California Governor Gavin Newsom took fresh aim at President Donald Trump’s cognitive fitness on Monday, zeroing in on the president’s own admission that he recently took a doctor-directed cognitive exam. “Most people don’t take that many cognitive tests unless a doctor is worried,” Newsom wrote on X, amplifying a weekend swirl over Trump’s health as he traveled abroad.
Trump, 79, has made cognitive bravado part of his political persona, but his latest comments muddied the message. He told reporters he had taken a cognitive screening and called parts of it “very hard,” even as he continued to mock Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett as “low IQ” and dared them to take tests of their own. “I took my test. I took a real test at Walter Reed Medical Center, and I aced it. I got every one of all those questions right,” he previously boasted, a claim that clashes with his newer description of the exam’s difficulty.
The screening Trump has long referenced is the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, better known as MoCA. It is a 30-point evaluation used to detect mild cognitive impairment, not to measure intelligence. Tasks include drawing a clock, identifying animals, and recalling a list of words, along with serial sevens and other attention tests. Clinicians designed it as an early warning tool, not a presidential IQ contest.
Most people don’t take that many cognitive tests unless a doctor is worried. https://t.co/gFOs0YzZQl
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) October 27, 2025
Newsom seized on that distinction, arguing that frequent cognitive testing can be a tell. His remark followed a drumbeat of recent critiques about Trump’s health, including viral clips of verbal stumbles and halting riffs that critics say suggest decline. While the White House has released rosy physician letters, those assessments have been light on detail, fueling calls for fuller disclosures. Newsom’s latest jab slots into a broader pattern, he has repeatedly suggested Trump appears to be slipping both cognitively and physically.
During a burst of insults and one-upmanship, he claimed superiority over the test and its supposed challengers, demanding public showdowns with Ocasio-Cortez and Crockett. Conservative outlets highlighted his chest-thumping, while mainstream coverage focused on the contradiction between boasting about “acing” a cognitive screen and conceding that a tool meant to catch mild impairment was “very hard.” The mixed messaging only invited more scrutiny, including from medical experts who caution that MoCA scores are highly sensitive to age, education, and practice effects.
Health narratives can stick, and the sight of a president jousting over cognitive exams with junior lawmakers is the kind of spectacle that cements impressions. Newsom’s language was calibrated for that reality, not a medical diagnosis, but a signal to voters about transparency and capacity. At minimum, his point lands on firm ground, the MoCA is a screening tool used when clinicians want to rule out problems early, and repeated reliance on it is not the flex Trump suggests.
Whether the White House shifts to more detailed disclosures is an open question. The last doctor’s note extolled Trump’s “exceptional health,” but it lacked the granular numbers that would put rumors to rest. Until that changes, expect Newsom and other Democrats to keep spotlighting every telltale sign, real or perceived, and expect Trump to keep meeting them on the same turf, with bravado, challenges, and a cognitive test that has somehow become a political litmus.
