General Discussion

Donald Trump's speeches have grown noticeably darker and less coherent — and New York Times correspondent Peter Baker has tracked the changes using statistics.

The reporter conducted an analysis of the former president's rally speeches dating back to 2015 and found that they had nearly doubled in length, from 45 minutes eight years ago to 82 minutes now. And they show clear signs of advancing age and diminishing mental capacity.

"It's not new that Donald Trump is a discursive speaker, that he rambles, that he says things that are outrageous, that he says things that are untrue, that he seems to at times be disconnected from the norms, the standards that we are used to," Baker told MSNBC's Morning Joe.

"We see the speeches getting longer, more rambling," Baker added. "They're nearly twice as long today as they were in 2016. At the same time he's doing far fewer of them. Does that mean he's tired? We don't know. Obviously, we remember he nodded off during his hush money trial. He's doing less than one quarter of the rallies so far this year than he did in 2016, so I think it's appropriate to look at age."