US President Donald Trump speaks during a midterm election rally to support Republican US Senate candidate Ken Paxton, in Lubbock, Texas, US October 27, 2026. REUTERS/Kaylee Greenlee
On Thursday, after President Donald Trump bragged yet again about his performance in “cognitive tests,” a longtime national security journalist took to social media to raise a “concerning” point about his claims. According to Carla Babb – a former defense reporter for the far-right, Trump-aligned outlet Newsmax – the president doesn’t understand the true purpose of these tests, and what their repeated administration suggests.
“I'm the only president to pass, without exception,” declared Trump at a rally in Ohio on Wednesday evening. “I passed three cognitive tests. I’m the only president that agreed to take them, and they're hard… They have a lion, a bear, a snake, and a camel. They say, which one is the snake?” After riffing about it for a while, the president asserted, “It's a very powerful test, very highly respected test, very well known test, 30 questions, very hard… I passed it all three times.”
“Reminder that the test he is talking about is the Montreal Cognitive Assessment,” noted Babb the next morning. “It screens for dementia. It is not an IQ test. It’s concerning that the docs have administered so many of these tests to him and that he doesn’t appear to understand why he’s taking these test.” The Montreal Cognitive Assessment – often referred to as the MoCA test – is a brief cognitive screening tool that typically takes about 10 minutes to complete. It’s used by doctors to detect mild cognitive impairment and early signs of dementia.
Trump’s unusually frequent hospital visits during the first year of his second term prompted widespread speculation about his health condition, particularly after he revealed that his doctors had administered repeated tests for cognitive decline. Recently turned 80 and the oldest president ever inaugurated, concerns about his declining health have been bolstered by sporadic hand bruising, swollen ankles, strange sleep habits, and increasingly unpredictable behavior. Babb’s comments come as a psychologist warns that Trump also displayed “seizure-like activity” and symptoms suggestive of “dementia” during his Wednesday rally, with footage showing that the president appeared to have “language production issues” coupled with “motor issues.”
Americans in general are concerned about Trump’s health. A February poll showed that just 32 percent of Americans are “very confident” in his mental fitness, while an April survey found that 48 percent of voters believe Trump is suffering from modest or severe cognitive decline – and a lot has happened since then. According to his niece – psychologist Mary Trump – the president’s “deterioration” has accelerated recently, to the point where he’s lost his “grip on reality.”