Psychologist Claims Trump’s Cognitive Decline Is ‘Accelerating’

A clinical psychologist says President Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior and repeated references to cognitive testing suggest he’s being quietly monitored for signs of dementia — and warns that his latest White House appearance shows alarming mental changes.

Dr. John Gartner, a former Johns Hopkins psychologist and outspoken critic of Trump’s mental fitness, told The Daily Beast Podcast this week that the 79-year-old president’s bragging about “acing” multiple Montreal Cognitive Assessments (MoCAs) could indicate ongoing neurological monitoring.

“You could justify giving the MoCA once to someone his age, maybe as part of a standard physical,” Gartner said. “But three times? That’s not assessment anymore — that’s surveillance for progression. They’re monitoring dementia.”

The MoCA is a ten-minute, 30-question test often used to screen for early cognitive decline, memory loss, or other symptoms linked to dementia or stroke. Trump first took the exam in 2018 and has repeatedly referenced it as proof of his mental sharpness — boasting that he correctly repeated the now-infamous sequence “person, woman, man, camera, TV.”

In a fiery speech at the White House this week, Trump spoke at double his usual pace, his voice rising as he defended his administration’s policies. Gartner said the rapid speech pattern signaled something deeper.

“When someone suddenly doubles their rate of speech, that’s a change in mental status,” Gartner said. “I’ve always believed Trump sits on the bipolar spectrum. He’s hypomanic — not fully manic, but driven, impulsive, and sleepless.”

According to Gartner, Trump’s “amped-up delivery” reflected fear, not confidence. “I think he was told by his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, that he’s losing the country — on the economy, on the border, on everything,” Gartner speculated. “His anxiety triggered his hypomania. He was trying to fight back.”

Wiles, who recently described her boss as having an “alcoholic’s personality” in a Vanity Fair interview, reportedly shares Trump’s own self-assessment that he has an “addictive personality.” But Gartner goes further, saying Trump’s mix of narcissism, grandiosity, and hypomania creates “a dangerous cocktail” under pressure.

White House sources confirmed that Trump underwent an MRI in October — just six months after his annual physical. Officials called it a “preventative” procedure focused on his heart and abdomen, but Gartner isn’t convinced.

“I think they’re doing MRIs every six months,” he said. “That’s how you track strokes or dementia. You don’t repeat those scans unless you’re watching something develop.”

Earlier this year, the president was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency — a circulatory condition that causes swelling in the legs — but his physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, has repeatedly declared Trump’s overall health “excellent.”

The White House responded forcefully, blasting Gartner as a “deranged resistance activist.”

“The Daily Beast is a left-wing mouthpiece that should be embarrassed to publish garbage like this,” Assistant Press Secretary Liz Huston said in a statement. “President Trump remains in excellent overall health — physically, mentally, and energetically. His relentless work ethic and stamina stand in sharp contrast to what Americans saw during the last administration.”

Huston added that attempts to question Trump’s cognition were “desperate media narratives” designed to “distract from Joe Biden’s visible decline.”

Still, Gartner insists that what Americans are witnessing is unprecedented. “You don’t need a medical degree to see the decline,” he said. “You just need to listen.”