Trump Challenges Biden to Cognitive Test, Forgets Name of His White House Doctor

Peter Wade

16 June 2024 at 11:38 am·2-min read

Donald Trump once again bragged that he allegedly “aced” a cognitive test administered while he was president, challenged President Joe Biden to take that same test, and then promptly forgot the name of the White House physician who tested him.

The former president has often boasted about his cognitive abilities — including correctly identifying a whale — while also making frequent flubs, including confusing Nancy Pelosi for Nikki Haley. He has also recently said he is running against Barack Obama and misidentified his location as Sioux Falls, South Dakota, when he was actually in Sioux City, Iowa.

On Saturday, at a speech in Detroit, Trump said that Biden “should have to take a cognitive test.” Mere seconds later, he misidentified the doctor who tested his cognition, referring to Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson as “Ronny Johnson.”

Trump forgets Ronny Jackson's name while attacking Biden for purported cognitive decline: "Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson?" pic.twitter.com/UFZltgFKt2
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 15, 2024

“[Biden] doesn’t even know what the word ‘inflation’ means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did,” Trump said.

Shortly after, Trump added, “Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much indeed immediately.”

Jackson administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment to Trump at the president’s request while he was in office. The test, designed to detect memory decline, includes simple tasks such as identifying drawings of animals, remembering terms and random numbers, naming words that begin with a certain letter, and performing abstractions, such as classifying apples and oranges as fruits.

“The first questions are very easy,” Trump said of the test in 2020. “The last questions are much more difficult, like a memory question. It’s like you go, ‘Person, woman, man, camera, TV.’ So, they say, ‘Could you repeat that?’ So I said, ‘Yeah. So it’s person, woman, man, camera, TV.’ OK. That’s very good. If you get it in order, you get extra points.”

Trump is trying to make Biden’s age a factor in the race, although Trump himself is only three years younger. Meanwhile, Trump’s gaffes and flubs continue.

More from Rolling Stone

Best of Rolling Stone

The Telegraph
Brace yourself for Keir Starmer’s puritan war on life’s pleasures
This is how the Conservative world ends, not with a bang but a flutter. The Tories in office were gamblers, shaggers, nutters and clowns, but at least they were funny – and their wrist too limp to grasp power entirely. Now the cavaliers are leaving the stage; here come the roundheads. Brace yourselves for a war on joy.
HuffPost UK
'Shouldn't Be Allowed To Make Stuff Up': James Cleverly Left Stuttering Over His Migration Claims
"It's invented, isn't it, James?" Labour's Yvette Cooper said.
HuffPost
George Conway Tells Trump What The Rest Of The World Really Thinks About Him
He also revealed what will happen if Joe Biden provokes Trump at this week's debate.
The Telegraph
Russia is crumbling from within
On Sunday evening, the North Caucasus region of Dagestan was rocked by a series of brutal terrorist attacks. Gunmen opened fire in a synagogue in Derbent, graphically slit the throat of Russian Orthodox priest Father Nikolay, and attacked Jewish and Christian houses of worship in Dagestan’s largest city Makhachkala. These brutal crimes claimed the lives of at least 15 people, including police officers.
The Telegraph
Sunak may have made the biggest electoral mistake in British history
When the history of this election campaign comes to be written, one question will perplex the compilers more than any other: why now? The Tory officials and police officers being investigated for alleged gambling law infractions by betting on a snap contest in July will have secured very good odds for the simple reason that no one was expecting it.
Business Insider
A Russian soldier's killing of a wounded comrade highlights the 'brutal culture' rampant inside Russia's military, war analysts say
Experts called out the callous behavior within the Russian armed forces after drone footage showed a soldier shooting a wounded comrade.
HuffPost
Eric Trump's 'Unvarnished' Claim About Dad Gets Brutal Instant Fact Check
Critics slammed the son of the former president for a wild new claim about his father.
HuffPost
Ex-Aide Predicts Future Of Donald And Melania Trump's Relationship
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff weighed in on the former first lady's absence from the campaign trail.
Business Insider
Russian saboteurs burned down a Berlin factory to hit weapons supplies to Ukraine. Just one problem — the facility made car parts.
Diehl Metal's parent company makes the IRIS-T anti-air system given to Ukraine, but the factory hit makes parts for cars and electrical systems.
The Telegraph
For intolerant Farage supporters, grown-up debate has clearly become a farce
Much heartened by the onslaught of criticism I’ve been receiving from Telegraph readers, I am returning to the subject of one of Clacton’s parliamentary candidates. Two weeks ago I got myself into a vat of boiling oil for saying we should turn our heads to the wall from Mr Farage’s sort of bitter and divisive populism. My column was greeted with such outrage and affront that I knew I was onto something.
The Daily Beast
Judge Aileen Cannon Dresses Down Trump Prosecutor: ‘I Don’t Appreciate Your Tone’
There was tension in U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s courtroom on Monday afternoon as the controversial jurist—already facing criticism that she is in the tank for Donald Trump, who appointed her to the bench during his single term in the White House—snapped at one of the government attorneys prosecuting Trump for unlawfully hoarding classified documents after leaving office.The exchange occurred during a hearing at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, with prosecutors arguing for
The Telegraph
Britain’s paltry savings are in Labour’s crosshairs
There’s little more than a week to go before the almost inevitable handover of power from the Conservatives to Labour, and still it’s hard to make out precisely what to expect from the new government.
Associated Press
Russia summons the American ambassador over a deadly attack that Moscow says used US-made missiles
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the American ambassador on Monday to protest what it says was the use of U.S.-made advanced missiles in a Ukrainian attack on Russian-annexed Crimea that reportedly killed four people and wounded more than 150. Washington “has effectively become a party” to the war on Ukraine’s side, the ministry said in a statement, adding, “Retaliatory measures will certainly follow.” The Associated Press could not independently verify Russia's claims about the missiles used.
HuffPost UK
Tories Heading For Electoral Wipeout As New Poll Predicts 250-Seat Labour Majority
And the final result could be even worse for the Conservatives.
The Guardian
Vauxhall owner says car plants could shut unless ‘stupid’ UK rules change
Stellantis to decide in ‘less than a year’ whether to keep Ellesmere Port and Luton production lines open amid ‘soft’ EV demand
The Telegraph
EU uses legal loophole to overturn Hungary’s veto on arms for Ukraine
The European Union will use a “legal procedure” to get around Hungary’s veto of a plan to buy weapons for Ukraine using seized Russian cash, the bloc’s top foreign diplomat said on Monday.
The Telegraph
Choice is clear: Back Tory migration plans or Labour will make UK asylum capital of the world
Labour in government will lead to illegal migration skyrocketing. We know this because The Telegraph has revealed that in their exposé on Monday showing asylum seekers are waiting for a Labour government.
HuffPost
CNN’s Kasie Hunt Dumps Trump Spokesperson For Talking Smack About Her Colleagues
“You come on my show, you respect my colleagues. Period,” Hunt later wrote on social media about literally silencing Karoline Leavitt on “This Morning.”
The Guardian
The Kremlin’s Noose by Amy Knight review – vital primer on Putin’s Russia and Boris Berezovsky’s death
The American historian and expert on Russia has written a definitive study of the flamboyant life and mysterious death of the oligarch, a confidant of Yeltsin and a man to whom Putin was once indebted
Salisbury Journal
Reform UK's candidate responds after telling Salisbury that Putin 'seemed very good'
A CANDIDATE standing for Reform UK in Salisbury has stood by his statement that he thinks Vladimir Putin is a "good" president.

Latest stories