Bulwark Takes - Trump Can’t Keep His Own Stories Straight Anymore

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

JVL and Sam Stein take on Trump’s rambling McDonald’s appearance, the scrambled stories, and the stark drop in his energy compared to last year—and discuss why his team keeps steering him into cushioned, low-pressure settings. Be sure to read JVL's Triad newsletter on the speech: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-is-not-have-all-the-mentals-cognitive-functioning Take our quick listener survey and help us make The Bulwark even better. https://bit.ly/bulwarkaudio

Behind the delivery trucks that keep your life stocked, thousands of employees at BP go to work every day. People bringing a new offshore production platform online. People making our refineries capable of more, like making renewable diesel from agricultural waste. People trading and shipping fuels to our customers. And people helping truckers fill up and get maintenance at our convenient locations. They're part of almost 300,000 jobs BP supports across the country. Learn more at BP.com slash investing in America. Hey, guys. It's JVL and Sam Stein from the bulwark yesterday. Donald Trump had a McDonald's summit with a bunch of Mickey D's corporate types and franchise owners. And Sam, how often do you watch the president speaking in extended, extended remarks?

Honestly, probably every day. Really? Okay. Okay. So I have not. I'll be honest. I see clips of him. I'll see places where he will be back and forth with reporters, but I don't see his set pieces every day. I don't just like sit through 49 minutes of him. And I did better off. I did that with yesterday.

And what I came away from thinking was that when you, when you do that and really unpack it, he may not have all the mentals. Yeah. I know the MRI was good. It was a very strong MRI. Are I he? We don't know what it was of. We just know it was good.

And he doesn't know either. But I just want to play some of the clips here and talk about what I think I'm seeing. Not a doctor. Not a doctor. And I want to be clear. I'm not doing this clown on him. Okay. We'll clown on a little bit.

But I do think it's sort of important for us to all understand where Donald Trump's cognitive functioning is because he's going to be under increasing amounts of pressure as the weeks go by, and we do all have to sort of take that into account and understand what he's like. He starts the speech with the thing that all presidents do with, you know, thank you to you, thank you to you, thank you to you to all the people there. And then he does this thing. But I want to thank, you know, the famous Sundar and Sergei, Sergey Brin. These are two guys own and run a place called Google. They called me the following day after I did that. McDonald's little skit because it was it wasn't a commercial you got it for nothing it was a skit and they told me that it and I didn't know them I just said who are they they own Google

and that's pretty good that's not bad and then it received more hits than anything else in the history of Google and that records it still stands so congratulations on so uh there are a couple things here. And again, I want to do this kind of rigorously. Yeah. He's discussing the campaign event he did on October 20th, 2024. In Bucks County, right? In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he went to a McDonald's and he, you know, went in and went back in the kitchen and he talked to people and he handed out bags of fries. Yeah. And this is like a, this is like a foundational myth for him about the campaign. And I kind of doubt that Sergei and Sundar, called him on October 21st to tell him that this had the most hits in all of the history of

Googles. That just doesn't sound like something they would have done. Right. And also, not clear to me what a hit of Google is or why, whatever it is, that moment would have had more hits after 24 hours than, say, Taylor Swift. or COVID or January City or any number of other things. Sure. But here's the thing that really worries me.

Sergei and Sundar were not actually at that event. And he seemed like he thought they were. So he sounds like he's, again, he's just thanking all the people. And I'm thanking you, the guy who's the McDonald's CEO, and you the president of burger operations, and you, the franchise. And in the midst of all this, he thanks Sundar and, Sugi, who aren't there. Right.

Now, he's been in rooms with these guys many times because they've come and bent the knee to him. Right. But again, it's just not clear that he knows who's around him in this moment. A little concerning to me. Well, yeah. Concerning to me, too. Also, but, like, isn't there, like, a question of why he's even doing this event?

Like, he's just sitting there in front of a bunch of McDonald's executives, you know, like, what was the point of these? the event. What was the actual point of the event? The actual point of the event was affordability. And McDonald's was a focus? The affordability is going down and the prices are way down. They're down more strongly than they've been in 40 years. And $21 trillion, $21 trillion is what we're getting from the tariffs. Nobody, everybody's stupid. But again, why put it in front of a bunch of McDonald's franchisees and executives. Like, what is the point?

I think there's a larger takeaway for me and we can get to it in a little bit because I don't want to disrupt the replaying of the speeches. But I think there's some real telltale signs here that the White House is trying to put him in places where he feels like super comfortable and like not like the walls are crashing in and like McDonald's is his happy place. And so they're like, let's just put him in front of McDonald's and he'll like it, which is to your point, a little bit worrying, like you just want to make sure he's happy, right? Like, don't, don't push them too much. Yeah. So here we go. We're at about the 10

minute, 30 second mark here. It's really is. It's Americana. And late at night, your lights are often the only one still glowing when the long haul trucker pulls up for a good meal and a best Coca-Cola in America. Best Coca-Cola. And I'll bet they use real sugar in your Coca-Cola. You know, they didn't in the United States. I said to the head of Coca-Cola, you got to go to sugar. They do in other countries. And you know what? They want the sugar.

Isn't that nice? I said, you got to go to sugar. Just like I said, why is the Gulf of Mexico called the Gulf of Mexico? I said, we're changing the name. And now it's the Gulf of America. It has nothing to do with McDonald's, but maybe it does. Because it's very nice cycling. We have 92% of the shoreline.

They have 8%. I wouldn't say I made a lot of things like me. So, again, a lot to unpack here. You can see the beginning of this clip. He is on script. He's reading off the proctor. He's only then the long-haul truckers who come to America to get the, and then he, like the best Coca-Cola, you know,

as if Coca-Cola is different in different places, which the Coca-Cola company would like to tell you. It is not. Coca-Cola is the same everywhere. They take a lot of pride in that. He says the thing about telling Coca-Cola to use real sugar, which I believe is a thing he did tell them to do. He did tell them to do that. Yeah, they haven't.

Right. They're not going to. Not in the flagship product here in America. They should have tasted better. But that's what you get Mexican Cokes for, right? Yeah. The flagship product for America, you get high fructose corn syrup. And that's how it's going to be.

It's not. It's horrible. It's battery. It's fine. But he's not right. And he also does the thing where Gulf of Mexico, we have 90, 92% of the frontage. Again, just not true.

It's, you know, I looked up the numbers on this. The American coastline is 1,700 miles. The Mexican portion is 1,400 miles. Again, this is like arguing with a toddler, right? Well, it's like that, but it's also, didn't he, I don't know, the affect that he had there, and maybe it's because his voice is incredibly hoarse right now. But he came across like a grandfather. he is a grandfather obviously like someone who's got a bunch of old war stories not real war

but like uh you know yeah but like he's got like six or seven classics yeah yeah the sugar wars uh he's got a cut it's like six or seven classics and he just wants to tell you about those time that he had the coca coal executives and he told him how good the sugar was and they got to put the sugar back in and it's like yeah thanks granddad i appreciate the story so right right in the middle of that. There's a moment where he, he sort of says, you know, has nothing to do with McDonald's, but maybe it does because it's very nice. It's very

nice cycle. It's very nice cycle. This to me, again, trying to be dispassionate here, it looks like his mind is reaching for a word, and he can't get it. Right. And so he just throws another word, it's

very nice cycle, and so you just get gobbledygook. Yeah. Nonsense. Because the mind can't actually get the word that he's reaching. So let me ask you, though. So he's had malapropisms in the past, and he's had mind farts in the past, and he's gone on weaves in the past. You think your case here is that this is notably different than those past ones.

I think it's pretty different. And here, I'm going to. So let me, again, it's just the, yes, he's had these things all the time before. Right. This is, you know, the idea, word salad is how. we all describe his how he speaks. But when you put it all together, and here's the next clip is, again, it's from this sainted moment in October of 2020 for when he went to the McDonald's in Bucks County.

For McDonald's, and that's good for everybody else as president. I want you to know that I'm fighting with everyone that supports small businesses like yours and the citizens that we all serve. And to get fighting for an economy where every. Everyone can win from the cashier starting her first job to a franchisee opening his first location to the young family and a drive-thru line. I've been on that line many times. Actually, that line was incredible in the commercial, right? It wasn't a commercial.

It was about, but they had the line. The people had no idea. So I made the French fries. The guy was really good. He had a great wrist. He was going like, sir. Yeah. Nice.

It was not that easy, but I got it sort of finally, not the greatest, but I get the pouring it in, asking them all sorts of stupid questions, but it was very interesting. Amazing. A little thing is not, it's a little complex, right, to father and son over there. They own a lot. They're very rich people. But I'll tell you what, I ask, how many do you have? Sure I have, 59. I said, you're rich. But, but, you know, nobody knew in the line. The line was a long line. They had 25,000 people, so. somebody let them know we were coming, but it was toward the end of the campaign. And after I did the French fries and did some other things, I then stood at the window. And the people would drive up a little bored, in all fairness. You know, it is, I mean, they're waiting for a hamburger, okay? So they'd drive up like this. They look over. Whoa.

One of them. And it was fascinating. Every one of them, they would, it was, the response was incredible. almost like I knew I was going to win when I saw that. I know because the response was love. It was great. They had a good time. But we did, I think, 12 people.

Every one of them had the same response. They drive up. They're here. They did this. They get that. Getting a little cash ready. And they look over and it was, some did a double take. Some went like that.

Well, but it was sort of an amazing moment. So again, I am sorry to be pedantic here. I understand that he is. is an old man telling stories, which he's embellishing. Yeah. Very, very clear. None of it played out that way. No.

So there were not 25,000 people in line. They certainly didn't not know that Trump was going to be serving them. He did not serve 12 people. These people were not waiting for hamburgers. There were six cars that had been pre-vetted. He handed each of them a bag with a one order of fries into it. all of these people knew they were getting to see Donald Trump. There were photographers

everywhere. They were all very excited. To be clear, the love part is real. A lot of this. A lot of this for Donald Trump there. But not actual double takes or anything like that. Not 12 people, not 25,000 people in line. But here's the thing, Sam.

For my sins, I went back and I watched that entire event. Good, because I want to know how a I want to know how it compares a good dress. So here's the thing. Yeah. 13 months ago, it's almost exactly 13 months. That's about right, yeah.

He is noticeably more vigorous. So would you like to put the medium fries in the back? I think so, yeah. Because you know who's thinking of these, right? Mine. Do they ever ask for more salt? Supposing we want some extra salt. Can we just go like that?

We will give them salt baking. Watch the sucker. I love salt. Wait a minute. I spilled some. I'm very superstitious. Now, it's over the left shoulder now. Let's go.

Notice will be more vigorous. Okay. So you see him here like, you know, like joke him with the fry guy. Like the truth is in that clip with him at the event just the other day, where he's doing the bit with the fries and the wrist, that's a bit. It's a stick and it's very good. Like that's the funny Trump. Yeah.

And he maintains that for about four sentences. before he then just is like, you know, and he said to father and son, you rich, you rich, 59, you're really rich. Just loses train of thought. And then again,

when you put him up against like the guy who was with the fry cook, like slapping back and he's like sort of being quick on his feet. Yeah. This guy looks tired. Okay. So he's 79 years old. He's done this. Again, this isn't his first presidency.

He's done this before. So that takes years off. he constantly is traveling around the world. And on top of that, he allegedly doesn't get any sleep and he's passing out in these meetings now. And yeah, this shit's going to weigh on you. And it definitely is weighing on Trump. I do come back to the idea that he's also sort of being, his staff probably knows this. His staff is aware of this.

And it does seem like they're trying to confine him into these easier to navigate circumstances. So in advance of this, I did a little research. JBL, I had our team pull up the interviews that they have him do, okay? Because if you have a vigorous president, and he does a lot of stuff, I'll give him that. But if you have someone who's like sharp, they're going to go on a bunch of different networks and channels and sit down with anyone and anyone because they don't, they're not worried about being challenged. These are the interviews.

I'm going to read them all. It's like 16 or so from June, okay? Okay. Starts June 29th. Maria Bartrama. Laura Trump Miranda Devine Rob Finnerty of Newsmax

Brett Bear Sean Hannity Fox and Friends Martha McCallum again Fox Ducey Sunday morning Fox Daniel Baldwin OAN Trey Inkst

very short interview apparently but also Fox again Bart Roma 60 minutes the one that stands out there Brett Bear and for what it's worth Brett Baer, again, Fox Sports. This was, I think, an NFL interview.

Laura Ingram, Bev Turner. This was the most recent one to go after the BBC. And then Selena Zito of Washington Examiner, but it's not out yet. These are the recent in-person interviews, not just the gaggles or the quick questions. And that's since June. There's one non-conservative in there, and that's Barry Weiss of 60 Minutes. Is that non-conservative? I don't know.

I got to give it a little time. I mean, I don't know. No, I mean, this is the first big. interview. Well, whatever. We don't need to get into that. But I think Donald Trump was able to be reasonably certain that 60 minutes, fresh off of settling a lawsuit with him and installing a watchdog to make sure that they are not unfair to him and under the direction of soft Trump supporter Barry Weiss was not going to do him dirty. So I think they're putting him in situations where he's not challenged, where he doesn't have to be nimble. And I think, you know, putting him in a McDonald's event

for affordability is like in that genre. They just want him to feel comfortable. Yeah. I want to do one more thing for you. Sure. One more thing. So he does have all of these set pieces, as you say. Anybody who's watched Trump knows

that he's got a auto pen. Joe Biden is the auto pen. He's got the FBI, the lovers, like Peter Struck. Lisa Page. The Lovers, right? And he's got the J6. choir. And they're just like these, they're in his grab bag and he reaches in and pulls them.

Well, touchstones, yeah. All politicians do that. Sure. No, not, not bagging on Trump. But there's this moment around the 3550 mark where he gets pulled into one of those touchstones and then confuses it with another one of his touchdown. Okay. Ten old job-telling regulations have to be eliminate. So if we put in a new regulation, then we get rid of 10. Otherwise, you don't get the new regulation. And you know, the drip, drip water. We call it the drip drip. We're dripped out of the sink. States with tremendous water, so much water, they have nothing but problems getting rid. They had restrictions on water. It comes down. Yeah, just understand. We're talking about

two different things. First, he's talking about his obsession with low flow faucets. Yeah. He Restrictors, which are put on those. But then his brain hears water and goes to the other water obsession he has, which is out west, restricting the supply of water flowing down to farmland, which is another one of his bugaboo's. But now watch how his brain just mashes these two things up into a single unintelligible blob. They had restrictions in water. So you want to wash your hands? Or like me, I want to wash my hair. I lather up and I turn that and I there's no water the water's your drip they call it they put a restrictor on

I won't mention the third item in the bathroom because I always get critics I used to mention what's happening I don't mention it anymore because you know what I'm I think you do if you don't know what I'm talking about then you shouldn't be owning a McDonald's franchise you wouldn't do well even with a McDonald's franchise is he talking about the water restrictions totally lifted all restrictors And, you know, it's interesting. Your dishwashers were covered, right? You had no water. I was with some of the people that make them, Whirlpool and others. And they said, sir, they won't give us the water to use in our dishwashers or using our washing machines. Tears in their eyes.

The washing machines have no water. I mean, it's like a glass of water, half a glass of water. We need water. And I said, how bad is it? He said, well, like the dishwasher. They put their dishes in. and they just keep pressing the button being being being they end up using more water so i gave them as you know unlimited water Biden came back with a rigged election and he immediately restricted the

water again but i came back and immediately unrestricted again so now you have unlimited water to clean your damn dishes i love that they have to clap at the end it's like okay yeah thank you sir i mean it's uh it's it's crazy and so this is totally nuts i didn't realize just on this is that the guy can't even hold his touchstone separate anymore. Like, they're now all getting wound up. I got to say, I don't know how this could end. Like, you know, on one hand, I feel like, okay, maybe he finally feels like he's got to step away. And on the other hand, I feel like maybe he is like, it's going to war with Venezuela, the trend of guise.

There's nothing in your brain that says he's going to. step away. No way. We're going to put restrictors on the trend to aguas. We call them the drip drip aguas next. Exactly. The trend de aguas, he's going to confuse for the toilet flow, and he's just going to have to find some more regulations than do. This is your president of these United States. Guys, I'm JVL. He's Sam Stein. Do us a solid. Thanks, buddy. Hit like, hit subscribe, follow the channel. We'll be back with more, maybe even good news, eventually. Good luck, America.