Donald Trump wants future presidents to prove they are mentally fit for office. A cognitive examination, he says. Mandatory for every candidate.
The request comes from a 79-year-old who routinely falls asleep in critical meetings, whose speeches have become increasingly disjointed, and whose own physicians have missed a congressional deadline to test his brain.
The irony is not subtle. It is stunning.
“Anybody running for President or Vice President should be forced to take a Cognitive Examination prior to entering the Race!” Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday afternoon. “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!
The post is vintage Trump. A demand for others. A claim of his own superiority. And a notable absence of self-reflection.
The Self-Proclaimed Genius
Trump has long boasted about his own cognitive prowess. “I took the Exam three times during my (‘THREE!’) Terms as President, and ACED IT ALL THREE TIMES — An Achievement that, even on a single Exam, according to the Doctors, has rarely been done before!” he added.
But Trump’s history with cognitive exams is peculiar. Since 2024, the self-styled “stable genius” has taken several such tests, but his recollections of their contents have called into question whether he actually took them at all.
While bragging about his results to the press, Trump would invariably tweak the questions he allegedly nailed. At times, he boasted that he had correctly recited five words and performed basic multiplication. At other times, he insisted that he had passed thanks to correctly identifying a whale. That is, in spite of the fact that the test’s authors reported that none of the three versions in circulation actually had a whale on them.
Other test creators have said their exams are designed to check for dementia, not cognitive speed. Trump has treated them as IQ tests. They are not the same thing.
The Visible Decline
Over the first year and change of his second term, Trump’s health has become a much graver topic. His speeches have become more disjointed and incoherent. His behavior has grown increasingly erratic.
The 79-year-old has spent hours at Walter Reed Medical Center. He has fallen asleep during more than a dozen critical meetings. Just last week, the president was caught falling asleep during another White House event, slumping over in his chair and fluttering his eyes for nearly a minute as his aides announced a new pharmaceutical deal.
He has appeared lost and disoriented around foreign heads of state. He has frequently slurred his speech. He has appeared with discolored and bruised skin on several occasions.
Just this month, Trump attacked several of his longest allies, pledged to annihilate Iranian civilization via a social media post, and started a feud with Pope Leo XIV, claiming that the Catholic pontiff was “weak on crime.” He also forgot when Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and forgot that one of his most fervent GOP critics — North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis — is still in the Senate.
The pattern is not subtle. His escalatory behavior, particularly as it relates to the Iran war, has spurred new calls for the president to have his brain tested yet again. White House physicians missed the April 25 deadline demanded by Representative Jaimie Raskin.
The Double Standard
Trump had demanded former Vice President Kamala Harris take a cognitive test while on the campaign trail in October 2024. He has previously suggested that Joe Biden should have taken such a test before being allowed to take office. Now, with his own cognitive fitness increasingly in question, he is demanding tests for future candidates.
What Trump is not demanding is a test for himself. He is no longer eligible for the presidency, having served his two terms. But the question of his current fitness remains urgent. He is still the commander-in-chief. He is still making decisions about war and peace. He is still the most powerful person in the world.
The man who wants to test everyone else has not submitted to a test of his own. His physicians missed the deadline. The public is left to watch his decline in real time.
The Bottom Line
Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that all future presidential and vice-presidential candidates should be forced to take a cognitive examination. He claimed he aced the test three times during his three terms as president. His own history with cognitive exams is questionable — he has boasted about identifying a whale that was never on the test.
Meanwhile, Trump’s visible decline has become impossible to ignore. He falls asleep during critical meetings. His speeches are disjointed. He has appeared disoriented, slurred his speech, and shown up with bruised skin. He forgot when a Supreme Court justice died and that a GOP critic is still in the Senate. White House physicians missed a deadline to test his brain.
Trump wants future candidates to prove their mental fitness. The man who refuses to prove his own is demanding proof from everyone else. The irony is stunning. The double standard is glaring. And the country is left to wonder why the person with the most power is held to the lowest standard.
