Donald Trump Thursday evening stood in front of an audience at an event hosted by the right-wing Heritage Foundation and bragged about “acing” an “aptitude” test near the end of his one term as president.
He was either forgetting what the test was, lying about it, or had been lied to.
“They actually were thinking about an Article 25 when I said that,” Trump declared, referring to the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that provides a mechanism to remove a president from office other than via an impeachment conviction.
“They don’t think about it now, the 25th Amendment. They don’t think about that now at all, they never mention the 25th. But they would never – any time I had a great idea they would mention –’25th Amendment, there’s something wrong with him.'”
“I took the aptitude test and I aced it according to Doc Ronny,” Trump continued, referring to then-White House Physician Dr. Ronny Jackson, who is now a Republican U.S. Congressman and under ethics investigation.
“And a whole group of doctors, I aced that aptitude test,” he falsely claimed. “And that’s a test that even some geniuses in this room will not do that well on. It’s not that easy a test.”
Trump is wrong on all counts.
As The New York Times reported at the time, “‘Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.’ Didn’t Mean What Trump Hoped It Did.”
“The president said on Fox News that he had to remember those words as part of a test that he said demonstrated his mental acuity. But the test, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, is meant to detect signs of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or other conditions.”
This was Trump in 2020:
And this was Trump Thursday evening:
Numerous people on social media tweeted, “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.” in response.
More:
“I don’t think he understands this actually makes him look bad, not good.”
“And to think, there are people who would debase themselves for this man…”
And more: