
With election forecasts painting an increasingly grim picture of President Donald Trump's reelection chances, the Trump campaign is mobilizing to portray Democratic nominee Joe Biden as cognitively impaired.
To contrast himself to Biden, Trump has frequently claims he passed a cognitive test administered by Dr. Ronny Jackson called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.
The subject came up in Trump's chaotic interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, where Trump insisted that the last five questions of the test were extremely difficult. Wallace disagreed.
The topic emerged yet again in another Fox News interview between Trump and Fox's medical correspondent, Dr. Marc Siegel.
Trump said that the memory questions were the hardest, then he proceeded to list random words.
Watch below.
Trump’s description of a cognitive test is mesmerizing https://t.co/Gx4o9HNaXR— Shane Goldmacher (@Shane Goldmacher)1595466683.0
The President relayed the memory test:
"It's like, you will 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.'...10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes later, they say 'Remember the first question?'—not the first but the tenth question—'Give us that again, can you do that again?' And you go, 'Person, woman, man, camera, TV.' If you get it in order, you get extra points.
He continued:
"They said, 'Nobody gets it in order.' It's actually not that easy, but for me it was easy. And that's not an easy question."
"In other words, they give you five names and you have to repeat them, and that's okay. If you repeat them out of order, it's okay, but it's not as good."
"But then when you go back about 20-25 minutes later, and they say...'Go back to that question and repeat them. Can you do it?,' and you go, 'Person, woman, man, camera, TV,' they say, 'That's amazing, how did you do that?'"
"I do it because I have, like, a good memory. Because I'm cognitively there."
The President went on to challenge Biden to take the test.
Trump was aiming to put his cognitive abilities on display.
According to the internet, that tactic didn't work.
@ShaneGoldmacher @maggieNYT Oh my God. I give this test regularly. 1. There are 30 not 35 questions. 2. The dela… https://t.co/S9UoXfzqXS— overit. (@overit.)1595468388.0
@ShaneGoldmacher This is amazing. Allowing him to go on TV and speak like this is the Tsar Bomba of bad decisions.… https://t.co/1vosZgpoX8— Vanilla Gorilla, Esq. (@Vanilla Gorilla, Esq.)1595467617.0
@ShaneGoldmacher How can this man waste two minutes for explaining a test, focusing on something like that and emph… https://t.co/b3t5n1KLLA— Dirk (@Dirk)1595496113.0
@ShaneGoldmacher @gtconway3d He visibly struggled to remember 5 words, 4 times in less than two minutes, while obvi… https://t.co/jzEJGLXX0w— Coffee. Beans. Guatemala. Redfoot. Kobayashi. (@Coffee. Beans. Guatemala. Redfoot. Kobayashi.)1595467913.0
@ShaneGoldmacher @kaitlancollins Is this real life?— W. Ashley Dooks (@W. Ashley Dooks)1595495941.0
"Person, woman, man, camera, TV" quickly lit the internet on fire.
“A house divided against itself, cannot stand.” Abraham Lincoln “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” F… https://t.co/AAtOA6LuCk— Sari Beth Rosenberg (@Sari Beth Rosenberg)1595507540.0
ARE YOU A PERSON? A WOMAN? A MAN? A CAMERA? A TV? https://t.co/x49wuEWgJp— Noah Finneburgh (@Noah Finneburgh)1595480243.0
Doctors have stressed that the test Trump took doesn't determine intelligence. A perfect score indicates only baseline normal cognitive abilities.