‘Trump’s brain is rotting in front of us,’ says American professor

Ellie Harrison

28 May 2024 at 10:44 am·2-min read

An American professor and writer has said that Donald Trump’s “brain is rotting in front of us”, and claimed that to compare him to Joe Biden is “dangerous and wrong”.

Sarah Churchwell, an American culture specialist and the author of a book examining division in the US, The Wrath to Come, was appearing on a panel at Hay Festival chaired by The Independent’s chief book critic Martin Chilton. They were joined by political podcaster David Runciman and We Need to Talk About Kevin author Lionel Shriver.

Shriver claimed that, ahead of the US election on 5 November, she finds herself “in a stage of total paralysis, because my levels of hatred on both sides [for Republican Trump and Democrat Biden] are just through the roof”.

Responding to Shriver’s remarks, Churchwell said: “Trump is criminally insane and it makes me feel insane that we are having a debate about whether this man should be leader of the United States. It is so clearly delusional.”

She added: “It’s deeply worrying and frightening that people say, ‘I can’t decide between them, but on balance I think I’d vote Trump because Biden is worse.’ What are you talking about? Trump literally said two weeks ago that Hannibal Lecter was a great guy. And he said wind turbines were wiping out the whale population. His brain is rotting in front of us.

“And then you have people saying that Biden is senile. No, he’s not senile. You may disagree with his policies, but Biden is not senile. It is ludicrous.”

Churchwell continued: “Donald Trump has announced he will be a dictator, that he will suspend the constitution, that he will deport 10 million people… He wants to suspend American democracy. It is true and it is real. And the idea that there is an equivalence between that and Joe Biden is frankly an appalling thing to say or to think. It is dangerous and it is wrong.”

During the panel discussion, Runciman also presented a counterfactual theory, that a Trump win in 2020 would have made the world a better place. He argued that, had Trump served a second term, he would have by now been a lame duck, and been so gratified by winning again that he would be defanged.

Instead, he said, America is in a position where the country is re-running the last election and two geriatric men are not letting the next generation into frontline politics.

Hay Festival continues until 2 June; hayfestival.com

HuffPost UK
Trevor Phillips Destroys Nigel Farage With One Devastating Question
The Reform UK leader rejected the accusation that his party is a home for racists.
The Telegraph
Labour vote share falls to lowest in more than two years
Labour’s vote share has fallen to its lowest level in more than two years ahead of the general election, new polling shows.
HuffPost UK
Rishi Sunak Left Squirming As He's Confronted With Ordinary People's Lives In Tory Britain
The prime minister had insisted life was "better" now than when the party came to power in 2010.
The Telegraph
Old, rich and living on benefits: welcome to the state pension capital of Britain
East Preston feels an unlikely stronghold of benefits dependency. The genteel village on the West Sussex coast might be the closest thing that Britain has to a moneyed pensioner utopia.
The Telegraph
Did Nigel Farage blow himself up in the BBC Question Time election special? Our writers react
It was finally Nigel Farage’s time to appear before a BBC Question Time audience this evening, more than a week after Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer had theirs. The Reform UK leader took the podium in the same hour as a Green Party representative, Adrian Ramsay. Yet only one of these men has excited reaction from our writers.
The Independent
Led by Donkeys interrupt Nigel Farage speech by lowering huge Putin banner
Nigel Farage was initially unaware that the Russian president was on the poster, with the words ‘I heart Nigel’ written below
The Daily Beast
Obama Rode to Biden’s Rescue—but Intervention Could Yet Come
On Friday afternoon, in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate against Donald Trump, private murmurs and public calls for an “intervention” ricocheted through Democratic circles. But then a hold-up emerged.Some 17 hours after Biden botched his big debate moment, his former boss came to the rescue.For many high-ranking Democrats, a single tweet from former President Barack Obama appeared to nix any chance of the 44th president meeting with the 46th and urging him to drop out.Rea
INSIDER
Biden meets family at Camp David as calls to exit the race grow
The meeting was pre-planned but is a timely opportunity for Biden to discuss the future of his campaign with the most influential people in his life.
Manchester Evening News
'My mortgage has doubled... the country's gone to pot': The Greater Manchester neighbourhood where people want change
'I was born and bred here... I've never known the place be as big of a dump as it is'
Business Insider
A grinding Russian assault appears telling about Putin's plan to defeat Ukraine
ISW's conflict experts warned that the West must "challenge Putin's belief that he can gradually subsume Ukraine."
Associated Press
A private call of top Democrats fuels more insider anger about Biden's debate performance
A sense of concern is growing inside the top ranks of the Democratic Party that leaders of Joe Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee are not taking seriously enough the impact of the president’s troubling debate performance earlier in the week. DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez held a Saturday afternoon call with dozens of committee members across the country, a group of some of the most influential members of the party.
PA Media: UK News
Rishi Sunak: I’ll still be Prime Minister on Friday
The Conservative leader defended his party’s record in government against what he described as a ‘declinist narrative’.
CNN
A year ago, she drank battery acid to escape life under the Taliban. Today, she has a message for other Afghan girls
Arzo survived a suicide attempt but now faces a new threat that could send her family – and millions like them – back to Afghanistan and a life that has become so intolerable for women and girls that some would rather die.
The Guardian
‘A lot of people haven’t stood up to the forces of darkness’: Anna Soubry on her mission to make Starmer PM
The former minister opens up about her ex-colleagues, her infamous Nigel Farage impression, and why she’ll do anything to help Sir Keir succeed
The Guardian
Who could replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader if he loses the election?
Likely contenders for party’s sixth leader in eight years could depend partly on who survives a big defeat
The Telegraph
Jill Biden has the fate of the world in her hands
Now might be a good time for Dr Jill Biden, the First Lady, to have a rummage around in the back of the wardrobe for one particular item of clothing. When Joe Biden opted against running for president in 2004, his decision was underlined by his wife’s decision to wear a halter top with the word “NO” scrawled on her stomach.
PA Media: UK News
Reform UK candidate drops out and backs Tories amid racism row
Liam Booth-Isherwood announced he was dropping out of the race for Erewash and would instead be endorsing the Tory contender, Maggie Throup.
The Telegraph
David Dimbleby: ‘Politicians have always lied – it’s the quality that’s declined’
There is a Vote Labour poster in the front window of the London home of veteran BBC anchor David Dimbleby in Pimlico.
HuffPost UK
A Rupert Murdoch Newspaper Has Endorsed Labour In Another Blow For Rishi Sunak
It is the first time it has done so since Tony Blair was prime minister.
The Telegraph
‘Trillion dollar trainwreck’: US super stealth fighter is eating the next generation
All of a sudden, the US Air Force is considering cancelling a multibillion-dollar effort to develop a new stealth fighter. Citing the high cost of the so-called “Next-Generation Air Dominance” programme and the competing demands of other projects, USAF leaders have warned they may have no choice but to cancel NGAD – and find other ways of winning control of the air in future wars.

Latest stories