Donald Trump talks constantly, so it is hard for him to surprise anyone. This time he managed it. Time magazine published the full transcript of a 75-minute conversation that correspondent Eric Cortellessa and editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs held with the US president - around 11,000 words. At first glance, it is all familiar: endless sentences, boasting, insults, inaccuracies. But woven through them are moments of confusion, incoherent speech and paranoia that are hard to skip over.

It started with the very first question. Trump boasted that he had been "president of the tournament in Chicago, in Marion". The Presidents Cup golf tournament was actually played at the Medinah club in Illinois. Trump realised he was wrong and tried to correct himself - "Actually, it was, yeah, Medinah, at Medinah, last year, Marion" - except that the tournament wasn't played at all last year, since it is held every other year. And it has never been played in Marion.

A trifle? Perhaps. But in 2024 exactly these kinds of episodes were the main argument that Joe Biden was no longer fit for office.

The war that dragged on

The war with Iran, which Trump started in February, has lasted more than seven months, even though he promised it would be over in a few weeks. So far at least 19 Americans and thousands of Iranians have been killed. Asked why it is taking so long, Trump said he "stuck to the deadline" but then "decided to go further" - an escalation he never explained to citizens, let alone sought approval for from Congress. For the public not understanding why the war has dragged on, he blamed journalists: "I think the reporters served them that."

On Gaza, where two months after Trump announced the group had agreed to disarm Hamas has still not handed over its weapons, the answer went like this: "I think I'll probably sit in the Situation Room and make an appropriate decision. My decisions are correct. I mean, look at our country... Some would say it's a war, some would say it's not really a war... nothing has happened the last two weeks, right? And somebody drops a bomb, and nothing happens." Israel, meanwhile, carries out deadly air strikes almost daily. After this answer nobody learned anything.

Everyone is against him

According to Trump, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates not to rein in inflation but solely to hurt him politically. Fears about artificial intelligence are a "hoax", because "the whole country is based on fake things" - people suffered from "Trump derangement syndrome". And on his falling support among voters: "Those are fake numbers. Today I would beat any opponent by 20 points. The people who do polls are corrupt. Almost as much as the reporters."

Go ask Kennedy and Johnson

The peak came when Trump wanted to prove that the war in Iran is short compared to others. "Why didn't you ask Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson how long they fought various wars?" he told the reporters. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson have been dead for decades. One of the reporters calmly replied: "I would have asked them, if I'd had the chance."

After publication, most media focused on Trump losing his temper and shouting expletives at the reporters for not asking him a single positive question. It is easy to get used to this, because Trump is in public every day and his incoherent statements have become background noise. But this is the mind that makes life-and-death decisions every day, about war and about bombs. If any other person talked like this, those around him would already be worried about his health. How many times in the Balkans have we watched a leader whose entourage just nods along, instead of asking whether he's fit?