Former President Donald Trump, who is running in the Republican primary for a second term in office, says everyone running for president should agree to take a mental competency test, a step further than Nikki Haley’s call to only have politicians over the age of 75 should take the test.
Haley, who announced a run for the Republican nomination for president of the United States, is stressing the need for “generational change” in politics and has suggested that politicians over 75 years old should have to mandatorily take a “competency test.”
The idea of having a competency test was a dig at older politicians, but mainly President Joe Biden, who is 80 years old and is readying a run for another term, and Trump, who is 76 years old. However, the former president is taking it one step further, by saying “anyone” running for president should take a mental competency test.
CORRECTS YEAR – President Joe Biden returns to the White House after a physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump said on his Truth Social messaging platform:
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. 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! [Emphasis added.]
In his statement, he also emphasized that you would likely not succeed at being president if you do not have “great mental acuity & physical stamina.”
In 2020, Trump ran television ads against then-candidate Biden, claiming he lacked “the strength, the stamina and the mental fortitude to lead this country” as commander-in-chief. His ads also asked voters if Biden “is old and out of it.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
