The News
Donald Trump said he would “absolutely” step down as president if he felt his mental and physical health were slipping in office, but stressed that he was still in excellent shape.
“Oh absolutely,” Trump said when asked about the idea. “If I thought that I was failing in some way — I want people to be sure, I’ll go a step further, I want anybody running for president to take an aptitude test, to take a cognitive test, I think it’s a great idea. And I took two of them, and I aced them.”
The comments came at the National Association of Black Journalists’ conference on Wednesday, where Trump participated in a panel interview. Semafor’s Kadia Goba, one of the moderators, noted that Trump, now running against the 59-year-old Kamala Harris, would be 82 in the final year of a second term, older than President Biden.
“But not mentally — he’s shot,” Trump said.
Trump reiterated that his health was strong, and added “I think I would know” if he was declining in office to the point he had to resign.
“I know many people in their 80s and 90s that are in great shape,” he said. “Some of our greatest leaders, you look at throughout the world, world history, some of the greatest leaders in the world were in their 80s.”
He also suggested creating a legal requirement that presidential candidates take cognitive tests.
“People say it’s not constitutional,” he said. “I would like to have something passed where you could do it.”
He also challenged Vice President Kamala Harris to take a cognitive test with him as well. “You know what, she failed her law exam, she didn’t pass her law exam, so maybe she wouldn’t pass the cognitive test,” he said. (Harris passed the California bar exam on her second try in 1990.)
Notable
- During the same interview, Trump also falsely said Harris ‘turned Black’ after previously promoting Indian heritage.
- In response to a question from Semafor’s Kadia Goba, Trump weighed in on the police shooting of Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman killed in her home, and seemed to temper his past comments on immunity for police.
- During the NABJ interview, Trump said his VP pick, JD Vance, “has no impact” on his chances of winning the election.