Dr. Jackson said that a cognitive test was not indicated for Mr. Trump when the president underwent his annual physical on Friday, but that he conducted one anyway because the president requested it after questions from critics about his mental abilities. He said Mr. Trump received a score of 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a well-known test used by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and other hospitals.So will the President's critics stop with the talk of dementia and insanity? If they don't, are they cognitively impaired?
ADDED: I decided to answer my own questions by checking out a few places I would expect to lean anti-Trump.
1. Talking Points Memo has "What We Learned From Trump’s Doctor About The President’s Health." This is a straight report that doesn't try to figure out a way to preserve the demented/insane narrative. Some of the commenters say the doctor is lying. There's also material like "Maybe Trump isn't crazy or impaired, I'll accept that. What it simply means is that he's a dumb asshole."
2. Vox has "White House doctor: Trump “has absolutely no cognitive or mental issues." This too tells the story straight.
3. The Daily Beast has "Doctor: Trump’s Cognitive Exam Results Were ‘Normal.'" Very short, with the quote from the doctor after a reminder that after "Fire and Fury" "questions have swirled about Trump’s mental capacity and his fitness for the office he holds." It does't say these questions are now soundly squelched, so maybe some readers will cling to hopes that the President is demonstrably nuts. No comments.
4. CNN has "This is the cognitive test the president passed." This seems fair and factual. You can see the test here, and it isn't especially hard. You would all probably also get 30 out of 30, and I suspect that someone who started out very intelligent could probably still get a perfect score, but I have no experience with the kind of loss of cognitive ability that might be symptomatic of early dementia.
Posts
90 comments:
Well let's just say that the good Doc was a little closer to the patient when he gave his diagnosis than were those psychiatrist clowns at Yale and Harvard.
Can we please see that same test given to Hillary, Nancy Pelosi, and Bernie Sanders please?
Should be good for a ton of laughs.
So will the President's critics stop with the talk of dementia and insanity? If they don't, are they cognitively impaired?
Oh, pish-posh! Don't you know that those critics are certified members of the Reality Based Community™ ? It's marked on their drivers licenses.
Yes, but he's still a racist, because he said "shithole"!
Now we're gonna see who the real science deniers are.
The test is described here. It is not unreasonable to think that there might be some distance between passing this simple test and being cognitively prepared to be leader of the free world.
The poor doc is now going to get the Ken Starr treatment. Fusion GPS is already on it.
To progressives, if you don't agree with them, you must be crazy--well, you could be evil, so saying you are crazy is the kind thing to say.
AA asks: "So will the President's critics stop with the talk of dementia and insanity? If they don't, are they cognitively impaired?"
ARM comments: "The test is described here. It is not unreasonable to think that there might be some distance between passing this simple test and being cognitively prepared to be leader of the free world."
The short answer is "NEVER!"
Shorter ARM: Can I get me some muscle over here to move these goalposts?
LLR Chuck hardest hit.
There was no finding of no psychological abnormalities. Trump is apparently not suffering from dementia.
Where's the quote of the doc calling all the reporters a bunch of tabloids.
Hemorrhoids, more like.
Hillary is 100% sober in her sociopath and theft. She can hide behind Hollywood's leftwing emotionalism, and they can wave it away.
You can say, with a straight face, that you have no experience with dementia *while quoting CNN*?
American Liberal Elite: "There was no finding of no psychological abnormalities. Trump is apparently not suffering from dementia."
Not so fast there!
Dr. ARM begs to differ.
Just as those fat slobs in the Press room disagreed, and those guys are "real" journalists, so, like, they know "stuff".
AReasonableMan said...
"It is not unreasonable to think that there might be some distance between passing this simple test and being cognitively prepared to be leader of the free world."
Nope. I wouldn't be surprised if you could pass it yourself, even though you must leave a trail of loose screws wherever you go. I'll bet your wife doesn't walk around the house barefoot.
Now, what's this about "the free world"? Does that include all the shitholes? If not, which ones are excluded and what form of racism did you employ in reaching that conclusion?
Hillary had to be thrown like a sack of potatoes into a van, froze up multiple times on the campaign trail, had to have some weird bodyguard/medical helper type half-carry her a half-dozen times and she disappears from the campaign trail for days at a time.
And anyone who pointed that out was called a misogynistic pig by the the Lefty Praetorian-guard press for mentioning it.
That crazy Yale psychobabbler, Dr. Bandy Lee, demands a recount.
Did you hear the press corps questions? LOL!
He plays them like Gene Krupa at the Ritz.
And he is supposed to be the impaired one?
"You would all probably also get 30 out of 30, and I suspect that someone who started out very intelligent could probably still get a perfect score, but I have no experience with the kind of loss of cognitive ability that might be symptomatic of early dementia."
FWIW, I saw a physician commenting on that score, and he said 30/30 for a 71-year old was excellent. He left me with the impression that an average 71-year old would not be expected to score 30.
Doesn't matter though. The 25th Amendment lunatics are immune to facts and reason. They are irreparably unhinged.
Jupiter said...
I wouldn't be surprised if you could pass it yourself
In fact, it is designed so that all normal people pass. Still, one might hope that our glorious leader could transcend the mundane in some way - other than in his remarkable ability to attract negative attention to himself.
mockturtle: "Did you hear the press corps questions? LOL!"
Indeed.
Little did the democrat operative press corp realize that in fact, it was they who were undergoing a cognitive test based on the sanity of their questions. Naturally, they made fools of themselves again!
LOL
Trump is at times a magnificent bastard!
Sorry LLR Chuck (LLR Chuck only uses the word "magnificent" to describe obama)
ARM: "In fact, it is designed so that all normal people pass. Still, one might hope that our glorious leader could transcend the mundane in some way - other than in his remarkable ability to attract negative attention to himself."
Wow.
You are really struggling.
The test is designed for normal people to pass : Trump passes : But the lefties say Trump isn't normal.....(uh oh, not that the logical disconnect is discernable by the lefties)
You then go on to speak about the failure of Trump to transcend the mundane in some way. Is this test designed in such a way that transcendance is even possible?
No.
Therefore, ARM has cleverly constructed a proposition whereby if Trump doesn't do the impossible he has failed.
That is some serious and authentic LLR Chuck-type gibberish right there!
"Passing" and scoring perfect are not the same thing. "Normal" is 26. Presumably "pass" is lower, although it may not be a concept strictly applicable to this instrument.
One thing is certain: somebody needs to give this test to Cory Booker. I'm worried about him.
I can tell you right now I don't think I could draw that cube! My cube would suck.
I can't even tell if the cube is facing down or facing up. Damn shifting 3-dimensional hologram!
"One thing is certain: somebody needs to give this test to Cory Booker. I'm worried about him."
Take a look at the new post I just put up.
Can someone tell me where failure to "transcend the mundane" is located in the Constitution. That has to be an impeachable offense!
What about, failure to transcend mundane emoluments?
Or, how about failure to transcend mundane Hoax collusion charges?
There has to be a pony in there somewhere!
Fine, forget the crazy angle.
RACIST! RACIST! RACIST!
MISOGYNIST! MISOGYNIST! MISONGYNIST!
I guess I don't get where the idea that Trump has dementia comes from. Sure, his personality is not for everyone. But he doesn't seem crazy or forgetful.
MayBee: "I guess I don't get where the idea that Trump has dementia comes from. Sure, his personality is not for everyone. But he doesn't seem crazy or forgetful."
Any port in a storm for the lefties/LLR's.
This is what healthy 25th amendment qualification looks like.
Full prejudice leaped forth, "not my president, " I scream
Lies spewed from so called media source that in turn I preach
Russian spies twisted green bay's votes, some deep way, somehow
Ah, but I was nearly cognitive then, I'm quite demented, sorta, now
A pussy hatted witchfinder's tongue too serious and cruel,
Spouts out that trump is a crazy, evil misogynistic hitler monkey fool
"Evil monkey" I chant those words as if renewing my Bush era vows,
Ah, but I was faking being cognitive then, I'm more demented than that now
My facebook posts stand hard with each new daily objection
Not seeing where my accusations are poorly concealed projections
Good and bad, I get to define these terms, cause I'm the righteous one, somehow
Ah, but I was a hypocrite then, I'm more of a demented hypocrite now
I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better cognitive assessor than my cognitive assessors - Barack Obama
The real test of Trump's cognitive faculties is whether he'll remember how badly Durbin tried to screw him over.
NYT (By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D.)
"...Psychiatric experts said the brief, 10- to 15-minute screening test is not comprehensive and might not catch all patients with early stages of dementia. Dr. Bandy Lee, the author of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” which expresses concern about the president’s mental health, said in a brief interview that the president requires a full, detailed neuropsychiatric evaluation.
However, Dr. Jackson said he had observed Mr. Trump closely, often several times a day, for the past year, and was satisfied that the Montreal test is “sensitive enough” to have picked up serious cognitive issues if they were present."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/us/politics/trump-health-exam-doctor-cognitive-test.html
Bandy X. Lee, MD, MDiv
MDiv = Master of Divinity, "...the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America." (Wikipedia)
"...She has been teaching students studying to be public defenders and to become asylum attorneys at Yale Law School since 2003, and a Global Health Studies course of her design, “Violence: Causes and Cures,” since 2013."
http://psychiatry.yale.edu/people/bandy_lee.profile
Had to laugh..."but I have no experience with the kind of loss of cognitive ability that might be symptomatic of early dementia" sounds preemptive
Mental illness and dementia are two different things. Trump did not have a psychological exam. Passing a cognition test does nothing to disprove some behavioral, mental problems. Interesting how people here are so eager to put all their eggs in the cognition basket.
A malignant narcissist can pass a cognition test.
So anyone trying to invoke the 25th Amendment is a science denier.
Blogger AReasonableMan said...
"In fact, it is designed so that all normal people pass. Still, one might hope that our glorious leader could transcend the mundane in some way - other than in his remarkable ability to attract negative attention to himself."
Trump fails to score 35 on a 30 question test. ARM is disappointed.
Blogger Inga said...
"A malignant narcissist can pass a cognition test."
Perhaps you could take the same test and prove that assertion?
The President asked for the cognitive test because he knew "knew" it would destroy "destroy" the MSM ankle biters. CNN's Acosta is now on life support!
I didnt pay much attention to the asinine questions. I was preoccupied with the doctor, who is one fine looking man.
Any news on the heel spurs? How are Trump’s heel spurs doing?
I suspect that someone who started out very intelligent could probably still get a perfect score, ...
He is not an idiot?
All I’m sayin’ is: no way that guy’s 6’-3” and 239 pounds … call me a Girther if you must.
I had a drunk driving test once where they made me say the alphabet backwards.
Nailed it!
Although if they asked me "what's today date?" I might have been locked up.
I am glad to see that extra white space is not on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.
I suspect that someone who started out very intelligent could probably still get a perfect score, ...
Mom, a very intelligent woman, snowed her doctor for years. We (her kids and siblings) finally did an intervention with him, detailing things she'd said and done, to try and get meds to help. By that time I think she was too far gone.
I'm curious, Althouse, who you had in mind that sparked that observation. Not really. Of course it is none of my business, but having been through it with less grace that I would have liked, anyone facing that diagnosis in someone they love has my sympathy.
Ah, the MOCA!
I remember bringing my 85 year old mother to Johns Hopkins outpatient psych unit where they gave her that test. She drew the clock face perfectly round, as befits the daughter of an artist, and the numbers were perfectly spaced. They were, however, backwards.
Apparently, neurologists can tell from the MOCA what part of the brain is affected, & they knew exactly what part of my mother's brain had gone south from her backwards numbering of the clock face.
So, Trump doesn't have physical brain damage. Duh. As for psychiatric issues, well, in my absolutely made up on the spot bullshit opinion, Trump is just an egotistical, obnoxious asshole in a town that is filled to the brim with them already. Welcome to the party, Donald!
D at 7:46
Pretty dang good.
Christy said...
Mom, a very intelligent woman, snowed her doctor for years.
My mother did this too. For the five minutes of the exam she somehow managed to pull it all together and seem vaguely functional. Drove my sister crazy.
You would all probably also get 30 out of 30, and I suspect that someone who started out very intelligent could probably still get a perfect score, but I have no experience with the kind of loss of cognitive ability that might be symptomatic of early dementia.
Somebody give the test to Hillary on live TV.
Pelosi! When do they give her the test?
"My mother did this too. For the five minutes of the exam she somehow managed to pull it all together and seem vaguely functional. Drove my sister crazy."
So the ability is apparently not hereditary, or else your sister needed more practice.
CNN's Acosta is now on life support!
Please tell me he signed a “do not resuscitate“ form.
Exiled observes: I didnt pay much attention to the asinine questions. I was preoccupied with the doctor, who is one fine looking man.
Yes, indeed! :-)
Inga,
Aside from moving the goalposts, you seem blissfully unaware that there is no DSM diagnosis known as "malignant narcissist."
That was a concept developed by Theodore Millon. Maybe you can cut and paste from one of his books. I have read most of them and can explain to you as needed.
There is such a thing as Narcissistic Personality Disorder in the DSM. I suspect a large percentage of politicians could be diagnosed with that disorder. However, experienced clinicians are cautious about making that diagnosis when the symptoms are not maladaptive to the person's life.
Trump is rather successful. His main problem is that idiots like you and the DNC/MSM liars are deranged because he fights against your scurrilous attacks. You guys keep dialing it up to 11, like Cory Booker, and thus expose your ignorance and sociopathic tendencies.
A 30/30 on the MOCA = unimpaired. Period.
"Accidental Leftist" Chuck: "Any news on the heel spurs? How are Trump’s heel spurs doing?
LOL
Why not a reference to your beloved Durbin's calling US troops Nazi's?
It's hilarious when your mask completely slips!
Keep up the good work Keyboard Keystone Kop Konservative! You are really fooling everyone! Really.
Breaking tomorrow on Horny Joe:
"Trump was not once given standardized field sobriety tests! Yet they're our lowest common denominator! No HGN! No one-leg-stand! No 9-step walk-and-turn. This medical exam is a farce, I tell you, and I would know: I was once a congressman! This, my friends, is a farce on all fronts; it's a failure on every level."
SNL, do a skit on this. Please!
Chuck said...
“Any news on the heel spurs? How are Trump’s heel spurs doing?“
They are obviously more sane and intelligent than the leftists on TV. Pretty low bar I know.
Having watched my father do this test more than once over the last two years, I can you that you can't fake it if you do have dementia- you really need to have someone present to help you cheat, and even then I doubt someone with significant dementia could usefully participate in such a ruse. My father once had an IQ of well over 160, and if someone could fake their way to a proficient score on this test while being severely demented, he could have done it, however, he simply couldn't. What he could do, and has tried to do was to hide the dementia from us, his family, in his everyday by following extremely regimented habits, but even there the deficits eventually are telling. If Trump scored 30/30 on this, then he doesn't have much dementia at all.
Since the MSM can't get the elections nullified, and since they can't get Trump impeached under the 25th Amendment, they'll need to move into "high crimes and misdemeanors" as justification.
So they'll be putting the mortgage on Mueller next, I expect.
And when Mueller comes up empty -- well, they'll just need to move on to another excuse for impeachment hearings.
Because obviously they can't allow Trump to remain President, you see. That's just UnPossible.
SPOILER for Tea Leoni/Tim Daly "Madame Secretary"
The most recent version had the President acting irrationally aggressive which got him 25th amendmented.
Turned out to be an easily resolved brain tumor so back to normal, no recasting required.
The crazy/demented tactic having failed so far, the hair-on-fire left could start purchasing Tumor opinions
from willing neurologists I suppose.
I watched the highlight reel of the inane questions the media asked Trump's physician yesterday. Conspicuously absent was media nose-tackle April "Pecan Pie" Ryan. I am assuming she was out to lunch.
This is basically the same test that they gave my late father-in-law when we took him to the doctor after a couple of "episodes." (He didn't do well.) If you do badly on this, it's a long dark journey. Glad Trump did well. He has other problems.
"He has other problems." And they are swamp dwelling RINOs.
It was hilarious watching the so called "Journalists" meltdown..... This is what winning looks like!! Watching the idiots in the MSM cry and act shocked when in reality...maybe THEY should take the test themselves!!
Man. I remember when questioning the president's mental fitness was a racist thought crime of the highest caliber.
"It is not unreasonable to think that there might be some distance between passing this simple test and being cognitively prepared to be leader of the free world."
-- So, Trutherism it is.
"I guess I don't get where the idea that Trump has dementia comes from. "
-- It worked for trying to discredit Reagan's accomplishments.
Mind you, if the 25th Amendment was invoked because "The President can be an asshole," I'm not sure how many presidents we'd get to keep.
It is strange that Dr. (and Rear Admiral) Ronny Jackson's office could not spell his name right on the announcement of medical exam (it came up as Ronnie) - which in my mind means that the whole thing is made up. Dr. Ronny reported that Trump was 6'3" tall and 239 lbs which conveniently matches the same numbers that Donald has been hustling in the media.
Trump's drivers license says 6'2" and that may have been true until he got old and developed a hump and his arches fell. Also the old man has been over 250 for the last 2 1/2 years or so when he descended the golden staircase in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy.
So Ronny was told what to say and he rehearsed it well. Give me a break! And in my non-medical opinion the Montreal Competency Test was designed to test final-stage dementia naming drawings of animals. Our self-loving authoritarian president cannot pull off his juvenile "I am the greatest" scripts. Dr. Ronny, unfortunately, missed the line where he calls Trump a "stable genius."
So... is this continued "Trump is a lunatic" a conspiracy theory or "just asking questions?"
@gadfly I am sure you are disappointed you were not invited to the meeting. You could have asked the good doctor about Trump's hair, his shoe size, how often he trims his nails, his bathing habits and his choice of deodorant.
Of course, you would not have asked if Trump included deep fried canine in his diet, whether he was a chain smoker or whether he was coke snorter.
That was pitiful gadfly. You really need to up your game.
Maybe your cognitive abilities are declining. I can refer you to a good neuropsychologist.
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
"One thing is certain: somebody needs to give this test to Cory Booker. I'm worried about him."
Absolutely - and coincidentally, an imaginary person haunts the lives of both Trump and Booker. For better than a decade, Donald pretended to be "John Barron," a spokesman for Donald Trump. The very rich Cory Booker, who hails from uppity Bergen County, politically pretended to be a poor boy from Newark whose drug lord acquaintance, "T-Bone" once threatened to "put a cap in his [Booker's] ass."
Man. Trump and Booker should have just called those folks composites and no one would think it odd.
Trump is president.
Time to get over it.
They lie! They all lie! He is clearly suffering from dementia, because there is no other possible explanation for why he disagrees with me on policy issues!
For better than a decade, Donald pretended to be “John Barron," a spokesman for Donald Trump.
This is the kind of crap that proves that Trump is demented. No normal show business personality would ever have a running joke.
Well, surely one can always fall back on the ancient pyschiatric CYA of, "No psychotic behavior was observed today?
Mika Brzezinski: "The fact that the president appears to be according to the doctor, healthy, worries me because if he wasn't healthy, that would be a great excuse for this behavior," Brzezinski lamented. "Now he has none. Which you can then deduce other things that are far more nefarious and frightening." She then opined that "evil" comes to min.
So, after pounding the Trump is crazy/25th amendment crap every day for the last several months, Morning Joe not only says "never mind" but makes a sharp pivot to "Okay, if he's not crazy he's Hitler." This should prove once and for all that Morning Joe is a shithole program if there every was one.
Mental Status Exam:
What day is it today?
What year is it?
Who's the President?
What I found odd is that the physician predicted that the President will be mentally healthy through a second term. Um, that is not a thing. Very unprofessional.
Of course a malignant narcissist can pass the MoCA. It's testing for cognitive impairment, not narcissism.
"The Poor Man's LLR Chuck" gadfly: "And in my non-medical opinion the Montreal Competency Test was designed to test final-stage dementia naming drawings of animals."
Great!
We'll just file that next to all your other non-medical & medical opinions that are equally worthless.
LOL
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