He did it three times in a single speech last month – falsely claiming to have witnessed a bridge collapse in Pittsburgh in 2022 (he actually visited the site more than six hours after the collapse), falsely claiming his grandfather had died just days prior to his own birth at the same hospital (his paternal grandfather died more than a year prior in another state), and again repeating a long-debunked false story about a supposed conversation with an Amtrak conductor who was deceased at the time the story would have had to take place.
In 2021 and 2022, he falsely claimed to have been arrested during a civil rights protest (he had previously said merely that an officer had taken him home from a protest), falsely claimed he “used to drive an 18-wheeler” (the White House said he once had a job driving a different vehicle, a school bus), falsely claimed to have visited the Pittsburgh synagogue where worshippers were killed in a 2018 mass shooting (he had spoken to its rabbi by phone but had not gone), falsely claimed to have visited Iraq and Afghanistan as president (he made repeated visits as a senator and vice president but not as president), told a false story involving a late relative and the Purple Heart, and falsely described his interactions decades ago with late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.
Hmm. Most of these seem like fairly minor inaccuracies. Some are more inaccurate, but all seem to have some bearing on real events he was involved in. I’m not really seeing an intentional weaving of untruth like I see in many other politicians at this time. I more see the unscripted memory recall of an older person.
Be probably just meant to say “week” instead of “day.” Such a minor screw up. I do shit like that all the time, and I’m half his age.
i see it as more of an example of why we shouldnt want septuagenarian or octogenarian politicians of either party.
It’s called confabulation, and it’s not “normal” aging, it’s a sign of memory loss. Dementia is a common cause.
I find it staggering that the democratic party are going with him as their presidential candidate. Feels like a mix of the sunken cost fallacy and a fear of turning away from someone who is currently beating Trump in the polls.
Arguably Trump confabulates too but it gets dismissed as he’s been a liar for so long no one notices.
2024 is looking like an election with two elderly men with dementia vying for the whitehouse, and another one as senate leader. That’s how extreme US politics has become - you could put up a literal monkey now and as long as he’s in the right party he would get nearly 1/2 the vote.
It’s all a sign of how dangerously broken the US electoral system is.
I hate it. I’ll still vote for the puppet with dimentia that’s commanded by Democrats over the one commanded by Republicans if that ends up being my only choice to fend off fascists.
They’re not even puppeting him very well if they’re letting him make all these inaccurate statements in speeches.