a memory of when he was doing that that he wanted to namedrop.
Good point!
The media does not ever focus on this (or anything else about Trump and the rest of his treasonous party) in a meaningful way because they serve the GOP. They are there to get the GOP back into power. You think the billionaires and international corporations care a whit about what happens to America, whether or not women are left totally rightless and minorities lose the rights they’ve clawed for themselves, whether they care if democracy is dismantled? They do not. They just want fewer regulations and to be able to make money without any limitations on workers rights, consumer safety or the planet’s health.
The mainstream media is actively trying to get the GOP back in power.
Trump’s mental decline was apparent in 2016. It’s one of the reasons they attacked Hillary so aggressively over her health even though she was much more open than Trump. Now they’re projecting Trump’s dementia onto Biden whose speech impediment makes him sound slow and hesitant at times. Mentally, there is no question that Biden’s mental fitness is far superior to Trump’s. But the media just can’t help itself. It always plays Trump’s game.
It was so revealing when he was unable to stay awake throughout his NYC trial–it really showed what was going on during his hours of morning “executive time” on his schedule in the White House.
*So many* people in the media know the truth but won’t say it. I’m just glad when this is called out.
I was soooooo plugged into American politics during the Obama years……actually from 2004 leading up to his famous speech at the DNC convention that year, that made everyone sit up and take notice and realize that he could be the next Democratic president.
And from then until Obama demitted office in 2016 I knew more about the ins and outs of American politics & government than my own country’s!
And then came the 2016 election cycle where, even tho it made me anxious that so many Dems (plus the usual other suspects) were resistant to Hilary becoming President, I was very certain that not even hardcore republicans would allow drumf to become their nominee, in the first place.
And then they did.
And then, tho feeling shaky, I thought and said as much to anyone who would listen: if it takes the CIA to do their not-unusual dirty deeds, even on home soil, America would NOT allow a creature like drumf to become their president.
But I guess I failed to realize how massive the self-interested-country-be-damned oligarchs had become……these richer-than-god, diabolical creatures, with no loyalty to anything or anyone, who stay in the shadows and wield their power and influence over every aspect of American life.
But when the HW tapes came out, back in October 2016, I was hopeful that at last, by an October Surprise no less, drumf would be demolished. And so I was buoyed when diehard Republicans began coming out and condemning drumf, saying they would not vote for him in the elections.
But, as we all know now, most if not all of them lied.
Do you recall the movie, “Ghost,” starring a young elfine Demi Moore where, when the bad guys died you see their spirit leave their body only to be engulfed by some shadowy dark creatures who rear up literally from below ground to collect the wicked spirits and take them to hell? Yeah, thats how today’s MAGAts were spawned. Theyve reared up from the dark underbelly of the worst of American history and politics ever since the first term of the Obama years when the ‘dont tread on me’ Version 1.0 MAGAts began feeling their oats. And theyve only grown since then. See how radicalized house and senate republicans and even the supreme court have become, as well as their state-level counterparts.
A highly communicable disease which brings out the worst instincts of humanity seems to be succeeding in taking over America and this election will be the watershed moment.
This is so spot on, Kingston. Thank you! One other thing about 2016, though, is that Russian interference can’t be discounted. One big reason that Trump’s Access Hollywood tape did not get more than one news cycle was the Russians dumping Hillary’s hacked emails just hours later. I still have PTSD from 2016. I’ll never fully recover and neither will the country.
@Kingston, your comments are much more optimistic than I feel. I’m very lucky to have come of age during the blip of time when many struggled to see American ideals extended to ever larger portions of our population— with a publicly displayed support for justice, especially exemplified by our then- Supreme Court. What you view as “the dark underbelly of American history and politics” I view as the widely supported norm for the US for much of this country’s history.
It’s a lot easier to revert to a widely — if privately— supported norm than it is to courageously build something new and less immediately self-serving. As a country, I know that we can do and be better. As individuals, I hope we each grasp the power that we have and follow Obama’s edict: Don’t Boo — VOTE! Keeping in mind that the Electoral College was established to help maintain the long held status quo.
When I would speak to the worst of the MAGA in my parents families, it seemed that their worst grievances were the injustice they endured because our country had a Black Man as president.
No reasons, nothing that I couldn’t refute, only that that Black Man was a disgrace to our country. SMGDH.
This was the begining of the movement that was already there in the shadows. They found their brothers in hatred and racism, and it all ran from there.
Wow. That’s an official spokesperson for the presumptive candidate for POTUS?
No kidding! Everyone around Trump parrots his demeanor: childish, mean spirited bullies. Trump derangement syndrome??? Nothing says I’m sane like coming up with some fake disease to attribute to ppl who don’t like Trump. There can’t possibly be any other reason to dislike Trump! Hello, Projection!! It’s going to be sweet when he turns on them and you know he will. Cult leaders always turn on everyone.
Would really like to see this matter more to our voting 🗳️ public. Trump is very clearly unfit for our nation’s highest office. Would you hire someone like him to walk your dog or feed your cat, giving that kinda person keys to your home and relying on them to make the best kindsa decisions in an emergency, when you were away or in need? I, for one, WILL NOT. I propose we voters consider ourselves as employers, tasked with making the best, possibly most important decision of our lives. Of our children’s lives. Of our parents lives. We’ve already told Baby Fists & the Insurrection Administration ‘YOU’RE FIRED.’ There is nothing in the Constitution that says we need to vote his TWICE impeached ass back in (what a killer record 💿) & we don’t have to give up the keys to OUR HOUSE to another one of his corrupt administrations. We have a better choice already. WE WERK TO LOCK HIM UP. We vote our best chance to fight fascism and keep our democracy by rehiring President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. I propose we vote like Americans. DT is a puppet like figurehead being enticed by topless godivas and beyondt and rehiring him as President of the United States of America is a threat to global and universal health and peace.
Donald Trump is the reason I lost all faith in polls. I was stunned when he won. I won’t be this time.
I firmly believe there are more of us normal sane Americans that think Trump is piece of garbage than Magats. We all just need to make sure to vote Biden and not sit this election out. Make sure this POS never sees the Oval Office again.
These two would be a match made in heaven……
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2012/08/tan-mom-stops-tanning.html
I’m sure this “news” made Katy Tur cry
I just finished Setoodeh’s book last night! Read it in one sitting. It was a riveting portrait from a very different angle than most Babyfists critiques. It really exposes his deep delusion and pathetic need to be the best and “bigliest.” (And his distortions of the truth even BEFORE his evident mental decline kicked in.) Recommended read!!!