After some recent questionable appearances, Donald Trump attempted to assure voters of his mental acuity with the unfocused argument that he’s not that old, but also it doesn’t matter if he is.
In the lead-up to the election, Trump is hopping from town hall to town hall, and at one of his latest, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he essentially told the crowd that age is just a number.
“I’m not 80 and I’m not that close to 80,” the 78-year-old former president said. Of course, Trump didn’t miss the opportunity to take dig at his former opponent, adding, “in the Biden case, he’s 81 or 82.” However, Trump may have realized that, should he win, during the course of his second term he would reach the same age he criticizes Biden for. This, perhaps, is what prompted Trump to pivot his logic.
After stressing that he’s not yet 80, Trump then proceeded to argue that it wouldn’t matter if he was. “We’ve had some of the greatest leaders in world history that are in their eighties,” Trump claimed. He cited Rupert Murdoch as an example of a person who’s still sharp well into their 90s. It’s Trump’s way of having his cake and eating it too—he’s a still a young buck who’s a whopping two years away from 80, but at the same time, it doesn’t matter how old he is. Sure.
Trump tried to provide evidence of his mental ability. “I’ve done cognitive tests,” he boasted. “I’ve done them twice, and I aced both of them. And the doctor in one case said, I’ve never seen anybody ace them.” That doctor has “never” seen someone “ace” a basic cognitive ability test? Sounds plausible.
Though Trump didn’t specify which cognitive tests he took, he’s likely talking about the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) that he bragged about taking in 2018 and passing with a perfect score. The MoCA test is far from a comprehensive assessment of cognitive ability, rather it’s a simple one-page 10-minute test designed to measure basic mental competency.
Trump was previously called out for boasting about “acing” the MoCA during an interview with Chris Wallace, who took the test himself. “It’s not the hardest test,” Wallace pointed out, describing some of the assessment’s simplistic questions and tasks, like identifying drawings of animals, counting, and remembering words in a specific order. But Trump stuck to his guns that passing the test was a major accomplishment. “I’ll bet you couldn’t even answer the last five questions,” Trump told Wallace. “They get very hard, the last five questions.”
Apparently, Trump still expects voters to be impressed by him passing a cognitive ability screening test six years ago. One of Trump’s earliest go-tos this election was making claims about Joe Biden’s age and mental ability. It was easy to position himself as sharper than “sleepy Joe,” but now that Trump is running against an opponent nearly two decades his junior, it’s harder to sell him as the more vibrant candidate. By simultaneously positioning himself as ‘not old’ and ‘old but still sharp,’ Trump seems to be scrambling to find a way to assuage fears voters have about his age and mental capability, and he’s not doing a great job.
Published: Oct 23, 2024 02:10 am