'Not the hardest': Host challenges Donald Trump's claims about test
A Fox News host has grilled Donald Trump, after the president bragged about acing a cognitive test, without providing any proof, or information about the test.
Last week, the president claimed he recently did a test, claiming his results astounded doctors. However as CNN pointed out, the president, nor the White House, provided any information regarding the test.
It now appears the test Mr Trump was referring to was the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCa), which healthcare professionals use to identify a patient’s cognitive health and indicate whether they might be suffering from dementia.
Sitting down with Chris Wallace on Sunday, local time, the Fox News host questioned Mr Trump on the test, which includes identifying animals and thinking of words that start with a specific letter.
Mr Wallace brought up a recent poll which showed respondents believed the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, is more mentally fit to be president.
“I tell you what, let’s take a test,” Mr Trump said after the journalist presented him with the Fox News poll results.
“Joe and I will take a test, let him take the same test that I took.”
Mr Wallace then interrupted and said he took the same test the president was referring to.
“Well, it’s not the hardest test,” Mr Wallace said, adding one of the questions asks the participant to identify three animals, one being an elephant.
“See, that’s all misrepresentation,” Mr Trump fired back.
“Because yes, the first few questions are easy, but I bet you couldn’t even answer the last five questions, I bet you couldn’t, they get very hard.”
“Well one of them was count back from 100 by seven, Wallace said.
“Let me tell you, you couldn’t answer, you couldn’t answer many of the questions. I’ll get you the test, I’d like to give it to you,” Mr Trump said.
“But I guarantee you that Joe Biden could not answer those questions.”
Mr Trump claimed he answered all 35 questions on the test correctly.
Last week he said he took the test recently and his result “proved” he was all there.
How to cognitive pic.twitter.com/YM51OJ58qA
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) July 10, 2020
The US president told Fox News host Sean Hannity the doctors were “very surprised” by his results.
I proved I was all there because I aced it. I aced the test," he claimed.
Given the advanced age of Joe Biden, 77, and Donald Trump, 74, the mental capacity of both men has become a small election issue after the Trump campaign sought to seize on gaffes made by Mr Biden to cast doubt on his cognitive abilities.
Painful to watch, but good job by Chris Wallace.
Displays the psychological test that President Trump said he “aced” and claimed doctors were “very surprised” by his “unbelievable” results.
Wallace: The test asks you to identify an elephant. pic.twitter.com/IYSoBThrcd— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) July 19, 2020
In 2018, Trump also took the MoCa assessment, and as Dr David Knopman, a Mayo Clinic neurologist who chairs the Alzheimer’s Association’s medical and scientific advisory council pointed out two years ago, the test is “not considered definitive”.
“It’s ultimately only a first pass at cognition,” he told the Associated Press.
“It’s not a diagnostic test, but it’s pretty sensitive in picking up subtle changes in cognition,” things involving memory, attention and language but not mental health issues, Dr Ranit Mishori, professor of family medicine at Georgetown University added back in 2018.
The test asks people to identify animals, draw objects like a clock face with a specific time, and come up with a number of words that begin with a certain letter in a set amount of time.
Failing does not mean someone has dementia.
There might be a fixable problem, like depression or medication side effects. Maybe the person isn’t a good test-taker, or, for counting task, was never very good at maths.
In 2018, the test was widely discussed, which could make the test redundant.
“If people practice it, guess what? It’s invalid,” Dr Knopman noted.
The 40-minute long interview didn’t just cover Trump’s alleged “unbelievable” test results, the two also discussed the coronavirus pandemic in the US and Trump incorrectly claimed Mr Biden wants to defund the police.
With AP
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