President Donald Trump, 79, fired off an early-morning tirade Friday insisting he is in “PERFECT HEALTH” as concerns grow over his apparent mental and physical decline.
“The White House Doctors have just reported that I am in ‘PERFECT HEALTH,’ and that I ‘ACED’ (Meaning, was correct on 100% of the questions asked!), for the third straight time, my Cognitive Examination, something which no other President, or previous Vice President, was willing to take,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“P.S., I strongly believe that anyone running for President, or Vice President, should be mandatorily forced to take a strong, meaningful, and proven Cognitive Examination. Our great Country cannot be run by ‘STUPID’ or INCOMPETENT PEOPLE!”
Trump has routinely brushed aside suggestions he is in mental decline by boasting about passing the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a test used to detect cognitive impairment or early signs of dementia. The test involves tasks such as drawing a clock to show a specific time and identifying animals.
During a December 2025 speech in North Carolina, Trump also proudly told the crowd how he “aced” such a test.
“The first question is like, ‘What is this?’ And they show a lion, a giraffe, a fish, and a hippopotamus. And they say, ‘Which is the giraffe?’” Trump said.
“I don’t think Joe [Biden] would have gotten the first question right,” he added. “He would say hippo. ‘I want the hippo,’”
The Daily Beast has been leading the way in reporting on concerns about the president’s health, including frequently documenting how Trump covers large bruises on his hands with makeup and tries to conceal his swollen cankles whenever possible.
In a remarkably candid interview with The Wall Street Journal published Jan. 1, Trump—the oldest sitting president in U.S. history—was forced to address his health issues and, in doing so, he contradicted previous assurances given to the public.
He revealed that his second medical exam last year at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center involved a CT scan, not an MRI as previously disclosed. Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, Trump’s physician who conducted the exam, told the Journal that the CT scan was performed to “definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues.”
The White House confirmed in July 2025 that Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that causes swelling in the lower legs.
Trump told the Journal that he briefly wore compression socks to help with his cankles but stopped because he did not like them. The president also made the startling admission that he takes more aspirin than his doctors recommend for “cardiac prevention.”
“They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump said. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?”
Trump blamed the frequent bruising on his hands—which he desperately attempts to conceal with concealer—on his heavy daily aspirin use.
For months, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has offered a boilerplate response when the Daily Beast asked about the bruises, insisting they are the result of the president “meeting more Americans and shaking their hands on a daily basis than any other president in history.”
Trump also admitted he is so fragile that his hand bled after Attorney General Pam Bondi nicked him with her ring during a high five at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July 2024.
“The ring hit the back of my hand, and, yes, there was a slight little cut,” Trump told the Journal of the incident, which reportedly caused alarm among members of his inner circle.
Trump said he applies makeup to his hands whenever he gets “whacked again.”
“I have makeup that’s, you know, easy to put on. Takes about 10 seconds,” he said.
