Trump keeps losing his train of thought. Cognitive experts have theories about why

I think that there are many things we can get mad at Trump for, but simple vocabulary isn't one of those things.

Speaking clearly is a virtue. Using plain language makes what you're saying easier to understand.

Using complex jargon where an 8th grade level of speech will do increases the load on people's heads, which makes them get tired faster, and makes your message less accessible to immigrants.

Trump is still not understandable even given the simple vocabulary, which is a huge strike against him.

“He does not think in a complex way at all.”

And believe it or not, that right there is the reason his base is so rabid in its support for him.

Put yourself in the shoes of a Trump supporter. Life has kicked you in the teeth repeatedly, and you're not bright enough or educated enough to recognize when it's been self-induced and when it's been caused by someone else. Chains of complex causality elude your understanding. The world seems complicated and mystifying, and all the Kids These Days^TM are talking in ways you don't understand about subjects that confuse you. You're not what anyone would call a "nuanced thinker," and maybe you legitimately don't even know what the word "nuance" means.

You view the world through a lens of black and white morality, and complex moral questions feel like confusing wordplay to you. You latch onto a form of religious faith that draws bold lines between Good and Evil. And you are instantly and immediately worshipful of anyone who tells you they have all the answers and can make the way you see morality into reality, and can solve the world's problems with simple solutions. It's even better if they tell you those problems aren't real. It's comforting in a confusing world.

You look at politicians like Kamala Harris and they say things that confuse you. You've heard of "word salad," so you mock her for it, when what's actually going on is that you can't comprehend what she says. Sure, you also frequently can't understand the sentences Donald Trump says, either, but he uses simple words, and if you focus, you can make the words mean something to you, and that's enough. He's like you, but he has the power to affect the confusing world and make it make some kind of sense. The ideas he presents to you - whether it's "build the wall" or "tax cuts" - are simple enough for you to grasp.

And that makes you feel smart. You can basically figure out what he wants, and it's the same things you want: Simple, sound-byte-sized solutions. Chanting them makes you feel good. So you'll follow him to the ends of the Earth.

Edit: I want to make something clear. I don't think these people are inherently stupid. I think they've been raised badly, they've been brainwashed by the "Fox News" infotainment channel, and they've been intentionally miseducated by nearly everyone in their lives.

Imagine you were raised specifically to not understand how computers work, and to believe that anything complicated anyone does on one is either a) gibberish, or b) magic. Then someone shows you a computer up-close for the first time. Not only are you not going to be able to comprehend the "desktop" metaphor, you'll probably believe all this talk about "windows" and closing or opening applications is just word salad. It won't mean anything to you.

That's true, but even a previous analysis by the same site^[1] back in 2017 noted an already at that point notable deterioration in speech pattern and vocabulary, noting that in the 80s and 90s:

...Trump fluently peppered his answers with words and phrases such as “subsided,” “inclination,” “discredited,” “sparring session,” and “a certain innate intelligence.” He tossed off well-turned sentences such as, “It could have been a contentious route,” and, “These are the only casinos in the United States that are so rated.” He even offered thoughtful, articulate aphorisms: “If you get into what’s missing, you don’t appreciate what you have”

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Eh. It was a much more in depth analysis than that and I enjoyed reading (as much as I can enjoy watching the country I live in slowly devolve into chaos) but they're also using a lot of specific diagnostic terms that I also use when documenting on actual patients so yeah I could understand a layperson not getting a whole lot out of it. I also enjoyed the differential diagnoses, for instance they're correct that that tangentiality can also be diagnostic of ADHD (although that's usually somewhat static over time, where here they're describing it as a steady decline in linearity).

People have frequently commented on how tangential my speech can be at baseline, and I'm ADHD AF. That said, people also usually mention that I always circle back around in some way that connects everything together and sometimes my coworkers have almost made a game of calling out when they realize how my tangent relates to the original topic, which is a reassuring working memory finding that isn't evidenced here.

He's got donkey brains.

John Oliver is funnier when you mute him and just read the transcript

unorganized string of cars cats

I think you meant to say.