MIND GAMES

Desperate Trump, 79, Attacks His Predecessors Over Cognitive Health

Trump’s latest brag came amid polls showing most Americans don’t believe his health is good enough to be president.

President Donald Trump has boasted about his mental fitness compared to other presidents as questions swirl over his latest medical examination.

Just one day after spending several hours at the Walter Reed hospital for what he described as a routine “six month physical,” Trump went on Truth Social to brag that he had “aced” three cognitive tests—while taking a swipe at former Democrat presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama for never publicly taking one themselves.

The 79-year-old president has repeatedly leaned on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, as proof of his mental sharpness. The screening tool is commonly used to detect early signs of dementia or cognitive impairment—not to measure intelligence.

But Trump’s latest public victory lap comes amid mounting concerns about his health and whether the White House is being fully transparent with the public.

Polls also show that in 2023, the proportion of Americans who believed Trump’s health was good enough to be president stood at 64 percent. Now this has spiraled to 44 percent.

“It has been on a steady decline,” CNN’s data guru said on Wednesday as he crunched the numbers.

“The American people are viewing with their eyes and what they’re viewing they are not pleased with, and as you can see here, for the first time ever this year, less than 50 percent of Americans actually say that Trump’s physical health is good enough to be president.”

Trump, who turns 80 on June 14, is the oldest American president to be inaugurated.

He spent years mocking Biden’s mental and physical health, but now faces many questions about his own capacity to serve, with frequent bruises on his hands, swollen ankles and increasingly erratic behavior.

Trump has also taken to increasingly boasting about “acing” cognitive tests in an apparent attempt to deflect from concerns about his mental acuity.

A Daily Beast analysis of his transcripts and interviews has shown that the president has referenced these tests about 20 times over the past year, often unsolicited.

The references intensified after Trump’s April 2025 medical examination - the first one he took in his second term - when he told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I took a cognitive test... I got every answer right.”

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He referenced the test when he was in New York last Friday, when he told supporters that he can handle being called a tyrant and a dictator— but hates being called dumb.

“‘What do I do, doctor?” he recalled asking his physician.

“Is there some kind of test I can take?’ He said, ‘Actually, sir, there is. It’s a cognitive test.’ I said, ‘How many presidents have taken it?’ ‘None… No people have taken it.’ I said, ‘Well, is it good or bad? Is it tough?’”

The president also often compares the fact he took the tests, which the White House says is not routine for presidents, to Obama and Biden.

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Because Obama was significantly younger during his presidency, doctors did not deem cognitive testing medically necessary.

Biden, meanwhile, faced significant pressure to undergo a formal cognitive exam. But his medical team controversially determined that formal screenings were unwarranted and not medically necessary.

His aides also stated that he effectively “passed a cognitive test every day” by performing the demanding duties of the presidency, adding to claims of a cover up.

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Farrah TomazinPolitical Correspondent

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