It’s hardly news that Donald Trump‘s brain isn’t in tip-top condition, but is he actually suffering from dementia? Suspicions that all’s not well in the presidential cranium have dogged him throughout his political career and his surreal speeches and strange pronouncements don’t exactly help his case.
For his part, Trump is eager to let us know that he’s not only still mentally sharp but, at the age of 78, sharper than he’s ever been before. For example, in 2020 he boasted about ing cognitive tests “with flying colors,” proudly revealing that he was able to identify various animals by their shapes. Great work, Mr. President! Have a gold star sticker!
TRUMP: I asked the doctor, I said, 'is there some kind of cognitive test that I could take?' … the last questions are much more difficult. Like a memory question. You'll go 'person, woman, man, camera, TV.' So they say — 'can you repeat that?' … for me it was easy." 😳 pic.twitter.com/pCKYoNy3BH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 23, 2020
We’re now a half-decade on and Trump has become even more incoherent. During the election campaign, his speeches generally devolved into bizarre rambles about sharks, and how well-endowed golf legend Arnold Palmer may or may not have been. Now, eyebrows have been raised after a handful of recent public lapses. For example, in a recent clip of Trump reading from a teleprompter, he appears to struggle with reading:
Mr. "I don't need a teleprompter" Donald Trump calls Ireland's patron saint, Saint Patrick, a "patriot saint" as he struggles with his script.
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) March 12, 2025
Bro can't read. pic.twitter.com/EmUsvXbTlV
While we don’t know if “bro can’t read” or not, Trump certainly does appear to be struggling with things he could do effortlessly just a few years ago. Replies are concerned about his “flat droning voice,” theorize that “he’s too vain to wear glasses,” and conclude “Donald isn’t well.”
Similar suspicions about Trump’s memory were raised when he was recently asked by a journalist if he still believed that Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, was a “dictator.” Trump appeared confused and unable to the words he’d used, mumbling “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that.”
Is this dementia or is he betting on his followers being dumb enough to fall for more of his blatant lies?
— JohnnyVomits (@JohnnyVomits) February 27, 2025
Even his former allies are raising a note of alarm, with former White House comms director Anthony Scaramucci recently telling the Off Air… with Jane and Fi podcast: “Trump’s obviously got something wrong with him. I would say … the guy is unwell and he’s surrounded by willing sycophants that want to pretend that he’s not unwell.”
Another note of alarm has come from Harry Segal, a senior lecturer in the Psychology Department at Cornell University, who analyzed Trump’s recent speeches and campaign appearances and came to a stark conclusion: “Trump has shown evidence of dementia for the past year as indicated by his strange gait, phonemic paraphasia—when he begins a word and can’t finish it—and decline in the complexity of his words and concepts.”
Segal went on to claim Trump is avoiding interviews where he’ll be pressed on subjects by journalists, together with evidence he’s becoming more impulsive as signs “of his accelerating cognitive decline.”
It’s worth noting that the Oval Office is no stranger to presidents with cognitive issues. Ronald Reagan — who suffered from Alzheimer’s in his later years — was said to have experienced the early stages of the disease during his second term, and as we all saw during that disastrous first presidential debate, not all was well with the octogenarian Joe Biden. But perhaps Trump, with his combination of colossal ego, zero self-control, and unrestrained political power, might be uniquely dangerous if his faculties begin to fail.
Published: Mar 13, 2025 08:20 am