Jonathan Capehart questioning President Trump's "mental acuity," and suggesting he suffers from "mental impairment?"
That is some world-class chutzpah!
After all, Capehart is the guy who, even two weeks AFTER Biden's "we finally beat Medicare" debate performance, was clamoring for him to remain in the race. Capehart castigated people calling on Biden to drop out of the race as "scaredy-cats," and said that "I am not worried about him, his abilities, his performance or his mental acuity."
And when when he scored an interview with Biden, Capehart edited out the moment that Ol' Joe nodded off and had to be brought back to consciousness by Capehart's "Mr. President?" prompting.
And yet . . .
On Sunday's edition of MSNBC's The Weekend that he co-hosts, Capehart did indeed raise concerns about Trump's "mental acuity" and "mental impairment."
He did so in the context of mentioning Trump's lawsuit against CBS News for deceptive editing in their 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Trump's lawyer had added a claim for "mental anguish" that Trump had suffered. Capehart took that as evidence of Trump's supposed mental problems.
But as a liberal lawyer and Boston Globe columnist on the panel admitted, in civil lawsuits, claims of mental anguish are "always" added to bolster the damages being sought.
So, a double dose of Capehart chutzpah. First, that a guy who was so in the tank for Biden still wanted him in the race after the debate is now questioning Trump's mental acuity.
Second, Capehart did so in the context of Trump's suit about deceptive editing -- whereas Capehart had engaged in some egregious deceptive editing of his own.
At the end of the segment, George Conway, a former member of the disgraced Lincoln Project, adopting a faux-sympathetic voice, went on a riff mocking Trump over his supposed extreme sensitivity.
Note: If "MSNBC Republican" Elise Jordan has been added to The Weekend's panel to supply some diversity of opinion, it hasn't worked. In the episodes I've watched, Jordan has said nothing that would distinguish her views from those of her liberal co-hosts and panelists.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
The Weekend
6/1/25
7:23 am EDTJONATHAN CAPEHART: Headline from the AP:. Trump suffered, quote, mental anguish from disputed CBS News interview with Harris lawyer. Trump's lawyer said that this led to widespread confusion and mental anguish of consumers, including plaintiffs, regarding a household name of the legacy media apparently deceptively distorting its broadcasts and then resisting attempts to clear the public record.
I bring this mental anguish thing up because if President Trump is mentally anguished over the editing of a television interview, why shouldn't I be concerned about his mental acuity in the office right now and all the crazy stuff he's doing? 145% tariffs on China? Why shouldn't I?
ELISE JORDAN: There's no rhyme or reason or no policy preference other than his whim.
CAPEHART: Why shouldn't we worry about mental impairment?
KIMBERLY ATKINS STOHR: As a civil litigator, when you file an action, one of the things that is always sought, in addition to stopping somebody from doing something or maybe monetary damages, is mental anguish. Often, we're talking about cases where a child is hurt and a parent saw that injury. And so the parent suffered just from seeing their child, even if they were not physically injured. That's what it's supposed to be about. Nobody watched 60 Minutes and suffered mental anguish.
GEORGE CONWAY: Trump is just walking mental anguish. No, no, I mean this. He is one of the most sensitive, people on the planet. TACO: which now is going to stand for Trump Always Complains Over everything, right? That's TACO, right?
No, he's -- everything, every little thing bothers him. [Adopts mocking faux-sympathetic voice] He's a big crybaby. And it's not surprising he had mental anguish over the show.ATKINS STOHR: Not redressable by the courts.
EUGENE DANIELS: Okay, well, yes. You can be sad, but the courts --
CONWAY: You're the court. Explain the case to the court. There, there, Donald [air-pats Elise Jordan on the shoulder.]
