An expert on aging says Donald Trump displayed a worrying health clue during his trip to Davos, Switzerland.
Carolyn Aldwin, who studies aging as a professor at Oregon State University, told Slate that the 79-year-old president has “really severe language problems.”
Aldwin said she’s particularly concerned by how often Trump makes phonemic paraphasic errors, subtle speech misfires where people replace sounds or syllables with ones that closely resemble the intended word.
During Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, he said of Venezuela’s new leaders, “We appreciate all of the cooperation we’ve been giving”—when he appeared to mean “given.”
Trump seemed to realize the error and tried to recover by awkwardly adding, “We’ve been giving great cooperation.”
The elderly president’s cognitive health has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months amid his nonsensical speeches, repeated confusion, and frequent lapses in memory.
During the same speech in Davos, Trump confused Greenland for Iceland and appeared to forget he is president. In a diatribe against windmills, he called the machines “losers.”
“There are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place. And they are losers,” he said.
Aldwin observed, “He can’t complete sentences. He wanders off topic. He gets very confused.”
While she noted that Trump “clearly has difficulties,” she said, “How severe those are can really only be established by testing.”
When reached for comment, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast in a statement:
“President Trump is in perfect physical and cognitive health, as evidenced by his nonstop work on behalf of the American people. In just one year, he has achieved what most presidents achieve in their entire term. The comments from Carolyn Aldwin are nothing more than crazed rantings from a Democrat donor and liberal organizer who clearly suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Aldwin is not the first expert to note Trump’s tendency to swap syllables as a possible indicator of cognitive issues or diseases.
Psychologist Dr. John Gartner told The Daily Beast Podcast in October that Trump has become prone to “phonemic paraphasia,” after he repeatedly mixed up Iran and India, as well as Albania and Armenia.
“People don’t make those kinds of phonemic paraphasias if they’re tired or if they’re aging,” Gartner said. “It’s something very specific that is linked to dementia and organic, cognitive decline.”
Observers have highlighted other episodes—such as Trump’s frequent naps at official events—as possible signs of cognitive decline.
Earlier this month, Trump interrupted his own opening remarks during a high-stakes meeting with global oil executives by wandering off to admire construction on his White House ballroom.
The president has also faced mounting questions over his physical health due to his bruised hands, swollen ankles, and at times droopy face—health issues that the The Daily Beast has led the way in reporting on.
In an interview with New York Magazine published Monday, Trump insisted, “I feel the same as I did 40 years ago.”
