‘Dementia-Addled’ Donald Trump Struggling to Remember Names on His Political Hit-List

Donald Trump is facing explosive new questions about his memory and mental fitness after a new book claimed the 80-year-old president has struggled to remember the names of the very people he allegedly wants investigated.

According to RadarOnline.com, the claims appear in Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, a 464-page book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. The book paints a dramatic portrait of Trump’s second term as one driven by grievance, personal payback and a sweeping effort to bend government power around his instincts.

But one of the most alarming details is not simply that Trump is reportedly focused on enemies. It is that, according to the book, he sometimes needs help remembering who those enemies are.

One source quoted in the book said Trump “knew exactly what he believed they had done to him, but sometimes he needed prompting to remember who they were talking about.”

For critics already raising concerns about Trump’s age, rambling speeches and repeated verbal slips, the account has added fuel to a growing and politically explosive question: Is the president forgetting names because he has too many grudges to track, or because something more serious may be happening behind the scenes?

Haberman and Swan write that Trump’s return to the White House brought with it an intense focus on retribution against people he believes undermined him during and after the 2020 election. The authors describe a presidency shaped by “grievances and instincts,” while casting Trump as the “most powerful president of our lifetimes.”

The book also includes a bizarre scene in which Trump was allegedly found decorating part of the White House with a tube of super glue, a detail the authors use to illustrate his intensely personal and hands-on approach to remaking the presidency and its surroundings.

One reported exchange from spring 2025 has drawn particular attention.

According to the book, Trump was trying to remember the identity of “this lawyer” from his first administration who had publicly said the 2020 election “was fair and there’s no fraud.”

Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s closest advisers and a key figure in his political operation, reportedly suggested Trump might be thinking of a former homeland security official. Boris Epshteyn, one of Trump’s private lawyers, then searched on his phone before offering the name: Chris Krebs.

Krebs, whose full name is Christopher Krebs, served as the head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency during Trump’s first administration. He was fired after publicly rejecting Trump’s false claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

“Yeah, Chris Krebs,” Trump reportedly replied. “Whatever happened to him? He was a bad one. Take a look at him.”

Days later, according to Haberman and Swan, the White House issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to investigate Krebs.

The authors present the moment as a chilling example of Trump’s alleged willingness to use government power against perceived enemies, even when aides first had to help him identify the target.

The book says those named in its reporting were contacted and given opportunities to respond.

The claims arrive as speculation over Trump’s health continues to swirl. Critics and some medical professionals have pointed to his meandering public remarks, apparent fatigue, verbal stumbles and difficulty staying on topic as possible warning signs of cognitive decline.

Trump’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, and other critics previously highlighted a G7 moment in which he appeared to refer to Elon Musk as “Leon,” calling it another troubling example of the president’s public confusion.

Some mental health professionals have also argued that the Trump administration’s repeated emphasis on cognitive testing, including the MoCA screening, may suggest ongoing monitoring rather than routine evaluation. Dozens of mental health professionals have reportedly signed a statement expressing concern that Trump’s erratic behavior, difficulty completing complex thoughts and impulse control issues could point to conditions such as frontotemporal dementia.

One source told RadarOnline.com that the book may be missing what they called the biggest fear surrounding Trump’s memory lapses.

“This material in the book misses one key fear — that the reason Trump cannot remember the names of his so-called enemies isn’t because he has too many of them to remember, but that he might be hiding a secret dementia diagnosis that seems to be prompting worse and worse behavior from the president,” the source said.

The White House has forcefully rejected those claims, dismissing concerns about Trump’s cognitive health as politically motivated attacks.

Trump’s medical team has also insisted he remains fit for office. A health memo released by the president’s physician after medical checkups at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center stated that Trump demonstrates “excellent health” and “strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall physical function.”

Trump himself has repeatedly boasted that he has “aced” his cognitive tests with perfect scores. He has denied any suggestion that he has Alzheimer’s, dementia or any condition that would affect his ability to serve as president.

Still, the new book’s reported details are likely to intensify an already uncomfortable debate in Washington. For Democrats and other Trump critics, the issue is not only whether the president is obsessed with revenge. It is whether the country is being governed by a leader who, according to the book’s account, may need aides to remind him exactly who he wants to punish.