On Monday, April 15 — the day Donald Trump's hush money/falsifying business records trial got underway in Lower Manhattan — the New York Times' Maggie Haberman reported that he was falling asleep in the courtroom.
On subsequent days, other journalists reported that Trump was repeatedly dozing off during his trial.
The former president's detractors found those reports ironic in light of how many times he has attacked President Joe Biden as "Sleepy Joe," and some of those detractors have used names like "Don Snorleone," "Sleepy Don" and "The Nodfather" to mock him. Trump, in response, has claimed that reports of him nodding off in Justice Juan Merchan's courtroom are "fake news."
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In a biting opinion column published on May 7, the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin argues that these accounts of Trump falling asleep during his trial are damaging to the larger-than-life image he tries to project.
"All jokes aside," Rubin writes, "Trump's denial is par for a narcissist’s course. He can admit no weakness. He expects his base to freakishly admire his physique (!). And, most important, he and his followers have grounded his 2024 campaign on the myth that President Biden — who bikes, dashes off to war zones and works out five times a week, according to his doctor — is the enfeebled one."
Rubin adds, "One wonders whether Trump's attacks on Biden's aging are yet another example of habitual 'projection.'"
The Never Trumper goes on argue that Trump's "self-image of invincibility" fits into the "authoritarian handbook."
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"If a strongman cannot convince the masses that he is the sole source of truth," Rubin explains, "at least he can confuse them — 'alternative facts' — so they do not know whom to believe. The trial is aggravating Trump's lifelong fear of humiliation and his insistence on being the toughest bully on the block…. Trump cannot afford to lose the aura of power, control and defiance he wields to keep his supporters entranced."
Rubin continues, "A weak, sleepy and docile Trump is not what drew them to the cult. You can understand why Trump might prefer to saw logs than to confront his worst nightmare."
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Jennifer Rubin's full Washington Post column is available at this link (subscription required).