WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump suggested Saturday night that President Joe Biden “should take a cognitive test,” but left confusion about who administered the test in his next sentence.
The former president and presumptive Republican nominee referred to Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician during his presidency, as “Ronnie Johnson.” The moment has come when Trump questions Biden’s mental acuity. It’s something he does often on the campaign trail and on social media.
“He doesn’t even know what the word ‘inflation’ means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did,” the former president said of Biden during a speech at the Turning Point Action convention in Detroit.
After a few seconds he continued speaking. “Dr. Ronnie Johnson. Do you all know Ronny Johnson, a congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president in history. So I immediately liked him very much.”
Jackson was elected to Congress in 2021 and has been one of Trump’s most ardent defenders on Capitol Hill.
Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, has made the question of whether Biden, 81, ready for a second term a centerpiece of his campaign. But online critics were quick to seize on his Saturday night gaffe, with the Biden campaign, which has long fought criticism of the Democratic president’s verbal gaffes, posting a clip of the moment minutes later.
Jackson told reporters at the time that President Trump administered cognitive tests in 2018 at his request. This test is designed to detect early signs of memory loss and other mild cognitive impairment.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment administered by Trump involves recalling a list of words said. It listens to a list of random numbers and repeats them backwards. For example, name as many words that start with the letter F as possible within one minute. drawing a cube accurately; Describe specific ways in which two objects, such as a train and a bicycle, are similar.
Trump later said, “People. female. male. camera. TV.”
In the same speech in Detroit, Trump also referenced a video clip widely circulated online in the Republican Party that showed Biden watching skydivers land with flags of different countries at the recently concluded G7 summit in Italy. .
A truncated version of the video shows Biden stepping away from the leaders, turning his back and walking in a different direction. He gives a thumbs up, but he’s not sure who he’s pointing to. However, if you look at the same scene from a more complete angle, you can see that the President has turned toward the landed skydiver.
Nonetheless, Trump captured a video clip falsely depicting Biden as “turning around to look at the trees,” drawing laughter and boos from the crowd.
In a statement, the Biden campaign dismissed the video as misleadingly truncated and accused those who distributed it of “manipulating the video to create lies.”