Since his second term began in January, Donald Trump has been subjected to many dementia rumors, and his latest rambles only got critics fired up for more. The opening of the detention center in South Florida, which earned the name “Alligator Alcatraz,” has already sparked intense controversy. Protestors have described the space as an “inhuman makeshift prison camp.”
While speaking about the detention center, Trump referred to himself as a “detainee” who has been spending “a lot of time” at the Alligator Alcatraz. Social media users are baffled by his statement, questioning if he’s truly suffering from dementia.
On Tuesday, the Republican President toured the new South Florida detention center, saying that it will soon “handle the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.”
“We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is, really, deportation. This is an amazing thing that they’ve done here. This is what you need. A lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops in the form of alligators,” he also added.
However, during a press conference after the visit, he made an embarrassing blunder when he referred to himself as one of the inmates held there. A Fox News reported asked him, “Mr President, is there an expected time frame that detainees will be here, days, weeks, months? And does that have anything to do with the immigration judges you just spoke about being trained and staffed here”?
Trump, who was visibly confused by the question asked the reporter to repeat. “Is there a specific timeframe you expect the detainees to spend here?” she reiterated. However, the President, who was still confused, instead responded with a long monologue about how much time he’d spent in Florida.
“I’m gonna spend a lot. Look this is my home state, I love it, I love your government, I love all the people around,” Trump stated.
“These are all friends of mine, they know them very well. I mean, I’m not surprised that they do so well, they’re great people. Uhhh Ron has been a friend of mine a long time, I feel very comfortable in the state. I’ll spend a lot of time here.”
He went completely off topic when he started talking about his Oval Office instead. At one point, he even began babbling about New York and its high taxes. He eventually circled back to talking about Florida again.
After a long rambling, Donald Trump finally ended his monologue with, “But thank you very much, I’ll be here as much as I can.”
The press conference footage quickly gave people something to talk about. In particular, many raised questioned about the cognitive decline signs he was showing, despite his annual physical examination report claiming he is in perfect health.
“Unreal. Asked about detainees — Trump answers like he’s booking a vacation. This isn’t a gaffe. It’s cognitive collapse on live TV. Where’s the media?” one X (formerly Twitter) user wrote.
Trump’s comprehension of a simple question is frighteningly misguided.
He was asked about how long detainees would be in Florida and he thought the reporter was asking Trump about his own stay in Florida. Dementia? Faulty brain? https://t.co/EKQ3bae2E7— Carol Valentine (@cvalentine65) July 2, 2025
Another chimed in, “Oh, he’s so far gone mentally it’s scary.” A third wrote, “He has serious dementia. More and more of his moments seem insane, soon most all his moments will be this way.”
Others pointed out that perhaps, the two-time U.S. President is finally submitting to his hearing problem. Regardless of the reason, this just adds to the many blunders he had been making at various press conferences since January.
