President Donald Trump’s repeated cognitive testing may signal ongoing monitoring of an existing health condition rather than routine screening, according to psychologist John Gartner. Gartner raised concerns after noting that Trump has reportedly undergone the Montreal Cognitive Assessment multiple times, a frequency he says is unusual without cause.
Speaking to The Daily Beast, Gartner argued that administering the same cognitive test three times suggests doctors are tracking changes over time rather than checking for early warning signs. He said Trump may have inadvertently revealed this himself while boasting about his health earlier this year.
In April, Trump publicly claimed he “got every answer right” on a cognitive test taken as part of a medical evaluation. He repeated the claim again in October, describing the exam as “very hard” and suggesting that “a low IQ person” would be unable to pass it.
During that appearance, Trump said, “They have Jasmine Crockett, a low-IQ person. AOC is low IQ. You give her an IQ test, have her pass, like, the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed.”
“I took– Those are very hard– They’re really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way, but they’re cognitive tests. Let AOC go against Trump. Let Jasmine go against Trump. I don’t think Jasmine– The first couple of questions are easy: a tiger, an elephant, a giraffe, you know.”
“When you get up to about five or six, and then when you get up to 10 and 20 and 25, they couldn’t come close to answering any of those questions.”
Gartner believes Trump’s own comments point to something more serious. “You know, he kind of gave the game away again, as he often does,” he said. “You could maybe justify giving someone the MoCA once, just on their age, just as part of a physical. If you’re giving it to him three times, that means you’re not assessing dementia. That means you’re monitoring dementia.”
He went further, suggesting that the repeated testing could be part of a broader medical effort to track neurological decline. “Because if you keep feeling like, no, he’s still got the symptoms, we’ve got to see how bad he’s doing now, we’ve got to check again, see how bad he’s doing now—I think they’re giving him cognitive tests and M.R.I.s every six months to monitor the progress of his dementia, and/or strokes.”
Gartner has previously expressed concern about Trump’s mental fitness and says he has observed what he describes as noticeable behavioral changes. According to him, assessing cognitive health requires comparing an individual to their own past behavior rather than to others.
“We have to judge people against their own baseline, and if somebody doubles their rate of speed, that’s a mental status change of some kind,” Gartner said, suggesting that shifts in speech or behavior can be meaningful clinical indicators.
The White House has not publicly addressed Gartner’s claims. Trump has repeatedly insisted he is in excellent health, often citing his performance on cognitive tests as proof. Still, the renewed scrutiny highlights how the president’s health remains a point of public and political debate as he continues to emphasize his physical and mental fitness.
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