Former President Donald Trump has suggested that a presidential cognitive test "should be mandated" as he took a swipe at the mental acuity of his White House successor.
President Joe Biden underwent a physical examination on November 19 by his doctor Kevin O'Connor, who declared him fit for duty.
However, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta said that "as far as we know" Biden did not undergo a test of his mental abilities, referring to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is a screening test for memory loss and dementia.
During an interview on Tuesday, Fox News anchor Sean Hannity referred to how the former president's physician Ronny Jackson had said Trump had passed that test.
Hannity then asked Trump if he thought Biden was "showing signs of being cognitively compromised and should he take the test?"
"All I can say is I know President Xi, I know Putin, I know Kim Jong-un," Trump replied with a name drop of the leaders of China, Russia and North Korea whom he had dealt with as president.
"I know all of the leaders of the world, got to know them very well. Many of them I like, although tough cookies. They are all at the top of their game," Trump said.
"We need somebody that's at the top of the game. Maybe it should be mandated that you take a cognitive test or something. You can't have the head of China, the head of Russia, the head of these powerful nations being at the top of their game. Look at what's happening. Look how weak we look.
"You don't think that Russia, China, Kim Jong Un of North Korea, all these other people that hate us, you don't think they were watching and laughing all the way to the bank?"
Trump then riffed into an assessment that the U.S. standing on the world stage under Biden had been diminished following the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, a topic he visited elsewhere in the interview.
Biden turned 79 on Saturday, making him the oldest first-term president in history.
Conservative pundits amp up their criticism of Biden's mental acuity whenever he makes a gaffe. Hannity has repeatedly questioned Biden's faculties, once calling his responses during a CNN Town Hall in July "completely incomprehensible."
While criticism of the current president's cognition is typically the preserve of Biden-bashing news outlets and commentators, question marks over his fitness for office are seeping into the opinions of the wider public.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll this month, released before Biden's public health report, found that nearly half (48 percent) of respondents were concerned with Biden's cognition.
However, when he was in office, Trump faced a similar level of doubt over his mental abilities.
A Fox News poll in July 2020 found that over half of voters surveyed, or 51 percent, said Trump was not mentally fit to serve as president, compared with 39 percent who thought the same of Biden.
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
