{"id":15956,"date":"2023-07-26T03:31:17","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T08:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=15956"},"modified":"2023-07-26T03:31:22","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T08:31:22","slug":"biden-should-take-a-cognitive-test-and-release-the-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=15956","title":{"rendered":"Biden should take a cognitive test \u2014 and release the results"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s growing public concern over President Joe Biden\u2019s\u2002<\/u><\/a>cognitive abilities. It is in the interest of the president \u2014 as well as the Democratic Party and the country \u2014 to address those concerns by submitting to a cognitive test that would include independent medical professionals. And he should do it soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, both the president and First Lady Jill Biden<\/u><\/a> have dismissed calls<\/u><\/a> for him to submit to a cognitive test. But the public is growing worried. As reported in The Hill<\/u><\/a>, a recent NBC News poll found that 68 percent are concerned the president \u201cdoes not possess the necessary mental and physical health to serve as president,\u201d with 55 percent saying it was a major concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And notice the poll highlights worries over both Biden\u2019s mental and physical condition. The White House released a \u201chealth summary<\/u><\/a>\u201d of the president\u2019s latest physical exam in February, which did not include a cognitive test. If he submits to a cognitive test, he should release those results also. Dismissing voters\u2019 concerns only feeds the notion that the president has something to hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the media are increasingly willing to mention Biden\u2019s health challenges. Politico reporters Eli Stokols and Jonathan Lemire just ran a story<\/u><\/a> noting that Biden emerged from Air Force One after landing in London wearing sneakers without socks. They claim Biden\u2019s handlers are quietly making age-related adjustments for him. \u201cThe new routine looks to be another subtle accommodation to the president\u2019s age. It is hiding in plain sight, although the White House won\u2019t concede that interpretation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the left has its usual meltdown, asserting that calling for a cognitive test is outrageous, recall that Democrats applauded when more than 70 \u201chealth care and mental health professionals\u201d sent a letter to President Trump\u2019s physician<\/u><\/a>, Dr. Ronny Jackson,<\/u><\/a> urging him to conduct a complete physical and assess the president\u2019s \u201cneurological health, including cognitive and mental health functions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter cited<\/u><\/a> what the signers believed was Trump\u2019s \u201cdeclining faculties for complex thought, rambling speech, difficulty completing a thought; episodes of slurred speech; frequent repetition of the same concepts; decreased fine motor coordination; difficulties reading, listening and comprehending; suspect judgment, planning, problem solving and impulse control; markedly declining vocabulary in recent years, with over reliance on superlatives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Trump has his anger and communications challenges, that list of indicators sounds more like a description of Biden than Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a month before the 2020 presidential election, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) proposed<\/u><\/a> \u201can expert panel \u2026 to conduct a medical exam at the direction of Congress to \u2018determine whether the President is mentally or physically unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.\u2019\u201d Of course, the proposal went nowhere. It was simply Pelosi\u2019s way of alerting voters to Democrats\u2019 concerns about Trump\u2019s mental state just before the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump did submit to a cognitive test<\/u><\/a>. Though he claimed he aced it, he never actually released the evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a cognitive test? MedlinePlus<\/u><\/a>, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, explains: \u201cCognitive testing checks for problems with certain brain functions called \u2018cognition.\u2019 Cognition includes thinking, learning, remembering, and using judgment and language. Problems with cognition are called \u2018cognitive impairment.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MedlinePlus says a cognitive test may be appropriate if an individual is showing signs associated with cognitive decline. (You can see the signs here<\/u><\/a>.) One of those signs is \u201cfeeling increased irritability and\/or anxiety.\u201d The letter from the 74 health care specialists has similar indicators, and includes problems with \u201cimpulse control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent article by Axios<\/u><\/a> reporter Alex Thompson explained that Biden is displaying signs of irritability and anger. Thompson writes, \u201cBehind closed doors, Biden has such a quick-trigger temper that some aides try to avoid meeting alone with him. Some take a colleague, almost as a shield against a solo blast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the story is revealing, it doesn\u2019t address an important point. Are Biden\u2019s outbursts, tirades and demeaning of staff a recent development or a long-time character trait? Lots of people who aren\u2019t experiencing cognitive decline have anger-management issues, including Bill Clinton when he was in the White House, according to Axios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is imperative that Biden take the public\u2019s concerns about his mental health seriously. He may be in good physical shape for a man of 80 years, but Americans are more concerned about his mental state \u2014 especially since he is seeking an additional four years in the Oval Office. He released a copy of his physical. It\u2019s time for him to submit to a cognitive test and release those findings also.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thehill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s growing public concern over President Joe Biden\u2019s\u2002cognitive abilities. It is in the interest of the president \u2014 as well as the Democratic Party and the country \u2014 to address those concerns by submitting to a cognitive test that would include independent medical professionals. And he should do it soon. So far, both the president and First […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5780],"tags":[10136,1169,10137,1255,3004],"class_list":["post-15956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-livehood","tag-announcements","tag-biden","tag-cognitive-tests","tag-people","tag-polls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15958,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15956\/revisions\/15958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}