Who, except a crazy person, would make up a story about a terrifying emergency helicopter landing with a guy who wasn't there?

If he is not insane, he is at least delusional.

Confused, perhaps, but equally worrying: What rational person wouldn't remember the details of plummeting from the sky and facing near-death in a helicopter?

58 years ago, I was on a helicopter that was forced to make an emergency landing, and I still remember every detail, including the other passengers.

San Diego Union political reporter Peter Kay and I were in Los Angeles covering Governor Pat Brown's final campaign in 1966 when our helicopter lost power and nearly crashed into an apartment building. No sane person could forget the details of such a horrific event.

In the above case, it was likely just another example of Donald Trump's incessant and pathological lying.

And it was decidedly odd to use Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's favorite expression for a former president who is once again the Republican nominee for leader of the free world.

Whatever the underlying cause, even the 78-year-old Trump's most staunch supporters should seriously question whether he is mentally fit to again serve as America's president – commander in chief with access to the nuclear codes and negotiator with foreign leaders, allies and adversaries.

There's no evidence that Trump's continued odd behavior is eroding his support in heavily Democratic California, but undecided voters are shifting their votes to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Walz.

The latest state poll by the University of California, Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies showed Harris leading Trump 59% to 34%, 7% higher than Biden's approval rating in late February, while Trump's approval rating remained unchanged.

Trump's inaccurate story about nearly crashing a helicopter with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown while Brown was saying “horrible things” about Harris is completely crazy.

Trump launched his tirade during a rambling, hour-long press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last week.

NPR counted 162 “lies and distortions” during the former president's Q&A.

Of course, the Trump fabrication that attracted the most attention was the next speech.

“Well, I knew Willie Brown quite well. In fact, I was in a helicopter crash with him. I thought that was it. We were in a helicopter together, heading somewhere, and there was an emergency landing.

“It wasn't a pleasant landing. Willie was a bit worried. I know him, I know him quite well. I haven't seen him for years, but he said some nasty things to me. [Harris]He just wasn't a fan of hers at that point.”

First, it exposed Trump's stupidity: He may not have realized, or cared, that reporters would soon be calling Brown, 90, and exposing the whole story.

First, Trump doesn't know Brown “very well.” Barely, in fact. Brown told me that the two have only spoken once in their lives, at a lunch in New York 30 years ago, when Trump asked the then-state Assembly speaker for advice on developing the former Ambassador Hotel site in Los Angeles. The plan fell through.

Brown said he never rode on a helicopter with Trump.

Most importantly, anyone who really knows Brown knows he would never say a bad thing about Harris.

The two dated for a year or two in the mid-1990s, when Mr. Brown helped launch her political career as San Francisco's district attorney. They remain friendly to this day, and Mr. Brown places loyalty to friends and associates at the top of his values.

“No,” Brown said when I asked if he had spoken to Trump about Harris. “Of course not. Not at all.”

“He's in a total panic,” he said of Trump. “You can't attribute anything logical to him.”

What I see is a struggling candidate desperate enough to make up a Brown chopper conversation to attack Harris.

Brown is black, and Trump was involved in an emergency helicopter landing with another black politician in California in the 1990s.

Former Los Angeles City Councilman and state Assemblyman Nate Holden was also invited to New York separately from Brown to discuss the ambassador plans with Trump.

“Willie's a short black guy who lives in San Francisco,” Holden said. “I'm a tall black guy who lives in Los Angeles.”

“As the saying goes, we all look the same,” Holden, 95, told Times reporter Don Lee with a laugh.

Trump continued to insist incredulously that Brown was the one in the malfunctioning helicopter, claiming he had maintenance records and logs to prove it – but they were never produced.

Also on the flight was Barbara Leth, a former top Trump aide who essentially confirmed Holden's story in her 2013 book, “Alone on the 68th Floor.”

“That's the story,” Ress told Politico. “There is no Willie Brown.”

Holden said Trump “either confused it or made it up.”

Probably both. Brown's accusations against Harris were fabricated by him.

His erratic and insane pattern of behavior should terrify America.

And what's puzzling is why the once-powerful California Republican Party continues to pursue this volatile figure and drag him into the mire.