Featured Image Credit: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Politics
Phoebe Tonks
Topics: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Politics
Donald Trump has once again attempted to address concerns and speculation surrounding his health, as he took to Truth Social to boast about undergoing several cognitive tests, all of which he claims he ‘aced’.
The 79 year old, who turns 80 in just a few weeks time, took to Truth Social on Thursday to boast about his mental acuity. "Anybody running for President or Vice President should be forced to take a Cognitive Examination prior to entering the Race," he declared.
"By doing so, we wouldn’t be surprised at people like Barack 'Hussein' Obama, or Sleepy Joe Biden, getting 'ELECTED.' Our Country would be a much better place," he claimed.
In the same post, Trump bragged that he had 'aced it all three times’ before going on to declare he had been the US president for three terms, something which would be unconstitutional.
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"I took the Exam three times during my ('THREE!') Terms as President, and ACED IT ALL THREE TIMES," Trump wrote.
"An Achievement that, even on a single Exam, according to the Doctors, has rarely been done before," he said.
Yet while Trump may have been adamant that his performance was exemplary and a cut above the rest, several experts weren’t so convinced.
While it is currently unknown which specific cognitive test Trump has undertaken, it is widely believed to be the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), an evaluation used to identify cognitive decline.
The exam by design should be relatively straight forward for anyone in good health, while those experiencing difficulties would find it far more difficult and gruelling to manage.
Notably, the MoCA isn’t used routinely in general health assessments, but on occasions where concerns have been raised about someone’s cognitive health or simply due to a person’s age.
As per the Mirror, clinical psychologist previously Dr John Gartner clarified that successfully completing this straightforward test is hardly a noteworthy achievement.
"It's only an exam we actually give if we're suspecting someone might have cognitive decline, or sometimes we give it as part of a standard battery for people of a certain age," he noted.
"But the point is that it's not a test you ace, right? If you pass it, it means you don't have gross dementia." Dr Gartner elaborated: "It doesn't even mean you don't have early dementia.”
He explained: "It's actually from a certain level of deterioration. So, it's not an accomplishment to be able to draw a clock or pick out which animal is the lion, or to repeat three numbers; that's really not a huge accomplishment. It's only a warning sign if you can't do it."
Speculation has been rife about the President’s cognitive abilities in recent weeks, particularly after he mistakenly mixed up Ukraine and Iran in a recent speech. To make matters worse, even his own defence secretary Pete Hesgeth dodged answering a question from congress about whether or not he believed the President was in good enough health to serve, a question he declined to answer.
“Do you believe the the president is mentally stable enough to be the commander-in-chief?" California Democrat Sara Jacobs asked the defense secretary during his appearance before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
Hesgeth declined to answer, instead pointing the finger at Joe Biden and asking whether the former president had ever been subject to the same scrutiny.