Ramin Setoodeh, co-editor in chief of Variety and author of 'Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass,' joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the former president's short-term memory.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Right now, as we all know, he is running for president once again, and mental acuity has
00:05been a concern for both candidates, more so President Biden.
00:10But Donald Trump has made his own gaffes on the campaign trail.
00:13He's mixed up leaders, both internationally and domestically.
00:16Did you get a sense that Donald Trump's mental acuity now isn't the same as it was two years
00:21ago when you met him, even 20 years ago when you first started covering him?
00:25What was interesting about his memory is that he remembered things that happened 20 years
00:29ago, but his short-term memory wasn't as strong or as sharp.
00:34And what was really jarring to me was between our first and second interview.
00:37The first interview happened in May of 2021.
00:40The second interview happened in August of 2021.
00:43And he introduced himself to me as if we'd never spoken.
00:46And I asked him, I said, do you remember me?
00:48And he said, no, it was a long time ago that we spoke.
00:51So we had a great first meeting.
00:53He was very engaged and interested.
00:55We had a long conversation in his office.
00:57And the fact that he didn't remember any of that just a few months later did seem concerning
01:01to me and say something about his short-term memory abilities.
01:06By the end, he was offering to sell your book at rallies if it painted him in a favorable
01:12light.
01:13And you really do show this 3D version of Donald Trump as this chaos agent, as someone
01:17who's very loose with facts, whether they be big or small, whether they be about TV
01:22ratings literally right in front of your face.
01:24But you also show someone who's extremely charismatic, extremely engaging, very funny.
01:30What does Donald Trump think about your book?
01:32I do not think that he's going to be selling this book at his rallies anymore.
01:36But I really did want to give everyone a front row seat to what Donald Trump is like and
01:41who he is.
01:42And I think this book accomplishes a portrait of Donald Trump that we haven't seen before.
01:46So if you are, if you like him, if you don't like him and really want to know what he's
01:49really like and what drives him, this book is for you.