'Flashes of Alzheimer's': Trump's niece troubled by president's behavior

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States at the Pentagon, in Washington D.C., U.S., September 11, 2025. REUTERS Evelyn Hockstein

New York Magazine’s Ben Terris recently explained to Vox that he wrote an in-depth article covering the controversies surrounding President Trump’s health in part because Mary Trump, the president’s niece, told him she “sees flashes of her grandfather when he had Alzheimer’s.”

As one example, Terris cites Trump being unable to recall the word "Alzheimer's" when describing the condition that ultimately took the life of the future president’s father, Fred Trump, at the age of 93.

New York magazine's Ben Terris investigated concerns about Donald Trump's health following his return to office. The 78-year-old president has exhibited signs that worry observers: mysterious bruising on his hands, swollen ankles, falling asleep in meetings, and increasingly rambling speech patterns. During an interview, Trump struggled to recall the word "Alzheimer's" when discussing his father's condition, requiring help from his press secretary.

"Late in life, he had, what's the word for it?" Trump said, pointing to his head and unable to say "Alzheimer's."

Terris also drew parallels to the media's insufficient coverage of President Biden's cognitive decline, noting both presidents' advanced age made this arguably irresponsible. His article and interview both described Trump's inner circle as using "North Korean-type" terms to describe his health, characterizing him as superhuman in a manner consistent with Trump's claims to be healthier than he was 40 years ago. The New York journalist noted that Trump admittedly does not exercise, consumes excessive Diet Coke and shows physical signs of decline.

Indeed, Terris told Vox's Kelli Wessinger and Astead Herndon that "the bruising on his hands, the swollen cankles, the falling asleep in meetings" were — along with the conversation with Trump's niece — further catalysts for Terris writing the article.

Terris is not alone in harboring these concerns about Trump’s health. Dr John Gartner, American psychologist, psychiatrist and former assistant professor at John Hopkins Medical School, speaking to The I, observed after Trump's rambling speech at the Davos summit that the president is showing traits consistent with cognitive decline.

“First of all, if you look at tapes of him in the 1980s, he was actually quite articulate," Gartner said. "He was still a jerk… but he was speaking in polished paragraphs. Now he has trouble completing a sentence, a thought and sometimes even a word."

Gartner added, "That’s a huge deterioration from his baseline and he also used to be quite physically co-ordinated, and now he can barely walk a straight line. He’s also showing signs of tangential speech. He goes from one topic to another in a way that’s really just kind of a loose association."

After Trump released a public letter linking his threats against the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland with the Nobel Prize Committee’s decision to not award him a peace prize, former Vice President Dick Cheney’s doctor urged a congressional inquiry into Trump’s fitness.

“This letter, and the fact that the president directed that it be distributed to other European countries, should trigger a bipartisan congressional inquiry into presidential fitness,” wrote Dr. Jonathan Reiner.

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