A Democrat strategist, Jessica Tarlov questioned Donald Trump’s mental acuity on Wednesday. While on Fox News, she referred to an intelligence test the former president did during his time in office.
Meanwhile, on March 25, 2024, Trump spoke to the media at a Criminal Court pretrial hearing in New York City. The Republican presidential aspirant had previously cited a mental acuity assessment he “passed” while in the White House.
Tarlov’s Thoughts About the Test
When a co-host on Fox News’ The Five mentioned that Trump took a mental acuity test and aced it, Jessica objected. “Well, this mental acuity test, which included identifying animals and counting backward by a factor of seven, is something to give to people who have been in traumatic accidents…” she retorted.
Tarlov questioned the vitality of the cognitive test the former president always mentions. To her, it isn’t enough to brag about considering it’s supposedly a less elaborate one.
Trump’s Cognitive Test Boast
Oftentimes to the press, Trump is swift to bring into conversations the special test he did while being president. He glories in the acclaimed positive result of the mental examination and wouldn’t hold back from telling the public.
Once in 2020 on Fox News, he told the conservative political commentator and host, Sean Hannity, that he “aced” the exam. However, he didn’t make clear that the test was administered back in 2018.
The Joe Biden’s Comparison
Tarlov was responding to a comment from Jeanine Pirro, a former judge who was on the same show. She mentioned President Joe Biden’s cognitive acuity has been a source of nationwide concern.
Prior asked: “Trump took a mental acuity test and aced it. Why won’t Biden?” This was when the Democrat strategist responded by pinpointing the intricacies of the former president’s test.
MeidasTouch Report
A user, Acyn, uploaded the video of Tarlov commenting on the mental acuity tests of Trump and Biden on X. Acyn is a senior digital editor at MediasTouch, an acclaimed pro-democracy news network.
The news outlet has been reported to be founded by the same people opposed to Trump’s reelection in 2020. They operated under the umbrella name, political action committee (PAC) during the last election period.
More On Tarlov’s Comment
Tarlov tried to make her point clear by referencing different facts from Trump’s interviews. She cited the former president’s 2020 comments where he gave insight into the type of test he took.
Trump told Fox News medical contributor, Marc Siegel, that the exam was around 30 to 35 questions. While the first few questions were quite easy, the last set of questions was difficult. More like a memory test, he described.
More Comments From Trump
The former president elaborated on the nature of the test to Siegel. He mentioned that the examiner would list some words, asking him to repeat them. Each time he got the words in the same order, he earned certain scores.
“It’s like, you’ll go, ‘Person, woman, man, camera, TV.’ So they say, ‘Could you repeat that?’ So I said, ‘Yeah.’ So it’s, ‘Person, woman, man, camera, TV.’ OK, that’s very good. If you get it in order, you get extra points,” he said.
Trump’s Conversation With Hannity
On July 9, 2020, Trump told Hannity that he had taken the cognitive test at Walter Reed National Medical Center. He said that he did “very recently.” In his words, “ “I proved I was all there because I aced it. I aced the test.”
Trump also mentioned to Hannity that the doctors were very surprised. “They said, that’s an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anybody do what you just did,” he said.
What Exact Test Did Trump Take?
Perhaps Tarlov was right after all. Trump’s description of the test he took is similar to that of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The said test is designed to evaluate whether or not a person has cognitive impairments.
Outrightly, the questions appear simple. Some people might even be asked to draw a clock showing different times. However, the assessment does test for the signs associated with the nascent stages of dementia.
Biden’s Cognitive Test Compulsion
Around mid-2021, fourteen Republican members of the House of Representatives signed a letter asking Biden to take the MoCA test. This included the former White House physician, Ronny Jackson.
In the signed letter calling out the president, they claimed that the president was experiencing “mental decline.” “We encourage you to follow the example set by President Trump by undergoing a cognitive test as soon as possible and immediately making the results available for the American people,” the letter said.
Rep. Ronny Jackson’s Comment
The call-out by Jackson and his colleagues in the house seemed confrontational. They simply wanted Biden to undergo the same assessment as his predecessor, Donald Trump, did in 2018.
Jackson served as the White House physician in 2018 under Trump. And he mentioned that the former president received a perfect score on the test. Hence, there is no reason to assume that Trump has any issues whatsoever with his thought process.
Why Trump Brags About His Cognitive Test Result
In 2018, Trump took to X (then Twitter) and announced that he is a ‘very stable genius.” He wrote: I went from VERY successful businessman to top T.V. Star […] to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius…and a very stable genius at that!”
However, there were multiple assumptions about his mental state during his presidency. In 2020, he resorted to dismissing the claims by relaying his mental acuity test results.
Trump’s Actual Performance On The Test
Donald Trump reportedly scored 30 out of 30 on his MoCA test. Without a doubt, it is an excellent performance at face value. However, this doesn’t necessarily give any indication of his intelligence.
Mensa is a society reported to compile IQ tests from several individuals. According to reports, Trump has never published results from any tests measuring his IQ.
Dr. Paul Appelbaum’s Expert Comment On MoCA
The psychiatrist is a specialist at Columbia University. He said the fact that anyone gets a perfect score on MoCA only signals that they don’t have any cognitive dysfunction.
However, he reiterated that the test is only reassuring by giving insight into whether or not a person is in the early stages of dementia. In his statement, it’s important to note this as the sole relevance of the assessment.
