One of Donald Trump’s former press secretaries said his rambling Tuesday press conference is a sign that he is “mentally slipping.”
Trump, 79, spent almost two hours meandering through a picture book, trashing entire nations, undercutting his own press team, floating another name for the Gulf of Mexico, and complaining yet again about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary for nine months during Trump’s first term, said the display was cause for Congress to be concerned.
“This presser is bizarre even for him,” Grisham, 49, wrote on X. “It’s all the usual rambling, off-topic tales, half-truths, lies, “I’ve fixed everything - no one has ever seen anything like it” stuff…but it’s low-energy & feels like he’s…mentally slipping. Congress-plz wake up. Plz. #EmperorHasNoClothes."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast about Grisham, who supported the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket.
Trump wandered off topic several times throughout his press conference. More than an hour had passed by the time he took questions.
At one point, Trump abruptly segued from talking about playing baseball as a youth to mental institutions.
The entire display spurred many liberal commentators to also call for the 25th Amendment to come into play—a move which would require either Trump’s Cabinet or the GOP-controlled Congress to act.
Trump, who a year ago became the oldest person to be inaugurated president, has repeatedly been seen appearing to doze off during official White House events in recent months, as the Daily Beast has chronicled. That caused aides to fret about optics and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to urge Cabinet members to keep presentations brief, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Meanwhile, Trump routinely brags about the results of the cognitive tests he has taken.
Sean Barbabella, the president’s physician, said in a statement last April that his cognitive functions were measured using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a 10-minute exam that screens for indicators of dementia. Trump scored a 30 out of 30, he said.
The test asks respondents to draw a clock, identify pictures of animals, and repeat back a list of five words after a period of time has elapsed.
