Former US President Donald Trump left a British audience utterly bewildered during a virtual address to Turning Point UK's conference, delivering a rambling speech that veered wildly from attacking President Joe Biden to offering bizarre, unsolicited advice on sharks and electric boats.
A Speech Descending into Chaos
What began as a standard political critique quickly devolved into a head-scratching monologue. Trump, seemingly fixated on a recent incident involving a shark, launched into an extraordinary tangent questioning the logic behind developing electric-powered water vessels.
"You know, they have a boat, it's electric. And the boat's going, and it's heavy, and the battery's... I think it's like two thousand times heavier than whatever the hell... and the boat's going down," Trump rambled, his train of thought becoming increasingly difficult to follow.
The Baffling Shark Anecdote
The centrepiece of his bizarre outburst was a puzzling anecdote about a man attacked by a shark. Trump appeared to suggest the incident was a direct consequence of pursuing electric boat technology.
"There's a shark, and he's going after the boat. And the guy's in the water. And the shark's looking at him... And the shark said, 'You know, I'm not going to bother electric, I'm not going to bother the boat. I'm going to get the guy.'"
He concluded this strange parable with a definitive, yet confusing, warning: "So I said, there's a problem with electric. So we're going to stay away from electric for a little bit."
Battery-Powered Planes and Political Attacks
Not content with marine advice, the former president then turned his attention to aviation, expressing grave concerns about the feasibility of electric aircraft.
"They want to make planes electric. You know, it's a wonderful thing. You get in a plane, it's 100 years old, and they have these massive batteries... and the plane's going to be so heavy... you're going to need five times the energy," he claimed, displaying a tenuous grasp of the technology he was criticising.
Amidst the chaos, Trump did manage to direct some more conventional political attacks towards President Biden, labelling him "the worst president in the history of our country" and making unsubstantiated claims about his cognitive state.
A Perplexed British Reaction
The speech, streamed to a UK conservative audience, was met with a mixture of confusion and disbelief. Political commentators and social media users alike struggled to parse the former president's incoherent narrative, which jumped from policy critiques to surreal wildlife scenarios without warning.
This latest outburst adds to a growing catalogue of unusual public statements from Trump, raising questions about his focus and coherence as he campaigns for a potential return to the White House.
