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WASHINGTON (AP) – Does not have the sound of “Morning in America” and “I Like Ike”.
But the phrase “person”. Woman. Man. Camera. TELEVISION. “You are receiving an unlikely moment in the spotlight as President Donald Trump has drifted into dementia politics three months before the election.
Trump, 74, tried to demonstrate his mental aptitude by reciting five words, in order, most importantly, over and over again in a television interview broadcast Wednesday night. The president said the collection of nouns, or one like them, was part of a cognitive test he had passed by declaring that his likely Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, 77, could not do the same.
In a septuagenarian battle, the Trump campaign has tried to paint Biden for having lost some of his mental acuity. But the game has yet to prove successful in affecting the former vice president’s position in the race. That leaves Trump trying to escalate the attacks while defending his own ability to handle the mental rigors of the job.
“The first questions are very easy,” Trump told Fox News. “The last questions are much more difficult. Like a memory question. It’s like, you will go: Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. So they say, ‘Could you repeat that?’ So I said, ‘Yes. It is: person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.'”
Then he recalled that, at the end of the test, the doctor asked him to recite it again.
“And you go: ‘Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.’ If you put it in order, you get extra points, “Trump said.” They said that nobody puts it in order. It’s not really that easy, but for me it was easy. “
Trump boasted that he dazzled doctors because he has “a good memory, because I’m cognitively there” and issued a subtle accusation about Biden.
“Now Joe should take that test because something is going on,” said Trump. “And I say this with respect. I mean, it’s probably going to happen to all of us, right? You know? It will happen “.
The subject of intelligence, especially yours, has long fascinated the President.
Trump is known to have stated that he is “a very stable genius” and that “I have the best words” while pointing out that he attended the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. And about a month ago, he began telling attendees that a cognitive test he took as part of his physical exam in 2018 could be something he could use as a weapon against Biden.
The President is known to recite five words to aides in the West Wing or Air Force One, he would modify the list to make it appropriate for the environment, while claiming that Biden would not be able to do the same.
But some of Trump’s descriptions of the test and what it means don’t tally with what experts describe about the most common cognitive tests being done on older people. There’s no bonus and it’s meant to be easy, said Dr. James Galvin, a professor of neurology at the University of Miami who runs a dementia center.
Galvin said what Trump described is a lot like the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, often called MoCa. It takes about 10 minutes and the highest score is 30, said Galvin, who has administered thousands of tests.
MoCa “is a screening test,” Galvin said. “It is not a diagnostic test. And most importantly, it is not an IQ test. It doesn’t say how smart someone is. It is designed to be a relatively easy test because what you want to do is pick up people who have problems or potential problems. “
The last questions are not the most difficult for most people, and usually mention the day of the week, the date, the month, the year, and where the test-taker is located, Galvin said. The test doesn’t get more difficult as you go along, but it measures different parts of cognition, such as memory, attention, spatial awareness, and language. Also, the words the president quoted would not be grouped together because they are related in some way to each other, he said.
And the real concern would be if a subject did not do well on the test.
“I think he’s thinking of it as some kind of IQ test or SAT, something like that. But it is nothing like that. It’s just basic, “said Dr. Raymond Turner, professor of neurology and director of the Georgetown University Memory Disorders Program.” It’s kind of a low bar to jump. It’s not necessarily something to brag about, a unless you’re concerned about the decline or something. “
Trump, whose father had Alzheimer’s disease, said his former personal physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, accompanied him to the test in 2018. Jackson, who is now running for Congress, did not respond to an interview request Thursday. .
Questions about presidential health, mental or otherwise, tend to be closely watched and are rarely the subject of national cable interviews. They have been part of the national dialogue before, including Ronald Reagan’s mental health during his second term, although Franklin Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson’s health problems were largely kept away from the public.
But the Trump campaign has focused on the issue, despite the boomerang effect of highlighting the president’s own verbal mistakes, as a means of suggesting that Biden’s mistakes meant he was unprepared for the job.
“Any honest voter who juxtaposes President Trump and Joe Biden can see the big difference in mental acuity and wit,” said Trump spokesman Ken Farnaso, before adding that “it is their background and not their ages that are in question. here, and it’s clear that President Trump’s America’s agenda is a winning platform. “
When Biden was asked about cognitive tests last month, he replied, “I’ve been tested and tested constantly,” before adding, “I can’t wait to compare my cognitive ability with the cognitive ability of the man I’m running. against “.
Biden’s campaign quickly made it clear that his candidate was referring to the rigor of the presidential campaign, not that he had undergone specific cognitive tests. And a campaign spokesman wasted no time in refuting Trump’s claim Thursday.
“Donald Trump is failing dramatically on every conceivable strategic test by increasing mentions on this issue,” said spokesman Andrew Bates. “Joe Biden sounded the alarm about the outbreak early, while Donald Trump still promises us that the virus will” magically “disappear.” Joe Biden has highlighted the advice of medical experts during the pandemic, but Donald Trump publicly encouraged COVID-19 victims to inject disinfectant. “
“And,” Bates continued, “if that’s not enough for you, ‘Persona. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.'”
