Cockburn

Tonight America’s oldest president takes on his loose cannon predecessor in the first presidential debate in Atlanta. Presidents Biden and Trump have faced waves of speculation regarding their respective mental conditions — and whether or not each is fit to hold office. Given their ages and stages, Biden and Trump have been accused of suffering from cognitive decline, dementia or Alzheimer’s. And this evening, both candidates’ mental states will be on full display for millions of Americans to closely watch and scrutinize. Will the two even make it through the ninety-minute debate without shouting at each other and endless rambling? The odds are low.

Melania Trump might not return to DC full-time for Trump’s possible second term, according to Axios. The article is predicated on a survey of a “handful of Melania-ologists,” because a spokesperson for Melania didn’t respond to Axios’s request for comment. As the article mentioned: “Melania does what Melania wants” — and Cockburn doesn’t blame her one bit. In February, when asked if Melania would be on the campaign trail much, Donald Trump said: “She was a very successful model, very, very successful, and yet she was a private person. She’s going to be out a lot. Not because she likes doing it, but she likes the results.” The former first lady, however, has not been in attendance at most of Trump’s campaign events.

It's that time of year again: Hillary Clinton has surfaced from her Chappaqua estate to weigh in on politics with vindictive fury. This time she’s billing herself as the expert for Thursday’s presidential debate in a New York Times op-ed. Since Clinton is the only person to have debated both candidates — Joe Biden during the 2008 Democratic primary and Donald Trump during the 2016 election — she reasons she has the unique credentials to analyze the match. Given that she failed to win both races, however, Cockburn thinks it’s a bit rich for Clinton to be offering advice. Ever the ruling class elite trying to seem relatable, Clinton began her op-ed recounting the “time of her life” she had at the Tony Awards last week.

Cockburn already pre-ordered Ramin Setoodeh’s book, set to be released on June 18. Titled Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass, the book includes some juicy quotations from Donald Trump — specifically his thoughts on Taylor Swift. “I think she’s beautiful — very beautiful! I find her very beautiful,” Trump said. “I think she’s liberal. She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually — unusually beautiful!” This wasn’t the first time the former president has talked about the superstar singer.

Cockburn was driving down I-95 this weekend when he was suddenly accosted by Donna R., an elderly woman with a Karen-cut and cat-eyed glasses. Donna R. is a Republican, and she had a strong message for Cockburn: “I am a former Trump voter. I won’t vote for a convicted felon.”  Donna R. is just one of several old, white voters starring in billboards paid for by Republican Voters Against Trump, or RVAT, a PAC that was launched in 2020 to ensure Donald Trump would “never hold office again.” But Cockburn can’t help but think the billboard campaign could hurt the cause more than helping.

Just like clockwork, the allegations of racism are rolling in days after Donald Trump’s historic rally in the South Bronx. The latest hit piece in Slate, courtesy of ex-Apprentice producer Bill Pruitt, has declared that Trump bandied about the n-word with reckless abandon while shooting the hit TV show.  Pruitt, who worked as a producer on the first two seasons of The Apprentice, alleged that Trump casually dropped the slur and suggested that America wasn’t ready for a Black contestant to win the show back in 2004. Pruitt says the moment “still haunts” him to this day.  The scene was set in The Apprentice’s dim boardroom as the production team deliberated who would win the season finale — Kwame Jackson, a Black stockbroker, or Bill Rancic, a Chicago entrepreneur.