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Sarah
Hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy. But I like it. Sure, you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all. So farewell, oatmeal. So long, you strange soggy.
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Interviewer
What do you think makes the perfect snack?
Snack Enthusiast
Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.
Interviewer
Could you be more specific?
Snack Enthusiast
When it's cravinient.
JVL
Okay.
Snack Enthusiast
Like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at a.m. pM.
Interviewer
I'm seeing a pattern here.
Snack Enthusiast
Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.
Interviewer
Crave, which is anything from AM pm.
Snack Enthusiast
What more could you want?
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JVL
Hey guys, it's JVL and Sam Stein from the Bulwark. Yesterday, Donald Trump had a McDonald's summit with a bunch of McD Mickey D's, corporate types and franchise owners. And Sam, how often do you watch the President speaking in extended, extended remarks?
Sam Stein
Honestly, probably every day.
JVL
Really? Okay, okay, so I, 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 right every day. I don't just like sit through 49 minutes of him.
Sam Stein
And I did better off.
JVL
I did that with yesterday. And what I came 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 he had.
Sam Stein
We don't know what it was of. We just know it was good.
JVL
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 to clown on him. Okay, maybe 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, 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.
Donald Trump
But I want to thank, you know, the famous Sundar and Sergei. 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, and I didn't know them. I just, I said, who are they? They own Google. I said, that's pretty good. That's not bad. And that it received more hits than any else in the history of Google. And that records. It still stands. So congratulations on.
JVL
So there are a couple things here. And again, I want to do this kind of rigorously.
Sam Stein
Yeah.
JVL
He's discussing the campaign event he did on October 20, 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. And this is like a. This is like a foundational myth for him about the campaign. And I, I kind of doubt that Sergey and Sundar called him on October 21 to tell him that this had the most hits in all of the history of Google's. That just doesn't sound like something they would have done.
Sam Stein
Right.
JVL
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 or any number of other things.
Sam Stein
Sure.
JVL
But here's the thing that really worries me. Sergey and Sundar were not actually at.
Sam Stein
That event, and he seemed like he thought they were.
JVL
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. 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. 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.
Sam Stein
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 the event? What was the actual point of the event?
JVL
The actual point of the event was affordability. We'll get to that.
Sam Stein
And McDonald's was affordability.
JVL
The affordability is going down and the prices are way down. Down the price, 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.
Sam Stein
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 they're like, 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 not like the walls are crushing in. 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 push him too much.
Donald Trump
Yeah.
JVL
So here we go. We're at about the 10 minute, 30 second mark.
Donald Trump
Here really is. It's Americana. And late at night your lights are often the only ones 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. Has nothing to do with McDonald's. But maybe it does because it's very nice cycle. We have 92% of the shoreline. They have 8%. I wouldn't say I made a lot of money. Like me.
JVL
So again, lot to unpack. Here you can see the beginning of this clip. He is on script. He's Reading off the proctor. He's 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. To use real sugar, which I believe is a thing he did tell them to do.
Sam Stein
He did tell them to do that.
JVL
Yeah. They haven't, right? They're not going to. Not in the flagship product here in America. They should have tastes better, but. But that's what you get Mexican Cokes for, right? The flagship product for America. You get high fructose corn syrup and that's how delicious it's gonna be. Not. It's horrible. It's battery, it's fine. Not right. And he also does the thing where, you know, Gulf of Mexico, we have 90, 92% of the. Again, just not true. It's. You know, I looked up the numbers on this. The. The American coastline is 1700 miles. The Mexican portion is 1400 miles. Not again. This is like arguing with a toddler, right?
Sam Stein
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. And he is a grandfather, obviously. Like someone who's got a bunch of old war stories. Not real, but like, you know. Yeah, but like he's got like six or seven classics. Yeah, yeah, the sugar wars. He's got a. He's like six or seven classics. And he just wants to tell you about those time that he had the Coca Cola executives and he told them how good the sugar was and they got to put the sugar back in.
Donald Trump
And.
Sam Stein
And it's like, yeah, thanks, granddad. I appreciate the story.
JVL
So right. Right in the middle of that, there's a moment where he. He has nothing to do with McDonald's, but maybe it does. It's very nice. It's very nice cycle. It's very nice cycle. This to me, again, just 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 nonsense because the mind can't actually get the word that he's reaching.
Sam Stein
So let me ask you though. So he's had malpropism 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?
JVL
I think it's pretty different. And here I'm going to. So, so let me. Again, it's just the. Yes. He's had these things all the time before.
Sam Stein
Right, Right.
JVL
This is, you know, the ideal word salad is how we all describe how he speaks. But when you put it all together. And here's the. The next clip is again, it's. It's from this sainted moment in October of 2020 for when he went to the McDonald's in Bucks County.
Donald Trump
For McDonald's. And that's good for everybody else. As president, I want you to know that I'm fighting every. To support small businesses and the citizens that we all serve and to get. Fighting for an economy where everyone can win. From the cashier starting her first job to a franchisee opening his first location to the young family in a drive through line. I've been on that line many times, actually. That line was incredible. In the commercial, right? It wasn't a commercial was about. But they have 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. So he's going like, sir, yeah, nice. It was not that easy, but I got it sort of finally. Not the greatest, but I get it, pouring it in, asking him 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 that own a lot. They're very rich people. But I'll tell you what, I asked, how many do you have, Sir, I have 59. I said, you're rich. But, you know, nobody knew in the line. That line was a long line. They had 25,000 people. So somebody let them know we were coming. It was toward the end of the campaign and after I did the french fries and did some other things and 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 drive up like this. They look over.
JVL
Whoa.
Donald Trump
Every one of them. And it was fascinating. Every one of them, they, they would. It was. The response was incredible. Almost like I knew I was going to win. When I saw that, I knew 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 Dr. Up. They did. They did say, get that. Getting a little cash ready. And they look over and it was something. A double take. Some went like that. Whoa. But it was. It was sort of an amazing moment.
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JVL
All online. False.
Donald Trump
True.
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JVL
False.
Interviewer
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JVL
Time.
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JVL
So, again, I am sorry to be pedantic here. I understand that he is an old man telling stories which he's embellishing. Yeah. Very, very clear. None of it played out that way.
Sam Stein
No.
JVL
So there were not 25,000 people in line.
Sam Stein
They certainly didn't know. Not know that Trump was going to be serving them.
JVL
He did not serve 12 people. These people were not waiting for hamburgers. There were. There were six cars that had been pre vetted. He handed each of them a bag with a one order of fries into it. 1. 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. For Donald Trump there. But. But not. 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.
Sam Stein
Good. Because I want to know how it compares. I want to know how it compares and contrasts.
JVL
So here's the thing.
Sam Stein
Yeah.
JVL
13 months ago. It's almost exactly 13 months.
Sam Stein
That's about right.
JVL
He is noticeably more vigorous. So would you like to put the.
Snack Enthusiast
Medium fries in the bag?
Donald Trump
I think so, yeah. Because you know who's taking these, right?
JVL
Mine.
Donald Trump
Do they Ever ask for more salt? Supposing we want some extra salt? Can it just go like that?
JVL
We will give them salt.
Sam Stein
Bacon.
Donald Trump
I love salt. Wait a minute. I spilled some. I'm very superstitious now. It's over the left shoulder now. I'm. Okay, let's go.
JVL
Noticeably more vigorous. Okay, so you see him here, like, you know, like, joke. Joking with the fry guy. Like, the truth is in that clip with him at the. The event just the. The other day, the. Where he's doing the bit with the fries and the wrist. That's. That's a bit. It's a shtick and it's very good. Like, that's a funny Trump.
Sam Stein
Yeah.
JVL
And he maintains that for about four sentences before he then just is like, you know, I said to father and son, you rich.
Sam Stein
You rich.
JVL
59.
Sam Stein
You're really rich.
JVL
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 like, sort of being quick on his feet. Yeah, this guy looks tired and.
Sam Stein
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 you. 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 gonna 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.
Donald Trump
Jbl.
Sam Stein
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 don't not worry about being challenged. These are the interviews. I'm going to read them all. It's like 16 or so from June. Okay.
JVL
Okay.
Sam Stein
Starts June 29th. Maria Bartaroma, Laura Trump, Miranda Divine, Rob Finnerty of Newsmax. Brett Bear, Sean Hannity, Fox and friends. Martha McCallum again, Fox, Ducey, Sunday morning Fox. Daniel Baldwin. Oan Trey Inst. Very short interview, apparently, but also fox again. Bartiroma, 60 minutes, the one that stands out there. And for what it's worth, Brett Baer again, Fox Sports. This was, I think, an NFL interview. Laura Ingram, Bev Turner, this is 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 questions. And that's since June. There is one non conservative in there, and that's Barry Wise's 60 Minutes.
JVL
Is that non conservative? I don't know.
Sam Stein
I got to give it a little time.
Interviewer
I mean, I don't know.
JVL
No, I mean this is the first big interview. Well, whatever. We don't need to get into that. But 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.
Sam Stein
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.
JVL
Yeah, I want to, I want to do one more thing for you.
Sam Stein
Sure.
JVL
One more thing. So he does have all of these set pieces, as you say. Anybody who's watched Trump knows that there's, he's got a auto pen. Joe Biden is the auto pen. He's got the FBI, the lovers, like Peter, Lisa Page. The lovers. Right. And he's, he's got the, the J6 choir. And they're just like these, they're in his grab bag and he reaches in.
Sam Stein
And pulls them little touchstones. Yeah, right.
JVL
All politicians do that.
Donald Trump
Sure.
JVL
No, not, not bagging on Trump. But there's this moment around the 35:50 mark where he gets pulled into one of those touchstones and then confuses it with another one of his touchstones.
Sam Stein
Okay.
Donald Trump
10 old job telling regulations have to be eliminated. So if they, 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, where drip, drip states with tremendous water. So much water, they have nothing but problems getting rid. They had restrictions on water. It comes down just to understand we're.
JVL
Talking about two different things. First, he's talking about his obsession with low flow faucets.
Sam Stein
Yeah. He hates stretchers which are put on those.
JVL
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 bugaboos. But now watch how his brain just mashes these two things up into a single unintelligible blob.
Donald Trump
They had restrictions on 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 criticized. I used to mention that.
JVL
What's happening?
Donald Trump
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.
Sam Stein
Is he talking about poop?
Donald Trump
The water restrictions totally lifted. All restrictors are gone. 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 won't give us the water to use our dishwashers or use in our washing machines.
JVL
Tears in their eyes.
Donald Trump
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 the dishes in, and they just keep pressing the button. 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 in immediately, unrestricted again. So now you have unlimited water to clean your damn dishes.
Sam Stein
I love that they have to clap at the end, too. It's like, okay, yeah, thank you, sir.
JVL
I mean, it's. It's. It's crazy. And so this is what I said.
Sam Stein
Totally nuts.
JVL
I didn't realize that the guy can't even hold his touchstones separate anymore. Like, they're now all getting wound up. I gotta say, I don't know how this group could end. Like, you know, on the 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 you don't really believe that. You don't really believe that. Let's go to war with Venezuela. The trend. Aguas. There's nothing in there's.
Sam Stein
Nothing in your brain that says he's going to step away?
Donald Trump
No.
JVL
We're going to put restrictors on the trend aguas. We call them the drip drip aguas. Next.
Sam Stein
Exactly. The trend aguas he's going to confuse for the toilet flow. And he's going to have to find some more regulations to undo.
JVL
This is your President of these United States. Guys, I'm jvl. He's Sam Stein. Do us a sign.
Sam Stein
Thanks, buddy.
JVL
Hit like hit subscribe, Follow the channel. We'll be back with more, maybe even good news eventually. Good luck, America.
Episode Title: Trump Can’t Keep His Own Stories Straight Anymore
Date: November 19, 2025
Host(s): JVL & Sam Stein
Main Theme:
A critical, sometimes humorous analysis of Donald Trump’s recent public appearances, emphasizing concerns about his cognitive state, storytelling reliability, and how his team seems to be sheltering him from challenging situations.
In this episode, JVL and Sam Stein dig into Donald Trump’s recent “McDonald’s summit” event and the speeches attached to it. They focus on Trump’s increasingly muddled delivery, his propensity for blending fact and fiction, and what these patterns might signal about his cognitive health as the 2024 campaign heats up. The conversation highlights both the content and the context in which Trump is being presented to the public, especially in controlled, “safe” environments.
[01:00-06:00]
"I'll be honest, I see clips of him... but I don't just sit through 49 minutes of him." – JVL [01:27]
"I kind of doubt that Sergey and Sundar called him... to tell him that this had the most hits in all of the history of Google’s." – JVL [03:32]
[05:16-06:36]
"They just want to make sure he's happy. Right. Like, don't push him too much." – Sam Stein [06:22]
[06:33-15:05]
"Didn't he... he came across like a grandfather... with a bunch of old war stories. Not real, but you know." – Sam Stein [08:41]
"Just trying to be dispassionate here... his mind is reaching for a word and he can't get it right... you just get gobbledygook." – JVL [09:17]
[16:47-18:36]
"If you have someone who's, like, sharp, they're going to go on a bunch of different networks...these are the recent in-person interviews... There is one non conservative in there, and that's Bari Weiss's 60 Minutes." – Sam Stein [17:11]
[18:51-22:54]
"Now watch how his brain just mashes these two things up into a single unintelligible blob." – JVL [20:24]
"None of it played out that way… There were six cars that had been pre-vetted. He handed each a bag with one order of fries… They were all very excited… but not actual double takes or anything like that. Not 12 people. Not 25,000 people in line." – JVL [13:44]
"He is noticeably more vigorous… in that clip with him at the event just the other day… that's a bit, it's a shtick… He maintains that for about four sentences before he then just is like, you know, I said to father and son, you rich… just loses train of thought." – JVL [15:25]
"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." – Sam Stein [18:36]
“Now watch how his brain just mashes these two things up into a single unintelligible blob.” – JVL [20:24] “I love that they have to clap at the end, too. It's like, okay, yeah, thank you, sir.” – Sam Stein [22:00]
JVL and Sam Stein provide listeners with a clear-eyed, evidence-backed look at why Donald Trump’s public performances have become more confusing and rambling, suggesting a notable cognitive downturn and a campaign strategy focused on limiting his risk of embarrassment. The episode is both diagnostic and a warning, delivered with the Bulwark’s characteristic wit and rigor.