Attention Media: The question isn't "How tough is the cognitive test Trump took?"

[TeamPooka]

The question is "Why was he at Walter Reed and why did doctors think he needed the test?"

You're welcome.

[Nevilledog]

1. See, that wasn't hard at all.

[JI7]

2. That's what the doctors they bring on keep asking but the media seems stupid

or something.

[PatSeg]

3. Excellent question

And why does he keep obsessing over that test? No one asked him about it, yet he keeps bringing it up

[TeamPooka]

4. ansd since he will bring it up again the media needs to be prepared.

[mr_lebowski]

6. Hey, it's the first test he's actually shown up for and taken himself ...

And he ACED IT!

Mebbe we should let him have his little moment ...

[PatSeg]

11. Yes, perhaps that's it

"So, this is what its like taking a test. Not so bad actually and I aced it!"

[TreasonousBastard]

7. It may be the first test he ever passed.

[PatSeg]

14. Or as Mr. Lebowski said

Perhaps, it is the first test he actually ever took himself.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. That had occurred to me, too.

[uponit7771]

5. THANK YOU !!! You only get those test if its apparent that there's something wrong !!

[tableturner]

10. Not true...they give it to most people after a certain age (I think 65).

[TreasonousBastard]

17. Not always. I'm almost 73 and been in hospital three times since March. Never got the test...

But I was alert through all of it.

When I was discharged the last time, it was after hours and I left my walking stick in the room and got lost trying to go back and get it. When I found a desk and asked, she was immediately a bit suspicious and started asking the "Do you know where you are..." questions.

Didn't have to take a test, though.

[tblue37]

19. I will be 70 next month. I've never had this test. nt

[ancianita]

22. Neither I nor my 65+ friends have ever even heard of it. Bet they designed it especially for him.

[Ms. Toad]

44. It's a standard test.

Look up MOCA cognitive test.

He took it more than two years ago, at his request in an attempt to quell assertions he was unfit for office.

(That said, I don't think it is a standard part of an exam after a certain age. My spouse has one every six months, since she has a formal diagnosis. She also passes it every single time, despite a cognitive impairment diagnosis. Unless you are severely impaired, you will pass.)

[wnylib]

35. I am 70. I had the test several years ago

when I was 61. I had complained to my doctor about memory lapses that were not the ordinary ones that everyone sometimes has. Also had some physical symptoms like lights seeming to dim. I suspected tia's (mini strokes). He sent me to a neurologist who gave me the test.

I passed, but felt foolish being asked such elemental questions. Blood tests showed a severe Vitamin D deficiency. Brain MRI confirmed some tia's. I received a prescription for very high doses of D and a change in BP meds. After D levels reached normal, I started on daily maintenance doses to prevent a deficiency recurring.

Tia's and memory lapses stopped.

[Mossfern]

24. I'm 71

Took a much more detailed test because I volunteered to be in a drug study.
None of my doctors considered administering it.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

32. Yeah, nope! My mother had SEVERAL massive strokes but until the second one was she tested for

competency. She didn't pass all of them but please believe me when I tell all of you that they're DEFINITELY NOT a test doled out willy nilly, trust me. If folks will think back to the craziness surrounding his medical testing, physicals etc, FROM DAY 1, beginning with the dictated letter that the DRUNK DOC from Manhattan, it REALLY appears, more & more that he was Dx BEFORE he began his shamble to stealing the election. the nonsensical "physical" where ronny jackson had the fucking cheek to assume 90% of the world is INCREDIBLY stuoid when he claimed that fat orange slob was the healthiest, most fit piece of crap ever to roll short of the toilet & that he only weighed 239 lbs... Bae is almost 6.5 feet tall , weighs more than that & looks ALOT slimmer.

This is what's behind all of this $h!t! It was demented ALREADY when the travesty of the spray painted gold escalator float was about.

[unblock]

8. And why does he think non-dain bramage is something to crow about.

Assuming he's not lying about that.

And really, isn't the fact that he struggled with or maybe even failed the test *exactly* why he would crow about passing it?

[enough]

9. Also, this is our very large country we're talking about.

Why are we/he talking about this? He has nothing better to think about?

[OAITW r.2.0]

12. I am 67 and I would be embarrassed to admit that I took this test, even if I aced it.

Seems like, if you can't pass this, you are automatically DQ'd from the Presidency.

But I hope we start thinking about minimum qualifications for entry into the Presidential arena. A whole financial work-up, health work-up, and psychiatric workup. Sure you can run, but every voter deserves to know all the details on the balance sheets...our lives and Democracy depend on it.

[wnylib]

37. I am not embarrassed to admit that

I took the test when my doctor suspected I had had tia's. Turned out that I did have some, due to low levels of Vitamin D and high BP. Corrected with D supplements and BP meds. No more tia's.

But I don't generally bring it up, except when the subject is discussed, like in this thread. Hardly a test to brag about. I'm just greatful the problem was caught and treated.

[OAITW r.2.0]

39. You wouldn't brag about it one way or the other, right?

Trump passing a basic cognitive test is nothing I would want to broadcast, would you?

[wnylib]

40. Not something for a president to

make such a silly fuss about, no.

I agree with other posters that he is probably lying. Why else make such a deal of it? And the notion that his doctors would be so surprised and impressed with his ability to pass it is absurd. My doctor was mum after the test. I had to ask how I did, and he said I passed but, given my symptoms, it didn't mean I was in the clear since the blood tests and MRI hadn't been done yet. When they confirmed tia's it just meant that the tia damage was minor and had not noticeably affected cognition.

Trump's bragging confirms to me that he is very insecure about his mental ability. What a silly test to brag about. It's not sn IQ test. There are many people much older than he is who continue teaching college courses, writing books, or serving as a SCOTUS justice.

[OAITW r.2.0]

41. It's the lowest bar.

Below that, you probably need medical assistance.

[misanthrope]

52. The qualifications you list would have undermined FDR

Be careful of what you ask for.

[mr_lebowski]

13. The staff at Walter Reed were covering their asses ... inevitably they'll end up on the stand

In a tribunal, grilled by the Barrister ...

"HOW could you have allowed this mad man to leave this hospital and go out and start PRESIDENTING ... with his mind in this condition!?!"

"Well, uh ... you see ... we gave him the test, and he passed ... there was nothing else we could do!"

[BigmanPigman]

16. "The doctor behind a cognitive test Trump took says 'it's supposed to be easy"

"This is not an IQ test or the level of how a person is extremely skilled or not,” Nasreddine agreed in a call with MarketWatch. “The test is supposed to help physicians detect early signs of Alzheimer’s, and it became very popular because it was a short test, and very sensitive for early impairment.”

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-doctor-behind-a-cognitive-test-trump-took-says-its-supposed-to-be-easy-for-people-with-no-cognitive-impairment-2020-07-20

[Silver Swan]

18. Actually, a cognitive test is part of an annual " Medicare exam."

Starting at age seventy. There is not just one test, but a choice of several that medical care providers can use. GOOGLE "Medicare cognitive test" or "Medicare mental status test" to find more examples.

[Mossfern]

25. I've been on Medicare for a few years now

It was never part of my yearly exam.

[Tess49]

36. Same here. n/t

[Shrike47]

28. Yep, it was part of mine last year.

[Mr. Ected]

20. Trump probably failed a urine test after studying all night

The cognitive test was probably the first test he ever passed without understanding what cognitive even meant.

[GopherGal]

26. That's what the Russian hookers were paid for...

helping him study for his urine test!
It all fits together now.

[ancianita]

21. My own question is: who gave him the test answers in advance?

He doesn't pass anything without cheating.

[Ms. Toad]

23. He was at Walter Reed in 2018 for his annual physical.

The test was more than 2 years ago. He took the test because he asked his doctors to run it.

Mr. Trump’s first physical examination as president was highly anticipated, in part because of an increasing number of public questions about his sometimes erratic behavior during his first year in office. A book published this month, “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolff, asserted that even Mr. Trump’s own advisers and associates questioned the president’s fitness for office.

Mr. Trump, the doctor said, asked for the cognitive test to answer his critics and attempt to quell questions about his mental abilities.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/us/politics/trump-health-exam-doctor-cognitive-test.html

I can't be the only one who remembers this.

[Mossfern]

27. ... and he's bragging about it now?

[Ms. Toad]

29. Yup.

You know how he fixates on things.

Right now he's all about accusing Biden of dementia, so he's dragged out this old test, exaggerated how recently he had it, and apparently everyone has forgotten the splash it made more than 2 years ago.

[TeamPooka]

30. He went to Walter Reed In Nov. 2019 and never released why

The cognitive test he used to talk about was the one given to him by the White House physician Dr. Ronnie Jackson After his first presidential physical.

The one he is currently talking about is the one that he says he “took recently“ at Walter Reed After his mysterious unplanned visit there

[Ms. Toad]

31. There is nothing but his statement that he took it recently to connect it to Walter Reed.

You know he has absolutely no sense of time.

His patter about now is identical to the explanation he gave at the time for the test. ("Mr. Trump, the doctor said, asked for the cognitive test to answer his critics and attempt to quell questions about his mental abilities." - written in 2018.&quot

I'm well aware he went to Walter Reed in 2019. But the cognitive test was performed as part of his annual physical in January 2018. It fits into his spiel against Biden, so he's bringing it up again.

[TeamPooka]

34. nothing to connect it to Walter Reed except that he said it, again and again. Here you go

“I actually took one very recently when, you know, the radical left was saying, ‘Is he all there? Is he all there?’ I proved I was all there, because I aced it,” Trump told Hannity. “I aced the test. … He should take the same exact test, a very standard test. I took it at Walter Reed Medical Center in front of doctors and they were very surprised. They said, ‘That’s an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anyone do what you just did.’ ”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/10/trump-hannity-cognitive-test/

Those pesky facts.
We can't judge his sense of time unless you are some sort of magical being.
If you aren't maybe you should accept his actual statements and deal with them.
They never released why he went to the hospital and now he brags that he aced that test they gave him.
My original post stands.

[Ms. Toad]

38. About those pesky facts.

It was widely reported at the time that he had a cognitive assessment test.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-health-under-scrutiny-again-after-unplanned-visit-to-walter-reed/2019/11/18/f83c91a4-0a26-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html

His first physical WAS at Walter Reed - the location in which he says his cognitive assessment test was conducted:

Trump had his first physical as president at Walter Reed in January 2018. His second was in February 2019. Trump’s doctors hailed his health as “excellent” and “very good” after those exams.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-health-under-scrutiny-again-after-unplanned-visit-to-walter-reed/2019/11/18/f83c91a4-0a26-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html

He's currently bragging about a perfect score - the same way his score at the time was described.

Jan. 16, 2018

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s White House physician said Tuesday that the president received a perfect score on a cognitive test designed to screen for neurological impairment, which the military doctor said was evidence that Mr. Trump does not suffer from mental issues that prevent him from functioning in office.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/us/politics/trump-health-exam-doctor-cognitive-test.htm


The explanation for why he took it is the same he gave at the time he took it in 2018

Mr. Trump, the doctor said, asked for the cognitive test to answer his critics and attempt to quell questions about his mental abilities.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/us/politics/trump-health-exam-doctor-cognitive-test.html

It has not been reported, as part of any medical report released since then, that he has repeated the cognitive assessment.

The only reference he has made to when he took it is "very recently." That is the only element of his current spiel that is not an exact match for the 2018 test.

His sense of time is warped. Just look at his comments about coronavirus, or how soon he is going to do things (two weeks).

This recent discussion was a response to Hannity mentioning that Biden had taken several cognitive tests. He had to prove he did too, so he dredged up his 2-year old test to prove he was better than Biden.

[TeamPooka]

42. Well, you must know what's going on in his head. Since you say you do. Whatever

[Ms. Toad]

43. I just find it very odd

That you are latching onto the non-specific phrase "very recently" when (1) everything specific he is saying now matches exactly with the cognitive assessment we know was done in 2018 and (2) without even checking, I'm pretty confident there is at least one thread commenting on Trump's fuzzy relationship with time.

Yesterday, for example, on the front page of DU there were threads about airports, at a time there were none, everything always happening in two weeks, and how long it will take for the coronavirus to vanish. That's without even going back to check -I'm sure there were even more.

[TeamPooka]

45. It's odd to you that I am going by his quotes and exact statements. I find it odd that

you are doing everything you can do and then some to give him excuses.

[Ms. Toad]

47. Excuses? Are you joking?

I'm identifying when he took the test. How you are twisting that into giving him an excuse is beyond me.

He took it. He took it in January, a little over 2 years ago. And it proves his incompetence even more that he is bragging about it two years after the fact.

His quotes and exact statements are what match, precisely, with the published statements at the time he took the test in 2018 - as I've already pointed out and matched up.

And here's yet one more eact match:

Link to tweet

Ronny Jackson is the physician mentioned in all of 2018 articles. Those articles indicate he asked Jackson for some test to get the people who thought he was incompetent off his back - pretty much exactly how he describes it in the Lincoln Project clip. Same doctor. Same basis for asking for the test.

And, in case that doesn't settle it, the last day Jackson was Trump's physician was March 28, 2018. Well before the November 2019 trip to Walter Reed.

[TeamPooka]

49. That is the first time he has said Ronny's name in this recent context.

[Ms. Toad]

50. That's because it is the first time he has expressly named Jackson

Prior to now, although he was consistently describing everything exactly as described in 1/2018, he had not named Jackson as the person he asked about taking some sort of test to prove his competence. Today he apparently did a new interview, described the conversation I've mentioned previously (again) and named Jackson as the doctor involved.

He really doesn't have a close connection to reality. Although his memory works similarly to my spouses (with a diagnosed cognitive impairment) - which may be why I recognized immediately what was going on. He experiences an event, creates a fake memory (the test has 35 questions, he remembered the word list for 20 minutes or more, and then reliably repeats the false narrative - varying only in ways that make it a better story - because it is the story telling (not the reality) that is important. The memory is connected to events (a physical at Walter Reed) - but not to time, specifically.

[Joinfortmill]

33. 👍

[Cha]

46. The US "media" that helped bring us trump is collectively Incompetent.

[kskiska]

48. Medicare provides what is called a yearly "Wellness Visit."

It's free and the test is part of it. I'm 75 and I've had the test for the past 5 or so years. All mine consisted of was drawing a clock face with the numbers and hands pointing to a certain time. In the other part of the test I was told three words and a few minutes later was asked to repeat them. I wasn't given the test that Trump got, with the animal pictures, etc.

[Mariana]

51. His new story is that HE ASKED for the test. nt.