While speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the NATO summit earlier this week, President Donald Trump misspoke a number of times, referring to Iran as “the Islamic Republic of Japan” and Zelensky as “Putin.” According to psychologist and body language expert Dr. John Paul Garrison, not only do these “mental glitches” signal a serious health condition, but the reactions of Trump’s onlooking officials reveal much about their thoughts on the president.
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According to Garrison — who provides his analysis while watching a play-by-play of the video of the president’s appearance — after Trump made his “Islamic Republic of Japan” slip, “there was absolutely and utterly no awareness that he had said the wrong country’s name…You can even see him emphasizing this fact. He does that when he feels very strongly about something. You can see he’s raising his eyebrows right here — he wants everybody to hear what he’s saying. And there’s no attempt to correct this. He has no idea based on everything I’m seeing that he just said the wrong country’s name.”
Garrison then looked at the moment from another video’s angle, which showed the reactions of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“Bessent,” notes Garrison, “you see him slowly look at President Trump because, I think, he’s waiting for him to acknowledge and correct himself. But as we know, President Trump never does correct himself. But other people are catching that and they’re looking at him waiting to know how to react because if he’s going to laugh and correct himself, people want to laugh along with him. That doesn’t happen here.”
Next, Trump referred to Zelensky as “Putin,” then continued speaking as if it were intentional. According to Garrison, “There is no acknowledgement that he said the wrong name. At this point, he has no idea that he did not say Zelensky’s name correctly.” It wasn’t until others in the room started laughing that he realized he’d misspoken.
Says Garrison, “I’ve watched President Trump speak for many, many years. What he’s doing now seems a lot more like something we call ‘confabulation.’ Confabulation is something we see in patients with neurological problems. Dementia is an example of people who confabulate. Confabulation is basically distorting or fabricating information and believing what you’re saying is true. So, for example, if you ask somebody with dementia what they had for lunch, they might tell you exactly what it was and go into great detail and they’re totally wrong, but they actually think that’s what it was. Based on his behavior, he seems to actually believe what he’s saying right now. It’s not just him trying to avoid embarrassment. He seems confused.”
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And Rubio’s reaction to this is telling, says Garrison, explaining, “Rubio does not have strong reactions. He’s very subtle, but he certainly noticed it.” Garrison notes that Rubio turns his head slightly, waiting for Trump to smile and admit the mistake, but the admission never comes, and Rubio turns away to mask his response. “He knows what absolute nonsense that just was. And there’s really no good way to react to that. So, at this point, Marco Rubio, from what I can tell, just doesn’t want to look at this anymore. So, he looks away.”
At the same time, Bessent “realizes that President Trump is doubling down and saying he meant to say Putin … the smile leaves his face that second because he knows this is no longer a lighthearted moment where Trump is going to correct himself and they can laugh about it. Trump is trying to be serious here. He is now saying that he meant to say Putin in the first place, and that should be concerning to everybody listening to this.”
Finally, Garrison notes Trump’s own distress, pointing out how the president clicks his thumbnails and clenches his fingers: “I think there’s real confusion here. He is fidgeting in a way that shows an intense amount of discomfort … a significant amount of stress.”
“I think most people watching this are going to think that he was just lying and didn’t want to look ridiculous,” concludes Garrison. “But I’ve seen him get through many, many situations like this, and I’ve never seen him do it like that. That was highly unusual for him. He appeared confused.”
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