Copyright The Daily Beast
Donald Trump is facing mockery after sending out a gibberish Truth Social message on Wednesday before quickly deleting it. The chronically-online president, 79, has turned viral social media blunders into a tradition, having birthed the word “covfefe” in 2017 and accidentally rebranded himself as “DONAKD J. TRUMP” earlier this year. At 10:43 p.m. local time, the elderly president hit post on a short, baffling entry: “South Carerdddd.” Although the post disappeared soon after, it lives on in Truth Social’s archives. What Trump meant by “South Carerdddd” remains unclear; the word jumble makes any interpretation speculative, and his next post offered little insight. Arriving more than three hours later at 1:47 a.m., a more coherent Trump wrote, “Thank you for the incredible welcome, South Korea!” alongside a clip of his red carpet reception from earlier in the day. The commander-in-chief—who has faced mounting scrutiny of his cognitive and physical health—was swiftly mocked online for his nonsense coinage. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office reposted a screenshot of the deleted message on X, quipping, “The extra ds stand for dementia.” The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group helmed by ex-Republicans, similarly cast the president’s blunder as a sign of declining cognitive health. “‘Perfect MRI.’ Sure,” the group wrote on X, mocking Trump’s claim about a recent MRI scan that the White House had kept under wraps until he revealed it himself while chatting with reporters Monday. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. Trump’s incoherent speeches, erratic Truth Social activity, and frequent lapses in memory have led some to speculate that he may be suffering from dementia. Psychologist Dr. John Gartner told The Daily Beast Podcast last week that Trump, the oldest person ever inaugurated as president, is exhibiting a “massive increase” in “clinical signs of dementia.” Trump has become prone to a speech phenomenon called “phonemic paraphasia,” where words are left incomplete and finished with a nonsense ending, Gartner argued. The president, meanwhile, has sought to defend his mental acuity by repeatedly boasting that he got a perfect score on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a 30-minute test that screens for signs of dementia. Trump described it as “very hard” on Monday. The test asks respondents to draw a clock, identify pictures of animals, and repeat back a list of five words. In past typo gaffes, Trump has posted about an “unpresidented act,” once claimed Barack Obama planned to “tapp” his phones and said he was “honered” to serve America. He has often spoken of a “stollen” election. However, a note Secretary of State Marco Rubio handed Trump during the Israel-Hamas peace deal negotiations, revealed that Trump may not always be the one to post his Truth Social messages. “We need you to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first,” the note read.
