They're Not Nuts

Not insane- a coordinated effort.

these people are insane https://t.co/NHo3DvsVjH

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 25, 2024

The congresswoman from Iowa is following the script in a (probably loosely) coordinated effort. The Murdoch-owned New York Post reports

A top adviser to Donald Trump said Tuesday that President Biden will “probably be filled with Adderall” at Thursday’s first presidential debate — the latest suggestion from the former president’s camp that his opponent will be drugged up on stage.

Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita told reporters in a press call previewing the CNN showdown that the Republican camp has been careful about setting expectations “too low” for Biden, 81, following a series of gaffes and bizarre behavior.

The script obviously has been effective, with a major news source (and nation's oldest continually published newspaper) in the USA's largest metropolitan area claiming that President Biden has been beset by "gaffes and bizarre behavior."  And of course, the deflection:

 “In terms of literally on video, it happens on a daily basis,” LaCivita said, before adding, “but you know, he’s probably going to be filled with Adderall. [like] he was at the night of the State of the Union.”

 The 45th president, 78, has repeatedly insinuated that Biden will be medicated during the 90-minute forum — saying over the weekend that the Democrat will get “a shot in the ass” and come out “jacked up” for the 9 p.m. event.

The Trump team also stressed that Biden will likely be “ready” for the debate due to his experience in office and his week-long stay at Camp David preparing with his closest advisers.

“We know that when it comes to the big events, when it comes to debates, when it comes to State of the Union, things of that nature, that they’re going to have Joe Biden completely super-soldiered up. He is going to be ready to go,” senior adviser Jason Miller said.

“He has a certain muscle memory that kicks in, having done this for 50 years, having done this as a presidential candidate,” Miller added.

Miller served in the Trump Administration which, it turns out, had a rather intimate relationship with drugs. The New Republic notes

bombshell reports that the Trump White House was “awash in speed,” with staffers popping pills and washing them down with alcohol, in large part thanks to (Ronny) Jackson’s leadership as chief medical adviser. Common pill requests included modafinil, Adderall, fentanyl, morphine, and ketamine, according to a Pentagon report released in January. But other, unlisted drugs—such as Xanax—were equally easy to come by from the White House Medical Unit, according to sources that spoke to Rolling Stone.

Rolling Stone details how "things got sloppier back home." Nonetheless, the NY Post adds

Other Republicans — including Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), a former physician to the president under Barack Obama and Trump — have voiced concern that Biden will be medicated.

Jackson sent a letter Monday to Biden and his physician, Kevin O’Connor, demanding that the president be tested for drugs before the debate.

The quack physician-turned-U.S. Congressman told Fox News Sunday "Thy have to treat his cognition, they have to give him something to think straighter. They have to give him something to wake him up, his alertness. And he's been agitated, we see that all the time. That's a common symptom, or sign of this cognitive disorder that he seems to be suffering from. So they're probably going to be giving him something that will take the edge off of that as well."

It's a subject Dr. Jackson knows well. A source for Rolling Stone (behind a paywall)  

describes a procedure broadly familiar to staffers across administrations: On overseas trips, physician to the president Dr. Ronny Jackson “would come around Air Force One asking Donald Trump’s senior staff if they needed anything. This included Provigil and [the sleep aid] Ambien, and he would hand them out, typically in the form of packets with two or three pills in them. When this happened on Air Force One, a nurse would be trailing him, writing down who got what.”

Echoing Jackson, LaCivita, and Representative Miller-Meeks

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) also told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo on Tuesday that he thinks Biden will be “jacked” up at the debate with Mountain Dew “or whatever it is he took” before the State of the Union.

If one person does it, he or she might be insane, crazy, or ridiculous.  Two people, less likely. More than two, a pattern develops, made ever clearer by the unwillingness of any Republican to criticize the strategy. It's a clever one, especially to draw attention away from Donald Trump's own history of drug use.

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