Former President Donald Trump came out in favor on Tuesday of anybody running for the presidency agreeing to mandatory mental competency and physical tests.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said that "ANYBODY running for the Office of President of the United States should agree to take a full & complete Mental Competency Test simultaneously (or before!) with the announcement that he or she is running, & likewise, but to a somewhat lesser extent, agree to a test which would prove that you are physically capable of doing the job."
He added that "being an outstanding President requires great mental acuity & physical stamina. If you don't have these qualities or traits, it is likely you won't succeed. MAGA!"
Although Trump did not mention Nikki Haley by name, last week the former South Carolina governor and former U.S ambassador to the U.N., his only rival so far who has officially announced a run for the 2024 Republican nomination, called for mandatory mental competency tests for lawmakers over 75 years old, the New York Post reported.
Haley made the proposal in the context of her call for a new generation of leaders, saying, "We're ready to move the stale ideas and faded names of the past. And we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future."
The New York Post pointed out that when he was president, Trump touted acing a cognitive test, telling Fox News in an interview in 2020 that the exam consisted of repeating five words in precise order — person, woman, man, camera, TV — after a short delay.
"And you go: 'Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.' If you get it in order, you get extra points," Trump said at the time. "They said nobody gets it in order. It's actually not that easy, but for me, it was easy."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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