In a new interview with Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel, President Donald Trump provided some additional details about a cognitive test that he recently claimed he aced, much to the surprise of doctors.
The Daily Beast reports: Describing the memory recall portion of the test, Trump said he was asked to repeat the words “person, woman, man, camera, TV,” prompting him to act out the whole thing. “And then, 10 minutes, 15 minutes later, remember the first question, not the first but the tenth question? Give us that again,” Trump said, playing the administrating doctor. “And you go ‘person, woman, man, camera, TV.' If you get it in order, you get extra points!” Trump claimed the doctors told him that “nobody gets in order” and while it isn't easy, it “was easy” for him. Adding that the doctors then “go back” to that question “20-25 minutes later,” Trump repeated the phrase before insisting this left the doctors in awe. “They say, ‘That is amazing. How did you do that?” Trump declared. “I do it because I have, like, a good memory. Because I'm cognitively there.”
More from the Washington Post: But medical and public health experts stress that the cognitive exam is not what Trump seems to think it is — an indicator of IQ or a cudgel to be wielded against a political opponent like a debate challenge. Experts say the president's fixation on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment — or MoCA, as it is sometimes called — is particularly puzzling because the test is normally administered only if someone is concerned that they or their loved ones may be experiencing dementia or other cognitive decline. Getting a perfect score — as Trump has repeatedly claimed he did — merely signifies that the test-taker probably does not have a cognitive impairment as measured by the exam. “It's not meant to measure IQ or intellectual skill in anyway,” said Ziad Nasreddine, the neurologist who created the test. “If someone performs well, what it means is they can be ruled out for cognitive impairment that comes with diseases like Alzheimer's, stroke or multiple sclerosis. That's it.”
By Thursday morning, the hashtag #PersonWomanManCameraTV was trending on Twitter. More below.
Next we'll hear about how he aced the “very difficult” puzzle pic.twitter.com/QCfXh7EW61
— Lachness Monster (@lachbealady) July 23, 2020
QFolks taking first letter of each to try and make it make Qsense 👀 #personwomanmancameratv pic.twitter.com/16Nb8wRxhZ
— Susan Ruth (@SusanRuthism) July 23, 2020