President Donald Trump’s defenders have waved off his remark about Iran bombing Los Angeles as a joke, but a forensic psychologist who analyzed his body language claims the footage tells a different story.
Speaking at a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, on Monday, Trump argued that the costs of his war with Iran were “a small price to pay” for keeping the country safe.
“They can take out a city,” he said. “Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”
On MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” the next day, the hosts noted that Trump’s allies unsurprisingly dismissed the line as a joke.
Dr. John Paul Garrison, a Georgia-based clinical and forensic psychologist who analyzes Trump’s appearances as “Dr. G” on YouTube, replayed the clip frame by frame in a new video and said he found none of the usual signals that Trump was kidding.
“There’s nothing body language-wise that would suggest he was joking. There was no smile. He wasn’t looking around at the audience and laughing or putting his arms up or doing anything that would make you believe that what he said was a joke,” Garrison said.
“This goes to show how impaired his decision-making abilities are, because he seems to think that’s an acceptable loss,” Garrison added.
He argued the reaction in the room troubled him more than the remark itself.
“I think the scariest part of this is actually that the audience seemed okay with what he’s saying,” Garrison said.
Garrison also flagged moments from later in the rally, when Trump called aide Natalie Harp onstage to hand him an executive order expanding the sale of tax-free red-dyed diesel. Garrison pointed to Trump’s jaw shifting as he signed, his struggle to recall the word “Jumbotron,” and Trump comparing Harp’s appearance to “The Price Is Right.” He characterized all of it as signs of slipping impulse control and judgment.
Garrison has stressed that his videos are opinion rather than a psychological evaluation, as he has never examined Trump and is not a neurologist. The president’s physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, declared Trump in “excellent health” in a May memo, and Trump has repeatedly boasted he has passed multiple cognitive tests.
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