Trump Challenges Biden, Murdoch to Mental Competency Tests

Former President Donald Trump arrives to depart at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport after being booked at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta on Aug. 24, 2023. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Donald Trump issued a challenge to President Joe Biden and the Murdoch family to undergo mental competency tests, after a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) poll found that many registered voters questioned the former president’s mental fitness for office.

“I hereby challenge Rupert Murdoch & Sons, Biden, WSJ heads, to acuity tests!” President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sept. 10.

In a separate post, the former president added: “I will name the place and the test, and it will be a tough one. Nobody will come even close to me! We can also throw some physical activity into it.”

The former president then dismissed questions about his fitness for another term in the White House by pointing to his abilities as a golfer.

“I just won the Senior Club Championship at a big golf club, with many very good players. To do so you need strength, accuracy, touch and, above all, mental toughness,” President Trump wrote.

The Wall Street Journal poll (pdf), which questioned 1,500 registered voters from Aug. 24 to 30, found that 73 percent of respondents believe 80-year-old President Biden is too old to seek a second White House term, compared with 47 percent who said the same of 77-year-old President Trump.

The poll also found that 60 percent thought President Biden was not mentally up to the task of being the president, while 49 percent said the same thing about President Trump.

At the same time, 57 percent of respondents disapprove of how President Biden is handling his job, according to the poll.

President Trump questioned the integrity of the poll in his Truth Social posts.

“In a phony and probably rigged Wall Street Journal poll, coming out of nowhere to softened the mental incompetence blow that is so obvious with Crooked Joe Biden, they ask about my age and mentality. Where did that come from?” President Trump wrote.

Tests

In February, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley floated the idea of mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75, one day after announcing her candidacy for the White House.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley participates in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., on Aug. 23, 2023. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Days later, President Trump appeared to agree with Ms. Haley’s suggestion, when he announced that all presidential candidates should take a mental competency test for the 2024 election.

“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,” the former president wrote on Truth Social.

“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!” he added, referring to his campaign slogan of Make America Great Again.

Ms. Haley’s proposal has been rejected by First Lady Jill Biden. In an interview with CNN in early March, Ms. Biden called the proposed tests “ridiculous.” Asked whether her husband would take such a test, the first lady said, “We would never even discuss something like that.”

Ms. Haley has repeated her proposal in recent months. In August, she wrote on X, “Permanent politicians should finally retire and the best way to do that is through term limits and mental competency tests.”

Poll

President Biden is widely seen as too old to effectively serve as president for another four years, according to a recent national poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll questioned 1,165 adults from Aug. 10 to 14.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents said President Biden is too old to be effective for a second term, compared with 51 percent who said the same thing about President Trump. Among those who held such a view about the current president, 69 percent were Democrats and 89 percent were Republicans.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks before presenting the Medal of Honor to a retired veteran in the East Room of the White House on March 3, 2023. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Words like “old,” “outdated,” “aging,” and “elderly” were the first words that 26 percent of respondents said came to their mind when describing President Biden, in contrast to 1 percent who used these words for President Trump.

Additionally, 15 percent mentioned words like “slow,” “confused,” and “bumbling” to describe President Biden, while 3 percent did so for President Trump.

About two-thirds of those polled supported setting age limits for the president, House and Senate lawmakers, and Supreme Court Justices. Democrats (72 percent) were more likely than Republicans (64 percent) to favor an age limit on the president.