US President Donald Trump told supporters at a New York rally on Friday that he did not mind being called a “brilliant tyrant dictator” but objected strongly to being called “dumb”, returning to his recurring complaint about critics questioning his cognitive faculties.
The 79-year-old said the insult he hated most was being called “dumb”, and recalled asking his doctor for a test he could take to prove critics wrong. “I’m the smartest guy you’re ever going to meet,” Trump told the crowd. “And don’t you want to have a smart person as president?”
Although the event was billed as a rally on affordability, Trump digressed into an extended recollection of a conversation with his physician. “I said, ‘Doctor, I don’t mind being called a brilliant tyrant dictator, but I don’t want to be called dumb. What do I do, doctor? Is there some kind of test I can take?’” he said, paraphrasing his doctor as recommending a cognitive test.
Trump has frequently boasted about acing cognitive tests, and posted on Truth Social last month that any presidential or vice presidential candidate should be required to take such an exam before running. He claimed in the post to have taken the test three times during his “(THREE!)” terms as president and to have aced it each time.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the test Trump has referred to in past public comments, is a short screening tool designed to detect dementia. Dr Henry David Abraham, professor of psychiatry emeritus at Tufts University School of Medicine, told the Daily Beast that taking the exam three times in rapid succession was itself concerning. Dr John Gartner, a former Johns Hopkins University professor, said Trump’s cognitive faculties appeared to be “deteriorating”.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has publicly rejected such characterisations, calling Trump the “sharpest” and “most insightful” commander-in-chief the country has had in years.
The rally was held the same day Trump announced he would skip his son Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding to remain in Washington over the unfolding US-Iran situation, citing “matters of state”.
Source: NDTV, via Ada Derana.
