- Democrats including Kamala Harris, President Biden and Barack Obama are hitting 78-year-old Trump’s mental fitness.
- Many Republicans, including some who oppose Trump, say they haven’t seen a mental decline since he first ran for president in 2016.
Donald Trump’s repeated gaffes, non sequiturs, and plain odd behavior have opened the door to questions from opponents about the 78-year-old candidate’s mental and physical fitness.
From bopping to the beat of his music playlist for nearly 40 minutes at a recent swing state town hall to blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion, to riffing on locker room gossip about a pro golfer’s anatomy, Trump is providing plenty of fodder for rivals who’ve declared him “unhinged” and worse.
As Republicans did to 81-year-old President Joe Biden earlier this year, Democrats including horror novelist Stephen King and former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are seizing every opportunity to bash Trump − and it’s a target-rich environment.
Trump’s “health appears to be in question as he demonstrates increasing moments of confusion and disorientation during interviews and rallies,” said former Trump attorney and current adversary Michael Cohen.
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“It’s why he is currently obsessing over his medical records and declaring that he is the healthiest person running for the presidency in U.S. history,” Cohen said.
Other critics say Trump has always been erratic but more people are noticing since Biden left the presidential race in July.
Trump’s allies reply that the former reality TV star simply has a unique style and that any attention paid to his unconventional behavior on the stump is political.
Trump has never been a polished public speaker. From the beginning, his rallies have been long, rambling affairs with regular digressions to jab at rivals or deliver well-worn anecdotes. They have grown longer, and more unfocused.
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That style is authentic and part of his appeal, supporters say. Trump fans regularly applaud that he doesn’t speak like a typical politician.
Yet Trump repeatedly his raised eyebrows with his comments and behavior in the closing stretch of his third presidential campaign. His age and refusal to release detailed health records are adding to the questions.
Trump has released only general statements attesting to his health by U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, a former White House doctor.
“The fact that the campaign won’t release any medical report tells me that there is data that is unhelpful… unflattering,” said Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, who served as a cardiologist for former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Harris’ White House doctor released a detailed two-page medical report on Oct. 12 that said she “possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency…”
Pressed to follow suit, Trump’s campaign has pointed to a three-paragraph November 2023 letter from his physician stating Trump’s “overall health is excellent” and “his congnitive exams were exceptional.”
Harris pounces
Trump would be the oldest person ever to win the presidency if he prevails.
Harris and Democrats have leaned into questions about his fitness for office, using the former president’s secrecy about his medical records and recent episodes.
“He’s becoming increasingly unstable and unhinged. The American people are seeing it, witnessing it in real time,” Harris said on Saturday, hours before Trump rhapsodized about the late professional golfer Arnold Palmer − with strong reference to Palmer’s genitalia − at a Pennsylvania rally.
Trump told the crowd of men, women and children that when Palmer showered, “the other men, they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my god. That’s unbelievable.’”
Trump stopped taking questions at a recent town hall in Pennsylvania after a pair of medical emergencies in the crowd, instead dancing and playing music for 39 minutes as supporters trickled out.
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Biden seized on Trump’s DJ set, telling a crowd in Pennsylvania last week it showed Trump was “unhinged,” a term repeated by Harris on Saturday.
The incident offered Biden the chance to return Republican jabs over his age and appearance of infirmity.
Now Trump is by far the older candidate. Harris turns 60 on Sunday.
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After Trump’s brutally comic monologue at the recent Al Smith dinner, hosted by the Catholic archbishop of New York, former GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock said that “a slurring confused Trump was swearing in front of the priests, doing his mean girls revenge list and showing his brain is circling the drain.”
Even as Trump’s supporters say he has the energy and mental sharpness of a much younger man, there are signs he is showing his age. He has been canceling appearances recently, raising questions about whether he’s fatigued.
Politico reported last week that online news site The Shade Room, while angling for a sit-down with the former president, was told by Trump advisers that he was “exhausted and refusing [some] interviews…”
“His team is saying that he is suffering from exhaustion, that’s the excuse,” Harris told reporters Friday.
“Being president of the United States is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world,” she said. “And so we really do need to ask ourselves: If he’s exhausted from being on the campaign trail, is he fit to do the job?”
Harris’ campaign later posted a collection of news headlines about Trump’s alleged exhaustion on X and wrote: “Okay Donald let’s get you to bed.”
Some experts don’t see a big decline
If anything is wrong with Trump − and only his doctor and family would know for sure − he doesn’t appear to suffer from a readily identifiable age-related condition, experts say.
Trump has always had an unusual way of speaking, said Jamie Reilly, a cognitive psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia. “Can you put a label on it? I don’t think so,” Reilly said.
“He looks totally different from one day to the next,” Reilly said, which is not consistent with a diagnosis of diseases often associated with aging like Parkinson’s or dementia.
Arthur McGovern, a professor of psychology at Nichols College in Massachusetts, said that, while Trump says much that isn’t true, his language is as “authentic” as that of a politician like Barack Obama, who is much better known for sticking to objective reality.
McGovern’s own analysis of Trump’s public performances has turned up nothing to raise concern about his mental state, nor has he seen signs of decline in the former president.
“He doesn’t stand out as a particularly worrisome case to me,” McGovern said. “Biden did, unfortunately.”
Clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis has analyzed Trump’s speech patterns from before he became a television star into his presidency.
He said Trump was “incredibly articulate” in his 40s and used much more complex sentence structure than when he first ran for president in his 60s.
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“He seemed quite sophisticated in his speech patterns and vocabulary use. He was much more linear back when he was in middle age,” Michaelis said. “So there’s definitely been some loss.”
But when Michaelis looks at Trump’s language from 2017 to today, he doesn’t see much additional change.
“If he was your grandfather you wouldn’t think twice about it probably. It’s just that he happens to be running for president and the dangers of that are quite obvious to me,” Michaelis said.
‘I’m not even tired’
Trump, who’s previously called himself as a “very stable genius,” said critics are just playing politics.
“I’m not even tired,” Trump told reporters Friday in Detroit. “I’m really exhilarated. You know why? We’re killing her in the polls, because the American people don’t want her.”
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt called the report he is exhausted “unequivocally false” and said he is in excellent health.
Yet the online politics site The Bulwark, citing anonymous sources who have spoken with and know Trump, reported that “the exhaustion is real” thanks to an aggressive campaign schedule.
“Of course he’s tired,” a Trump adviser told the publication. “Who wouldn’t be tired?”
Just about every Trump event features mistakes, slurred words, and other idiosyncrasies − most quickly pointed out by opponents.
Former President Barack Obama jumped on odd Trump comments last week about in vitro fertilization and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
“He called himself ‘the father of IVF,'” Obama said in Arizona. “I don’t know that that means. You do not either. He said January 6 was the day of love… like it was Woodstock.”
Same Trump as always, Republicans say
Even some Trump critics don’t think much has changed, though.
Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman, said “all this talk lately about whether Trump is ‘losing it’ is missing the bigger issue of whether he ever had ‘it’ to begin with.”
“I don’t see any change in Trump,” Walsh said, adding he has always been “nonsensical.”
Trump’s gaffes include repeatedly mixing up names.
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Trump mentioned his Republican opponent Nikki Haley when he meant Nancy Pelosi during a speech before the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary, and regularly invokes Obama’s name when he means Biden.
Trump’s rambling style could hurt as he delivers a closing message that often seems scattered.
Marc Short, who served as Trump’s White House director of legislative affairs and later as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, said Trump should be laser focused on two issues that favor Republicans – immigration and the economy.
Instead, “it seems he’s still either relitigating past grievances or raising topics that are probably off message.” Short pointed to Trump’s focus on false claims about Haitian immigrants and more personal attacks on Harris.
Yet Short doesn’t believe Trump’s age is the root cause, or that his mental acuity is waning.
“I don’t see it,” Short said. “I think he has incredible stamina for somebody 78 years old. I’m not convinced there’s a significant change in demeanor or temperament.”
Short believes the Harris campaign may simply be raising the issue to get Trump to respond and knock him off message, a winning tactic at the Sept. 10 debate.
Many Republicans say jabs at Trump’s mental ability don’t ring true.
Sam Nunberg worked on Trump’s first campaign but has become a critic. He hasn’t noticed “any discernable difference” in Trump’s public presentation.
“He’s not Joe Biden,” Nunberg said.
Allies who have spent time with him recently are adamant Trump is mentally strong.
“He is sharp as a tack,” said U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, who attended a recent Pennsylvania rally. “I’ve never in my life seen someone with an engine and a motor like he has.”
White House reporter Joey Garrison contributed to this report
