Doctor Mocks Trump For Saying He Aced 'Difficult' Dementia Test

Former President Donald Trump's claims of acing a cognitive test have been met with skepticism from a medical expert.

The 77-year-old Republican presidential frontrunner has repeatedly asserted that the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), which he took in 2020, was "difficult" and touted his performance on the test.

However, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, director of cardiac catheterization laboratories at George Washington University and CNN medical analyst, disputed this claim, suggesting that finding such a test difficult may indicate early signs of dementia.

"If you think a dementia screening test is very difficult, you may have early dementia," Dr. Reiner wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Sunday.

In a viral 2020 interview, Trump told Fox News' Marc Siegel that he took the cognitive test to shut down critics who questioned his mental acuity.

He said that one of the "more difficult" questions involved him being asked to recall a string of words like, "Person, woman, man, camera, TV," in order multiple times throughout the assessment.

Trump also said that the test was "not that easy" but insisted that "for me, it was easy."

In addition to the word series, the former president claimed during a New Hampshire rally earlier this month that he was shown animals like "a giraffe, a tiger, or ... a whale" and was asked to identify which one was the whale, the Washington Post reported.

Trump also claimed that the test included advanced math questions like "multiply 3,293 times 4, divide by 3."

But Trump later said at a rally in Nevada that the last question he was asked during the test was to "multiply 4,733 times 7 ... divide it by 4" before adding 37.5, as seen in a video shared on X.

However, the MoCA, designed to detect cognitive impairments that can lead to dementia, does not involve advanced math, as evidenced by a sample test cited by HuffPost.

In addition, Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, the developer of the MoCA, told the Washington Post that none of the three versions of the assessment currently in circulation included a drawing of a whale.

The Canadian neurologist also emphasized in a 2020 interview with MarketWatch that the test should be easy for individuals without cognitive impairment.

Despite this, Trump has persistently portrayed it as a challenging feat.

During his recent Nevada appearance, Trump once again said he "aced" the "tough" test and insisted that only about 2% of those in the crowd would be able to pass it,

He also called on his Democratic competitor, President Joe Biden, to take a cognitive test.

"How do you think he'd do on a test? He might not get that first question, right, actually," Trump told attendees during the rally.

There have been widespread concerns about age and mental fitness involving Trump and Biden amid their respective 2024 presidential campaigns.

In May 2023, a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll found that Biden's mental fitness was a concern for 62% of Americans, while a Washington Post-ABC News poll reported that 63% of Americans believed the 81-year-old lacks the mental sharpness to serve as president.

Trump faces similar concerns, with 51% expressing worry about his mental fitness in the first poll and 43% saying he does not have the mental sharpness it takes to serve as president in the second.