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Donald Trump appeared to confuse a dementia screening test with a test to measure his IQ, as he challenged top Democrats to beat his score.
The president spoke to reporters on his way to Japan on board Air Force One on Monday and said he had recently undergone tests at Walter Reed Medical Center.
“[We] have a great group of people, which they don’t,” Trump said, referring to the Democrats.
- Donald Trump appeared to confuse a dementia screening test with an IQ test, challenging Democrats to beat his score.
- Trump referenced the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a test for early dementia, not IQ measurement.
- White House physician said Trump scored 30/30 on MoCA and is in excellent cognitive and physical health.
- Trump revealed he had an MRI scan at Walter Reed, without disclosing the reason amid health concerns.
Donald Trump appeared to confuse dementia screening with IQ tests
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“They have Jasmine Crockett, a low-IQ person. AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] is low IQ … Have her pass, like, the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed.
“Those are really hard, they’re really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way. But they’re cognitive tests.”
The test Trump appears to be referring to is some sort of variation of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), which is a 10-minute test to detect early dementia and mild cognitive impairment.
Questions on the test include naming animals such as a lion, repeating sentences, recalling lists, drawing a clock, and explaining the similarity between two items.
Trump: AOC is low IQ. If you give her an IQ test, have her pass like the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed. Those are very hard… They’re really aptitude tests, in a certain way, but they’re cognitive tests. Let AOC go against Trump.
The first couple of… pic.twitter.com/CQQSjtoDDt
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 27, 2025
Congresswoman Crockett is 44 years old, and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is 36 years old.
However, despite their age and the MoCA not measuring IQ, Trump, 79, challenged them to beat his score on the test.
He told reporters, “Let AOC go against Trump, let Jasmine go against Trump.”
Describing the test, he added, “The first couple 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.”
Image credits: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Ocasio-Cortez responded to the challenge on X, writing, “Hello, Mr. President! Out of curiosity, did those doctors ask you to draw a clock by any chance? Was that part hard for you, too? Asking for 340 million people.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom also shared a clip of Trump discussing the test and wrote. “Most people don’t take that many cognitive tests unless a doctor is worried.”
White House physician Sean Barbabella said in a statement in April that Trump had undergone the MoCA test at Walter Reed and had a score of 30 out of 30.
He described the president as being in “excellent cognitive and physical health.”
It is a point Trump has repeatedly made, previously bragging about his cognitive ability as he challenged former President Joe Biden to take the test in 2020.
‘Hello, Mr. President! Out of curiosity, did those doctors ask you to draw a clock by any chance?’ AOC responded
Image credits: Stephani Spindel/VIEWpress
Trump had a second checkup at Walter Reed earlier this month, and it is not clear if he retook the MoCA or any other cognitive tests.
He did reveal on board Air Force One that he had an MRI scan during that visit.
Trump told reporters that doctors had given him “perfect” results but did not disclose why he received the scan, which comes amid health concerns fueled by bruising on his hands and swelling in his ankles.
The White House has attributed the swelling to chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), which Trump was diagnosed with earlier this year, and said bruising on his hand is caused by taking aspirin and repeated handshaking.
Also on Monday, Trump confirmed he would be keen to secure a third term as president, despite it being banned by the 22nd Amendment.
Trump, already the oldest person to be elected president, will be 82 years old at the end of his term.
But his age and the Constitution do not appear to faze him when it comes to another presidential run in 2028, with Trump telling reporters he “would love to do it.”
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon last week said that there were plans in place to secure Trump for four more years in the top job.
“He’s gonna get a third term, Trump ’28, Trump is gonna be president ’28, so people just ought to get accommodated with that,” Bannon told The Economist.
He added, “There’s many different alternatives. At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is, but there’s a plan and President Trump will be the president in ’28.”
The 22nd Amendment states, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
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Sometimes these stories are so ridiculous that I think they have to be fake. Then I remember who we are talking about and remember it's just another day in what's left of the White House.
"passing legislation to keep food (snap) aid flowing would require that Mike Johnson, the speaker, call the House back into session – something which he refuses to do. While we don’t know for sure the reason behind Johnson’s refusal, there is widespread speculation that it’s to avoid swearing in the newly elected Arizona congresswoman Adelina Grijalva, who would supply the crucial vote needed to force an overall vote on releasing the Epstein files. It sounds crazy to say that Republicans are making children go hungry to protect pedophiles, but it’s actually a reasonable interpretation of the situation."
Sometimes these stories are so ridiculous that I think they have to be fake. Then I remember who we are talking about and remember it's just another day in what's left of the White House.
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