They know very well what they are doing. It’s just that their wealth isolates them from the consequences of it. They don’t care about healthcare, climate change, education, unemployment, because that’s for the 95% to worry about. They are rich enough to don’t give a fuck, and they feel safe doing so.
And that rather obviously describes someone who’s rather obviously mentally ill.
Specifically, they lack empathy and have little to no conscience, so have little to no concern for the harm their decisions might cause to others. Those are the hallmarks of both antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy.
If we’re going to go all conspiratorial, here’s my theory:
Both campaigns are dealing with old men with diminished faculties.
There’s some drug cocktail(s) that both campaigns have been using to pep the doddering old farts up for public appearances.
If you’ll remember, very shortly before the debate, the accusation that “Biden’s on drugs” made the rounds, and Trump made some noises about demanding a drug test.
For some reason - possibly fear, possibly determination in the face of a challenge, possibly a subtle communication that the Trump campaign had some hard evidence they would, if pushed, release publicly - that led to the Biden team withholding his customary drug cocktail.
Trump, meanwhile, was dosed to the eyeballs.
And that was the contrast we saw - Trump was on drugs, while Biden, for whatever reason, for that night alone, was not.
Remember - for the Republicans broadly and especially for Trump, every accusation is a confession.