President Donald Trump boasted that he has undergone more cognitive decline tests than any other president in history during a wild late-night rant.
In a Tuesday Truth Social post in which the president bragged about how hard he works and called for The New York Times to cease publication, Trump also made reference to the fact that he has “aced” three Montreal Cognitive Assessments, a test designed to screen for early dementia or mild cognitive impairment.
“In addition to the Medical [assessments], I have done something that no other President has done,” he wrote in the 488-word rant, ”on three separate occasions, the last one being recently, by taking what is known as a Cognitive Examination, something which few people would be able to do very well, including those working at The New York Times, and I ACED all three of them in front of large numbers of doctors and experts, most of whom I do not know.”
“I have been told that few people have been able to “ace” this Examination and, in fact, most do very poorly, which is why many other Presidents have decided not to take it at all.”
Trump first took the cognitive assessment test in 2018, having specifically requested it from his physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, in an attempt to head off concerns about his mental fitness.
A score of 26 or above is considered normal; the president said he scored 30 out of 30, prompting Jackson to declare him “fit for duty.”
“The president is mentally very sharp, very intact,” Jackson said at the time.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
During the first year of his second term, the president has taken the test two more times; once in April and once in October.
After taking the test in April, Trump was unable to recall any specifics about the test, only telling reporters, “It’s a pretty well-known test. Whatever it is. I got every one right.”
Following the October test, Trump revealed that he found the test “very hard,” challenging Democrats Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to take the tests and compare their results to his.
“Have [Ocasio-Cortez] pass the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. “Those are very hard—they’re really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way, but they’re cognitive tests. Let AOC go against Trump. Let Jasmine go against Trump.”
Both medical professionals and Trump’s own relatives have expressed concerns about his potential cognitive decline. Dr. John Gartner, a psychologist and former professor at Johns Hopkins, told the Daily Beast’s Joanna Coles that the president was displaying clinical signs of dementia and demonstrating “immense cognitive decline.”
Trump’s niece Mary Trump has made a similar argument, comparing her uncle to his father, Fred Trump Sr., who she said had Alzheimer’s for a “very, very long time.”
“There are times I look at him and I see my grandfather,” Mary told Joanna Coles. “I see that same look of confusion. I see that he does not always seem to be oriented to time and place. His short-term memory seems to be deteriorating.”
In addition to cognitive testing, Trump underwent an MRI during his most recent physical exam in October, initially telling reporters that he had ”no idea” what the MRI was for.
Eventually, the White House claimed that the MRI was a preventative measure due to the president’s advanced age, a claim met with skepticism from medical experts who stressed that there was “nothing standard” about the scan.
Citing his scores on the cognitive assessments, Trump claimed in his Truth Social rant that it was “seditious, perhaps even treasonous” for The New York Times to report on his declining health.
“They are true Enemies of the People, and we should do something about it. They have inaccurately reported on all of my Election Results and, in fact, were forced to apologize on much of what they wrote,” the president wrote, repeating an old and inaccurate claim about the paper apologizing for its coverage of the 2016 election.
”The best thing that could happen to this Country would be if The New York Times would cease publication because they are a horrible, biased, and untruthful ‘source’ of information.”
