>>> HAS ANYONE EVER SEEN SILENCE OF THE LAMBS? THE LATE GREAT HANNIBAL LECTER IS A WONDERFUL MAN. HE OFTENTIMES WOULD HAVE A FRIEND FOR DINNER. >> THAT WAS REPUBLICAN FRONT- RUNNER AND CONVICTED FELON DONALD TRUMP LAST MONTH OFFERING HIS THOUGHTS ON A COOL NEW MOVIE THAT WAS RELEASED 33 YEARS AGO. DID ANYONE QUESTION DONALD TRUMP'S MENTAL FITNESS OR EVEN HIS BASIC CONNECTION TO THE TIME SPACE CONTINUUM? NO, THEY DID NOT. THAT IS PERHAPS BECAUSE EVEN AFTER A DECADE OF INCREASINGLY UNHINGED COMMENTARY, THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HAS BECOME SOMEWHAT NUMB TO DONALD TRUMP'S PARTICULAR VERBAL MADNESS. >> IF YOU HAVE A WINDMILL ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR HOUSE, CONGRATULATIONS. YOUR HOUSE WENT DOWN 75% IN VALUE. AND THEY SAY THE NOISE CAUSES CANCER. OKAY. THEN I SEE THE DISINFECTANT KNOCKS IT OUT IN A MINUTE. ONE MINUTE AND IS THERE A WAY THAT WE CAN DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT BY INJECTION INSIDE OR ALMOST A CLEANING? >> BY THE WAY THEY NEVER REPORT THE CROWD ON JANUARY 6. NIKKI HALEY, NIKKI HALEY, NIKKI HALEY IS IN CHARGE OF SECURITY. WE OFFERED HER 10,000 PEOPLE. SOLDIERS. WHATEVER THEY WANT. THEY TURNED IT DOWN. >> AND WITH OBAMA WE WON AN ELECTION THAT EVERYONE SAID COULD NOT BE WON. I LIKE A MEMORY QUESTION. LIKE YOU GO PERSON WOMAN MAN CAMERA TV. SO, THEY SAY COULD YOU REPEAT THAT. I SAID YEAH. SO IT IS PERSON, WOMAN, MAN, CAMERA, TV. IT'S ACTUALLY NOT THAT EASY, BUT FOR ME IT WAS THAT EASY. >> THOUGH PRESIDENT BIDEN RECEIVES FAR MORE PRESS FOR HIS VERBAL MISCUES AND MISTAKES, THE REALITY IS THAT DONALD TRUMP IS IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN WHEN IT COMES TO STRANGE NON SEQUITURS AND RAMBLING ANTIDOTES THAT LEAD NOWHERE AND FANTASTICAL SCENARIOS THAT HAVE NO BASIS IN REALITY. EVEN AGAINST THAT BACKDROP, THE AD-LIBBED HYPOTHETICAL THAT TRUMP PRESENTED THIS PAST WEEKEND IN NEVADA, IT REALLY STOOD OUT. >> WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE BOAT SANK FROM ITS WEIGHT AND YOU ARE IN THE BOAT AND YOU HAVE THIS TREMENDOUSLY POWERFUL BATTERY AND THE BATTERY IS NOW UNDERWATER AND THERE IS A SHARK THAT IS APPROXIMATELY 10 YARDS OVER THERE. BY THE WAY, A LOT OF SHARK ATTACKS LATELY, DID YOU NOTICE THAT? SO THERE IS A SHARK 10 YARDS AWAY FROM THE BOAT, 10 YARDS. DO I GET ELECTROCUTED IF THE BOAT IS SINKING, WATER GOES OVER THE BATTERY, THE BOAT IS SINKING. DO I STAY ON TOP OF THE BOAT AND GET ELECTROCUTED OR DO I JUMP OVER BY THE SHARK AND NOT GET ELECTROCUTED? YOU KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO IF THERE WAS A SHARK OR YOU GET ELECTROCUTED? I WILL TAKE ELECTROCUTION EVERY SINGLE TIME. I'M NOT GETTING NEAR THE SHARK. SO WE WILL AND THAT. WE WILL AND THAT FOR BOATS. >> JUST TO BE CLEAR THE SCENARIO WILL NEVER COME TO PASS ON PLANET EARTH IN PART BECAUSE OF LAWS OF BUOYANCY AND CONDUCTIVITY AND IN PART BECAUSE A FORMER PRESIDENT WILL NEVER, EVER BE IN A SINKING BOAT WITH A SHARK 10 YARDS AWAY. IT IS JUST NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. AS ABSURD AS THESE MOMENTS ARE, AS SURREAL AS THE SCENARIO IS, THERE IS WEIRDLY A STRATEGY AT PLAY. TRUMP'S APPARENT CONDITIONING OF A LARGE SWATH OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO COLLECT HIS RAMBLING IS NORMAL OR AT LEAST IS SOMETHING OTHER THAN ADDLED AND ALARMING HAS BECOME ONE OF HIS BIGGEST CAMPAIGN ADVANTAGES. WITH THE SPOTLIGHT ON PRESIDENT BIDEN'S AGE AND ACUITY, TRUMP HAS SEEMINGLY GOTTEN A PASS AND THERE IS NO BETTER DAY TO PUT TRUMP'S AGING BUT FLORID MIND INTO PERSPECTIVE THAN TODAY BECAUSE TODAY IS DONALD TRUMP'S BIRTHDAY. TRUMP IS 78 YEARS OLD, ONLY THREE YEARS YOUNGER THAN PRESIDENT BIDEN. WHILE MARKING THIS MILESTONE SUSAN GLASSER OF THE NEW YORKER OFFERS THIS ACCEPT ASSESSMENT. WHEREVER ONE STANDS ON THE BROADER QUESTION OF TRUMP'S MENTAL HEALTH, THE EVIDENT DECLINE IN HIS ABILBAZAAR RAMBL OBSESSIONS HAVE LONG CHARACTERIZED HIS PUBLIC PERFORMANCES, BUT IN THE 2024 CAMPAIGN THE WEIRD HAS GOTTEN DECIDEDLY WEIRDER. JOINING ME NOW IS SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER AT THE NEW YORKER. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE DISSENT INTO ULTRA WEIRD AND WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN IN PARTICULAR THAT CAUSES YOU TO MAKE THIS ASSESSMENT? >> WELL, ALEX, THERE IS A LOT OF MATERIAL HERE. LET'S BE REAL. THIS EVENING YOU HAVE ALREADY PLAYED THE SHARK ELECTROCUTION BOAT THING, WHICH HONESTLY I WOULD NOT PRETEND TO HAVE ANY POLITICAL STRATEGIST IN ME, BUT IF I WERE A POLITICAL STRATEGIST I MIGHT SUGGEST RUNNING THAT AS A CAMPAIGN AD OVER AND OVER AGAIN. IF ONE WERE SO INCLINED. YOU KNOW IT IS PRETTY REMARKABLE STUFF. YOU KNOW, TRUMP IS A TOUGH CHARACTER WHEN TRYING TO UNPACK WHICH PART IS JUST TO HE IS. WHICH PART HAS GOTTEN WORSE OVER TIME. CERTAINLY YOU LOOK AT THE VOCABULARY. YOU LOOK AT THE CHALLENGES. SPEAKING IN CLEAR SENTENCES AND COMMUNICATING, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT HAS CHANGED PRETTY RADICALLY OVER TIME. I WOULD SAY EVEN FROM 2016 TO 2022 2024, THE PROGRESS OF A TRUMP RALLY SHOWS PRETTY CLEARLY A MAN ON A SHARP DOWNWARD SLOPE. >> IT IS INTERESTING BECAUSE HIS CAMPAIGN RELEASED A STATEMENT AFTER PEOPLE'S EYEBROWS WERE RAISED OVER THE SCENARIO AND THIS IS WHAT JASON MILLER HAD TO SAY. PRESIDENT TRUMP TAKES ON NUMEROUS TOUGH INTERVIEWS EVERY WEEKEND DELIVERS LENGTHY RALLY SPEECHES WHILE STANDING, DEMONSTRATING ELITE STAMINA. FIRST OF ALL I DID NOT KNOW THAT STAMINA COULD BE ELITE, BUT SECONDLY IT IS ALMOST LIKE WHAT HE SAYS IS BESIDE THE POINT. THE FACT HE IS UP THERE STANDING, STILL TALKING, IS ENOUGH, THE TRUMP TEAM THINKS, TO PLACATE ANYONE OR DISSUADE THEM FROM THINKING HE HAS SOMEHOW ADDLED AND THUS FAR THEY SEEM TO BE RIGHT. THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS, THERE IS WAY MORE SCRUTINY ON PRESIDENT BIDEN THAN THERE IS ON PRESIDENT TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP. GIVEN THE ABSURD TIRADES AND NON SEQUITURS THAT ARE NOW PART OF HIS DAILY ROUTINE. >> THAT'S RIGHT AND AGAIN PART OF THE PROBLEM IS THE FIRE HOSE OF LIES PROBLEM WHICH IS TO SAY IF WE ALREADY FEEL TRUMP HAS OVERWHELMED US WITH BIZARRE DIGRESSIONS FOR YEARS, THEN UNPACKING WHAT IS NEW AND DIFFERENT BECOME SO HARD THAT PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THEIR HANDS. REMEMBER PERSON, WOMAN, MAN, CAMERA, TV. DONALD TRUMP HAS ALWAYS GRADED HIMSELF ON A CURVE, IN THE SAME WAY JASON MILLER IS GRADING TRUMP ON A CURVE. SAYING IT IS OKAY AS LONG AS HE CAN STAND UP. THAT IS PRETTY REMARKABLE. ALSO I THOUGHT TRUMP WAS RUNNING AGAINST THE ELITES AND I LITERALLY NEVER HEARD ANYONE ASSERT THE CONDITION OF ELITE STAMINA. HAVE YOU? >> NO, I DON'T THINK I HAVE ELITE STAMINA FOR THE RECORD. I DON'T THINK I EVEN HAVE STAMINA. DONALD TRUMP HAS ELITE STAMINA. THIS IS ALL THROWN INTO SHARP RELIEF WHEN THE MEN ARE ON STAGE DEBATING AND IT ALREADY FEELS LIKE THE FIRST DEBATE IS JUNE 27. IT ALREADY FEELS LIKE THE BAR FOR BIDEN TO CLEAR IS SO MUCH MORE SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER THAN THE ONE TRUMP HAS, WHICH IS LITERALLY IS HE ALIVE, IS HE STANDING, IS THE WORDS COMING OUT OF HIS MOUTH, SETTING ASIDE WHAT THE WORDS ARE, I WONDER IF THERE IS ANY WAY FOR BIDEN TO OVERCOME WHAT SEEMS LIKE A STRUCTURAL DISADVANTAGE IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO WHAT WILL BE AN IMPORTANT INFLECTION POINT IN THE CAMPAIGN. >> ALEX, I THINK THAT IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION. WE DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER YET. THE CHALLENGE AGAINST RUNNING AGAINST TRUMP FOR BIDEN'S IT IS NOT REALLY A HEAD-TO-HEAD CONTEST IN WHICH THEY ARE JUDGED BY THE SAME TERMS. IT IS MUCH MORE AKIN TO PARALLEL PLAY, NOT INTERSECTING UNTIL THE MOMENT OF VOTING. BIDEN HAD THAT FUNNY JOKE AT THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER WHERE HE SAID YEAH, I'M RUNNING AGAINST A 6-YEAR-OLD. BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT TRUMP IS ENGAGING IN HIS OWN GAME AND APPEALING TO HIS OWN FOLLOWERS, WHO DON'T HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE TO THE SAME STANDARDS AS OTHER PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN THIS COUNTRY. SO HE QUOTE UNQUOTE GETS AWAY WITH THINGS I THINK ANYONE ELSE WOULD HAVE A HARD TIME DOING. WHAT HE IS LOOKING TO DO IS TO KEEP HIS MAGA BASE FAITHFUL TO HIM. BIDEN HAS A TOUGHER TASK AND A MUCH MORE TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE PRESIDENCY. IT IS A MUCH TOUGHER JOB THE WAY BIDEN HAS DEFINED IT AND I THINK THAT IS PART OF THE CHALLENGE. WHEN YOU SEE THEM TOGETHER, REMEMBER THE FIRST MEETING BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM, THAT WAS A STRIKING MOMENT FOR MANY AMERICANS. IT PROBABLY DID HELP JOE BIDEN PUT AWAY THE FIRST CAMPAIGN AND DEFEAT DONALD TRUMP. TRUMP SEEMED OUT OF CONTROL. IT WAS TRULY I THINK THE WORST DEBATE I HAVE EVER SEEN BETWEEN ANY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES AND LARGELY THE TONE WAS SET BY TRUMP, WHO WAS NOT JUST INCOHERENT, BUT VERY OR LEND TO AND CAREENING AROUND. BIDEN'S FIRST LINE WAS ENOUGH ALREADY, MAN. >> YES. AND I THINK I AM A LITTLE BIT KIND OF WORRIED THAT WE WILL SEE A REPEAT OF THAT. IT WAS PRETTY AWFUL TO WATCH, FRANKLY. >> WE DO KNOW AT LEAST THAT TRUMP IS NOT INTENDING ON DOING DEBATE PRACTICE HEADING INTO ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER,
