Donald Trump went on an extended tangent during a speech Wednesday in Iowa in an effort to try to portray himself as fit and healthy–both mentally and physically–not long after several verbal slip-ups garnered attention.
“I just took a physical, you’ll be happy to hear… I passed with flying colors. And I took a cognitive exam. I said, ‘Doctor, give me anything you want. I want to take it,’” Trump said, apparently referencing a letter his doctor released in September stating that he had conducted an exam on the 13th of that month.
In the bare-bones letter, Dr. Bruce Aronwald claimed Trump’s performance on cognitive exams was “exceptional,” and his physical results “were well within the normal range.” But details like weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and medications taken were absent.
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Trump, who recently confused President Joe Biden with Barack Obama several times and who forgot which city he was in during his previous Iowa campaign event, added that it should be mandatory for presidential candidates to take a cognitive test. Biden, he then claimed, would not be able to pass one.
In February, White House physician Kevin O’Connor released a summary of his physical exam of the president, describing him as “healthy” and “vigorous.” There was no mention of any cognitive tests.
Trump went on to praise his former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson, who is now a Texas congressman not shy about speaking out negatively about Biden’s acuity.
“He was Obama’s doctor, too, by the way. I said, ‘Who’s healthier?’ He said, ‘Sir, there’s no contest,’” Trump asserted. “I won’t tell you the answer, but you know the answer, OK? It was me.”
Last year, Trump told a version of that story to the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference, claiming that Johnson said that he was “the healthiest president that’s ever lived.”
It’s not the first time that Trump’s encounters with doctors have resulted in such a kind assessment. As president-elect in 2016, Trump bragged about a letter signed by his then-physician, Harold Bornstein, who declared him “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” Bornstein, who died in January 2021, told CNN three years prior that Trump “dictated” that letter.
Trump, who used some form of the word “aced” regarding his performance on cognitive tests five times in two minutes, continued on with another supposed quote about himself from Jackson during his White House years.
“He said, ‘If he didn’t eat junk food, he’d live to 200 years old.’ That’s my kind of a doctor.”
The 77-year-old then told his supporters that when his health starts to decline, “I’ll be the first to know.”
“But I feel that right now I’m sharper than I was 20 years ago, and I don’t know why,” he maintained. “It’s a funny thing, and it’s a very minor thing, but I’m a much better golfer than I was 10 or 15 years ago. It means something, you know? It means something in a certain way.”
