New conspiracies over Trump's health swirl after text interview with CNN's Jake Tapper
Source: The Independent
Tuesday 07 October 2025 08:21 BST
President Donald Trump has reignited speculation over his health and physical stamina after he engaged in a bizarre interview with CNN conducted through text message over the weekend.  For months, reporters and other observers have noted that Trumps speech has often been slurred during appearances, pressed the White House on the origins of bruising and heavy makeup to cover it on Trumps hand, and requested information on his health, only to be rebuffed by the White House.  Now, the 79-year-old commander-in-chief has added to the questions with a written question-and-answer session, purportedly between him and anchor  Jake Tapper, who hosted the networks State of the Union program on Sunday.
Tapper said hed asked Trump a series of questions about the 20-point peace plan he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled last week at the White House  a plan that has been accepted in part by Hamas and is currently the subject of a new round of talks with US and Israeli negotiators in Egypt.  As images of the messages were displayed on screen, Tapper said Trump had replied to a question about what happens if Hamas tries to hold on to power in Gaza by writing: Complete Obliteration!
Another question on whether South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is correct to question Hamas sincerity because the militant group has not addressed demands that it disarm under the plan, Trump replied: We will find out. Only time will tell! Tapper continued to narrate the visual display of the purported text messages from the president, closing the alleged interview with a question about how Trump believes the now six-day government shutdown will end. According to Tapper, Trump replied: Good, we are winning, and cutting costs, big time!
The CNN anchor did not explain how he verified that it was the president  not any of his aides  who authored the written responses to his questions.  He also did not explain whether hed made any effort to speak with the president by phone, something that has become commonplace for reporters covering the second Trump administration because Trump has maintained use of his personal mobile phone since returning to the presidency and frequently uses it to contact reporters directly. 
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-health-cnn-interview-b2840195.html     
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				bearsfootball516
(6,650 posts)It just sounds like how Trump normally responds, to be honest. They don't seem unusual.
Unless the argument is that he refused a phone interview because he couldn't speak clearly, and it was an aide providing the text responses while pretending to be Trump, which would obviously be a massive five alarm fire.
Prairie Gates
(6,611 posts)whether he's actually answering the questions or why he's not doing voice interviews.
Overall, the piece is pretty silly and fanciful, since we see Trump on teevee blathering stupidly every day. That said, it's also good to point out Jake Tapper's usual clownish hypocrisy, since he's gone all in on lack of transparency about Biden but is perfectly OK with an arguably dubious text interview with Trump.
Takeaway: Jake Tapper, still a MAGA dipshit. 
Gimpyknee
(903 posts)Ol Janx Spirit
(462 posts)...then President Joe Biden had not only not appeared on screen; not only did not do the interview by phone where his voice would clearly indicate it was him answering questions; but where he hid behind the anonymity of a text chain for an interview.  And not like an interview for some middle school newspaper but for CNN....
I for one would actually have been extremely concerned, and MAGA would have marched on the US Capitol again to force him out.
Imagine it for any past president for that matter.
But this kind of thing is now so normalized that even some of us on DU take it with a shrug?  Nobody in the press even got a hair out of place much less had to run as fast as they could for a fire extinguisher to put it out?
But the inevitable truth behind the situation is that there is a serious reason behind it.  And this White House will never let us know what it is until Ted Cruz opens a closet in the new ballroom and finds his spray tanned bones....
bucolic_frolic
(53,004 posts)Now I ask you, which is correct?
tanyev
(48,175 posts)sop
(16,661 posts)The texts were probably written by an aide; it sounds like Trump, but with correct spelling and punctuation.  Maybe Tapper will write a book when Trump starts using one of those Stephen Hawking speech-generating devices?
kerouac2
(1,368 posts)Trump has been tossing word salads and gibberish for a long time now. It has been clear that he is mentally unfit for awhile. When you put that on top of his underlying core of evil narcissism, it's just plain frightening.
usonian
(22,000 posts)And Miller's pulling the strings on his rotted corpse.
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/29/the-hallucinating-chatgpt-presidency/
Judge for yourself.
Tue, Apr 29th 2025 09:34am - Mike Masnick
snip
But over the last few months, it has occurred to me that, for all the hype about generative AI systems hallucinating, we pay much less attention to the fact that the current President does the same thing, nearly every day. The more you look at the way Donald Trump spews utter nonsense answers to questions, the more you begin to recognize a clear pattern  he answers questions in a manner quite similar to early versions of ChatGPT. The facts dont matter, the language choices are a mess, but they are all designed to present a plausible-sounding answer to the question, based on no actual knowledge, nor any concern for whether or not the underlying facts are accurate.
snip
This is not the response of someone working from actual knowledge or policy understanding. Instead, its precisely how an LLM operates: taking a prompt (the question about job losses) and generating text based on some core parameters (the system prompt that requires deflecting blame and asserting greatness).
The hallmarks of AI generation are all here:
 Confident assertions without factual backing
 Meandering diversions that maintain loose semantic connection to the topic
 Pattern-matching to previous responses (ripped off, billions of dollars)
 Optimization for what sounds good rather than whats true


mwb970
(12,000 posts)Clouds Passing
(6,337 posts)The conspiracy resides with the msm not telling the truth about dumps dementia and other serious health problems.
travelingthrulife
(3,662 posts)this media manipulation go down as well.
chouchou
(2,547 posts)...will Miller still have insane power strings over President Vance?  Personally, Not looking to ANY Reality.   
 
usonian
(22,000 posts)They are all about tech and crypto ruling the world. Trump is a short-sighted idiot. 

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20692367
They may have no need for Miller. When you rule currency, you rule the world. YMMV
Your Miller May Vary
travelingthrulife
(3,662 posts)Why are we letting these immigrants from South Africa destroy us?
usonian
(22,000 posts)F---ing deranged.
surfered
(10,028 posts)Miguelito Loveless
(5,302 posts)Making it all seem normal.
displacedvermoter
(3,976 posts)out about Trump's decline? Probably not.
Wicked Blue
(8,324 posts)Anxious people are waiting...
JustABozoOnThisBus
(24,454 posts)... darn













